jsoneditor/docs/api.md

API Reference

JSONEditor

Constructor

JSONEditor(container [, options [, json]])

Constructs a new JSONEditor.

Parameters:

• {Element} container
  An HTML DIV element. The JSONEditor will be created inside this container element.

• {Object} options
  Optional object with options. Available options:

  • {Object} ace
    Provide a custom version of the Ace editor and use this instead of the version that comes embedded with JSONEditor. Only applicable when mode is code.
  • {function} onChange
    Set a callback function triggered when the contents of the JSONEditor change. Called without parameters. Will only be triggered on changes made by the user, not in case of programmatic changes via the functions set or setText.
  • {function} onEditable
    Set a callback function to determine whether individual nodes are editable or read-only. Only applicable when option mode is tree. The callback is invoked as editable(node), where node is an object {field: string, value: string, path: string[]}. The function must either return a boolean value to set both the nodes field and value editable or read-only, or return an object {field: boolean, value: boolean}.
  • {function} onError
    Set a callback function triggered when an error occurs. Invoked with the error as first argument. The callback is only invoked for errors triggered by a users action, like switching from code mode to tree mode or clicking the Format button whilst the editor doesn't contain valid JSON.
  • {function} onModeChange(newMode, oldMode)
    Set a callback function triggered right after the mode is changed by the user. Only applicable when the mode can be changed by the user (i.e. when option modes is set).
  • {boolean} escapeUnicode
    If true, unicode characters are escaped and displayed as their code instead of the character. False by default.
  • {boolean} history
    Enables history, adds a button Undo and Redo to the menu of the JSONEditor. True by default. Only applicable when mode is 'tree' or 'form'.
  • {String} mode
    Set the editor mode. Available values: 'tree' (default), 'view', 'form', 'code', 'text'. In 'view' mode, the data and datastructure is read-only. In 'form' mode, only the value can be changed, the datastructure is read-only. Mode 'code' requires the Ace editor to be loaded on the page. Mode 'text' shows the data as plain text.
  • {String[]} modes
    Create a box in the editor menu where the user can switch between the specified modes. Available values: see option mode.
  • {String} name
    Initial field name for the root node, is undefined by default. Can also be set using JSONEditor.setName(name). Only applicable when mode is 'tree', 'view', or 'form'.
  • {boolean} search
    Enables a search box in the upper right corner of the JSONEditor. True by default. Only applicable when mode is 'tree', 'view', or 'form'.
  • {Number} indentation
    Number of indentation spaces. 2 by default. Only applicable when mode is 'code' or 'text'.
  • {String} theme
    Set the Ace editor theme, uses included 'ace/theme/jsoneditor' by default. Please note that only the default theme is included with jsoneditor, so if you specify another one you need to make sure it is loaded.

• {JSON} json
  Initial JSON data to be loaded into the JSONEditor. Alternatively, the method JSONEditor.set(json) can be used to load JSON data into the editor.

Returns:

• {JSONEditor} editor
  New instance of a JSONEditor.

Methods

JSONEditor.collapseAll()

Collapse all fields. Only applicable for mode 'tree', 'view', and 'form'.

JSONEditor.expandAll()

Expand all fields. Only applicable for mode 'tree', 'view', and 'form'.

JSONEditor.focus()

Set focus to the JSONEditor.

JSONEditor.set(json)

Set JSON data.

Parameters:

• {JSON} json JSON data to be displayed in the JSONEditor.

JSONEditor.setMode(mode)

Switch mode. Mode code requires the Ace editor.

Parameters:

• {String} mode
  Available values: tree, view, form, code, text.

JSONEditor.setName(name)

Set a field name for the root node.

Parameters:

• {String | undefined} name
  Field name of the root node. If undefined, the current name will be removed.

JSONEditor.setText(jsonString)

Set text data in the editor.

This method throws an exception when the provided jsonString does not contain valid JSON and the editor is in mode tree, view, or form.

Parameters:

• {String} jsonString
  Contents of the editor as string.

JSONEditor.get()

Get JSON data.

This method throws an exception when the editor does not contain valid JSON, which can be the case when the editor is in mode code or text.

Returns:

• {JSON} json
  JSON data from the JSONEditor.

JSONEditor.getMode()

Retrieve the current mode of the editor.

Returns:

• {String} mode
  Current mode of the editor for example tree or code.

JSONEditor.getName()

Retrieve the current field name of the root node.

Returns:

• {String | undefined} name
  Current field name of the root node, or undefined if not set.

JSONEditor.getText()

Get JSON data as string.

Returns:

• {String} jsonString
  Contents of the editor as string. When the editor is in code text or code, the returned text is returned as-is. For the other modes, the returned text is a compacted string. In order to get the JSON formatted with a certain number of spaces, use JSON.stringify(JSONEditor.get(), null, 2).

Examples

A tree editor:

var options = {
    "mode": "tree",
    "search": true
};
var editor = new JSONEditor(container, options);
var json = {
    "Array": [1, 2, 3],
    "Boolean": true,
    "Null": null,
    "Number": 123,
    "Object": {"a": "b", "c": "d"},
    "String": "Hello World"
};
editor.set(json);
editor.expandAll();

var json = editor.get(json);

A text editor:

var options = {
    "mode": "text",
    "indentation": 2
};
var editor = new JSONEditor(container, options);
var json = {
    "Array": [1, 2, 3],
    "Boolean": true,
    "Null": null,
    "Number": 123,
    "Object": {"a": "b", "c": "d"},
    "String": "Hello World"
};
editor.set(json);

var json = editor.get();

JSON parsing and stringification

In general to parse or stringify JSON data, the browsers built in JSON parser can be used. To create a formatted string from a JSON object, use:

var formattedString = JSON.stringify(json, null, 2);

to create a compacted string from a JSON object, use:

var compactString = JSON.stringify(json);

To parse a String to a JSON object, use:

var json = JSON.parse(string);