Here is a portion of a larger JSON string that I attempting to call JSON.parse on. I am getting the infamous 'invalid character' error because (I believe) of the backslash parentheses (ie. "path:\"\").

All online parsers I have tried it on works fine but in my javascript code the JSON.parse method fails.

I have attempted to clean the string like this and other ways but I have been unable to get it to parse.

var cleanData = data.replace(/\\"/, /\\\\/);

below is the partial JSON file. When I remove it from the JSON string the JSON.parse works so I think I have this isolated to just this. What type of general purpose clean method would work to get this thing to parse? Thansk

'{"Properties" : {
    "GenerationId" : 9223372036854776000,
    "indexSystem" : "",
    "ExecutionTimeMs" : 109,
    "QueryModification" : "path:\"\"  (IsDocument:\"True\" OR contentclass:\"STS_ListItem\") ContentTypeId:0x0120D5200098CBB075E51C8C4398ECCB4B4928912D*",
    "RenderTemplateId" : "~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Search/Group_Default.js",
    "StartRecord" : 0,
    "piPageImpressionBlockType" : 2
}}

how?

Here is a portion of a larger JSON string that I attempting to call JSON.parse on. I am getting the infamous 'invalid character' error because (I believe) of the backslash parentheses (ie. "path:\"https://mysite.sharepoint./sites/Test\").

All online parsers I have tried it on works fine but in my javascript code the JSON.parse method fails.

I have attempted to clean the string like this and other ways but I have been unable to get it to parse.

var cleanData = data.replace(/\\"/, /\\\\/);

below is the partial JSON file. When I remove it from the JSON string the JSON.parse works so I think I have this isolated to just this. What type of general purpose clean method would work to get this thing to parse? Thansk

'{"Properties" : {
    "GenerationId" : 9223372036854776000,
    "indexSystem" : "",
    "ExecutionTimeMs" : 109,
    "QueryModification" : "path:\"https://mysite.sharepoint./sites/Test\"  (IsDocument:\"True\" OR contentclass:\"STS_ListItem\") ContentTypeId:0x0120D5200098CBB075E51C8C4398ECCB4B4928912D*",
    "RenderTemplateId" : "~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Search/Group_Default.js",
    "StartRecord" : 0,
    "piPageImpressionBlockType" : 2
}}

how?

• javascript
• json

• How does the JSON content get passed to the JavaScript? Embedded in the page by a server-side script? Ajax request? – cmbuckley Commented Oct 21, 2014 at 22:39
• Yes it is a string property on the SharePoint context object called ctx. The ctx is available to Javascript client. – ChiliYago Commented Oct 21, 2014 at 22:46
• Can you show a bit more of an example of what you're trying to do? What JavaScript client are you referring to? What other technologies are being used here? – cmbuckley Commented Oct 21, 2014 at 22:52

1 Answer 1

The problem is that your backslash is getting swallowed as an escape character in the string:

'\"' === '"' // true

You actually need to escape the backslashes, so that the JSON parser sees them. Here's another example:

var unencoded = 'string with "quotes"';

'"string with \"quotes\""'   === JSON.stringify(unencoded); // false
'"string with \\"quotes\\""' === JSON.stringify(unencoded); // true

However, where the escaping should be done depends on how the JSON is being made available to the JavaScript. If the JSON is embedded in the page by a server-side script, then there's no need to use JSON.parse, as valid JSON is valid JavaScript:

// if JsonData is valid JSON, it's also a valid JavaScript object
var data = <%= JsonData %>;