parsing cookie with json (array), array."push" now not a function

Question

var parsed = JSON.parse($.cookie('inavm_inventory'));

inventoryID = parsed['ids'];
inventoryName = parsed['names'];
inventoryCount = parsed['productcount'];

I have a cookie "inavm_inventory" which has 3 array's within it, "ids", "names" and "productcount".

I also have 3 local variables as you can see above.

Currently adding to the cookie all works fine - but when a user loads the page I'm trying to push the cookie arrays into the local variables.

It all works fine without the code above, but when using the code above - it breaks the "array". I've logged the values and they look like arrays, but I'm guessing they may be formatted as strings.

I'm just trying to format them back to arrays so that .push works on my arrays again.

Cookie example data:

{
    "ids": "[\"quant[2]\",\"quant[3]\"]",
    "names": "[\"2 3 Seater Sofa\",\"0 2 Seater Sofa\"]",
    "productcount": "[8,0]"
}

It's really hard to help with only the code you posted. (Also note that `parsed['ids']` can be written as `parsed.ids`.) — Pointy, Feb 13 '17 at 15:27
The way you're using `parsed`, it doesn't look like it's an array. So it's not surprising if you call `parsed.push(...)` and it doesn't work (if that's what you're even doing). — T.J. Crowder, Feb 13 '17 at 15:30
Cookie data example: {"ids":"[\"quant[2]\",\"quant[3]\"]","names":"[\"2 3 Seater Sofa\",\"0 2 Seater Sofa\"]","productcount":"[8,0]"} — Mike, Feb 13 '17 at 15:31
Great! Use the "edit" link to show that, not a comment. (Be sure to format it.) Also show us what code you're trying to run that's failing. — T.J. Crowder, Feb 13 '17 at 15:31
There are no arrays in the cookie. And again: We need to see what you're trying to do that's failing. — T.J. Crowder, Feb 13 '17 at 15:32
@user3676945 the property values in that JSON are **strings**, not arrays. — Pointy, Feb 13 '17 at 15:34

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 13 '17 at 15:41

Your cookie contains an object with three properties. The values of those properties are all strings, not arrays.

Here's how it would look if they were arrays:

{
    "ids": ["quant[2]","quant[3]"],
    "names": ["2 3 Seater Sofa","0 2 Seater Sofa"],
    "productcount": [8,0]
}

So you want to look at what's producing the cookie value and correct it so it outputs those three arrays correctly.

If you're creating it with JavaScript, this would create the above correctly (building it up from pieces; the above would also work as a single block, but that's probably not how you're doing it):

var obj = {};
obj.ids = ["quant[2]","quant[3]"];
obj.names = ["2 3 Seater Sofa","0 2 Seater Sofa"];
obj.productcount = [8,0];

Or even

var obj = {
    ids: [],
    names: [],
    productcount: []
};
obj.ids.push("quant[2]");
obj.names.push("2 3 Seater Sofa");
obj.productcount.push(8);
obj.ids.push("quant[3]");
obj.names.push(["0 2 Seater Sofa"]);
obj.productcount.push(0);

Then creating the cookie:

$.cookie('inavm_inventory', JSON.stringify(obj)));

You might consider changing the structure entirely, though, and using a single array of objects:

[
    {
        id: "quant[2]",
        names: "2 3 Seater Sofa",
        count: 8
    },
    {
        id: "quant[3]",
        name: "0 2 Seater Sofa",
        count: 0
    }
]

Then once you'd parsed it, you'd use the objects:

console.log(parsed[0].id);    // "quant[2]"
console.log(parsed[0].name);  // "2 3 Seater Sofa"
console.log(parsed[0].count); // 8

...and so on (probably in a loop).

So here you'd start with:

var products = [];

And push full items onto that array:

products.push({id: "quant[2]", name: "2 3 Seater Sofa", count: 8});

Thanks for your input. Cookies do not allow arrays, that's why they are strings. I should have mentioned that I use stringify to do this, so that I can put "arrays" into my cookie using: document.cookie = "inavm_inventory=" + JSON.stringify({ids: JSON.stringify(inventoryID), names: JSON.stringify(inventoryName), productcount: JSON.stringify(inventoryCount)}) + "; max-age=2592000;"; — Mike, Feb 13 '17 at 16:48
@user3676945: Of course cookies don't allow arrays; that's why I showed using `JSON.stringify` above. It'll work just as well with the alternate structure as your original structure. In both cases, what we're storing is JSON, which is a string. — T.J. Crowder, Feb 13 '17 at 16:51
As advised on this post, where I originally found the solution: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2980143/i-want-to-store-javascript-array-as-a-cookie To which I am using JSON.parse to retrieve the arrays back from stringify... however, it leads to my current issue of them not being of type array. Somehow need to convert them back to arrays. I tried using "inventoryID = [inventoryID]" to convert them to arrays that way, but doesn't work too well — Mike, Feb 13 '17 at 16:51
@user3676945: It's simple: Use an array of objects. When storing that information in the cookie, you do this: `$.cookie("cookiename", JSON.stringify(theArray))`. When retrieving the information from the cookie, you do this: `theArray = JSON.parse($.cookie("cookiename"))` I suggest doing some reading on JSON, which is a *textual* notation (thus, strings you can store in cookies). Mind you, cookies are usually not the right answer unless you're exchanging them with a server. If you're not, use `localStorage` instead (also just strings). — T.J. Crowder, Feb 13 '17 at 16:55

parsing cookie with json (array), array."push" now not a function

1 Answers1