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. The available options are described under Configuration options.

• {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.

Configuration 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.

  Note that when using the minimalist version of JSONEditor (which has Ace excluded), JSONEditor will try to load the Ace plugins ace/mode/json and ace/ext/searchbox. These plugins must be loaded beforehand or be available in the folder of the Ace editor.

• {Object} ajv

  Provide a custom instance of ajv, the library used for JSON schema validation. Example:

  var options = {
    ajv: Ajv({ allErrors: true, verbose: true })
  }
  

• {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, text, or code.

  In case of mode 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} to set set the read-only attribute for field and value individually.

  In modes text and code, the callback is invoked as editable(node) where node is an empty object (no field, value, or path). In that case the function can return false to make the text or code editor completely read-only.

• {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 hexadecimal code (like \u260E) instead of of the character itself (like ☎). False by default.

• {boolean} sortObjectKeys

  If true, object keys in 'tree', 'view' or 'form' mode list be listed alphabetically instead by their insertion order. Sorting is performed using a natural sort algorithm, which makes it easier to see objects that have string numbers as keys. 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'.

• {Object} schema

  Validate the JSON object against a JSON schema. A JSON schema describes the structure that a JSON object must have, like required properties or the type that a value must have.

  See http://json-schema.org/ for more information.

• {Object} schemaRefs

  Schemas that are referenced using the $ref property from the JSON schema that are set in the schema option, the object structure in the form of {reference_key: schemaObject}

• {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.

• {Object} templates

  Array of templates that will appear in the context menu, Each template is a json object precreated that can be added as a object value to any node in your document.

  The following example allow you can create a "Person" node and a "Address" node, each one will appear in your context menu, once you selected the whole json object will be created.

  var options = {
  templates: [
        {
            text: 'Person',
            title: 'Insert a Person Node',
            className: 'jsoneditor-type-object',
            field: 'PersonTemplate',
            value: {
                'firstName': 'John',
                'lastName': 'Do',
                'age': 28
            }
        },
        {
            text: 'Address',
            title: 'Insert a Address Node',
            field: 'AddressTemplate',
            value: {
                'street': "",
                'city': "",
                'state': "",
                'ZIP code': ""
            }
        }
    ]
  }
  

• {Object} autocomplete

  autocomplete will enable this feature in your editor in tree mode, the object have the following subelements:

  • {number[]} confirmKeys

    Indicate the KeyCodes for trigger confirm completion, by default those keys are: [39, 35, 9] which are the code for [right, end, tab]

  • {Function} getOptions (text: string, path: string[], input: string, editor: JSONEditor)

    This function will return your possible options for create the autocomplete selection, you can control dynamically which options you want to display according to the current active editing node.

    Parameters:

    • text : The text in the current node part. (basically the text that the user is editing)
    • path : The path of the node that is being edited as an array with strings.
    • input : Can be "field" or "value" depending if the user is editing a field name or a value of a node.
    • editor : The editor instance object that is being edited.

    Returns:

    • Can return an array with autocomplete options (strings), for example ['apple','cranberry','raspberry','pie']
    • Can return null when there are no autocomplete options.
    • Can return an object {startFrom: number, options: string[]}. Here startFrom determines the start character from where the existing text will be replaced. startFrom is 0 by default, replacing the whole text.
    • Can return a Promise resolving one of the return types above to support asynchronously retrieving a list with options.

• {boolean} navigationBar

  Adds navigation bar to the menu - the navigation bar visualize the current position on the tree structure as well as allows breadcrumbs navigation. True by default. Only applicable when mode is 'tree', 'form' or 'view'.

• {boolean} statusBar

  Adds status bar to the buttom of the editor - the status bar shows the cursor position (currently only for 'code' mode) and a count of the selected charcters. True by default. Only applicable when mode is 'code' or 'text'.

Methods

JSONEditor.collapseAll()

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

JSONEditor.destroy()

Destroy the editor. Clean up DOM, event listeners, and web workers.

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.setSchema(schema [,schemaRefs])

Set a JSON schema for validation of the JSON object. See also option schema. See http://json-schema.org/ for more information on the JSON schema definition.

Parameters:

• {Object} schema

  A JSON schema.

• {Object} schemaRefs

  Optional, Schemas that are referenced using the $ref property from the JSON schema, the object structure in the form of {reference_key: schemaObject}

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);