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JSON - Introduction

Try it Yourself

With our editor, you can edit JavaScript code online and click on a button to view the result:

JSON Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h2>JSON Object Creation in JavaScript</h2>

<p>
Name: <span id="jname"></span><br />
Age: <span id="jage"></span><br />
Address: <span id="jstreet"></span><br />
Phone: <span id="jphone"></span><br />
</p>

<script>
var JSONObject= {
"name":"John Johnson",
"street":"Oslo West 555",
"age":33,
"phone":"555 1234567"};
document.getElementById("jname").innerHTML=JSONObject.name
document.getElementById("jage").innerHTML=JSONObject.age
document.getElementById("jstreet").innerHTML=JSONObject.street
document.getElementById("jphone").innerHTML=JSONObject.phone
</script>

</body>
</html>


Try it yourself »
Click on the "Try it yourself" button to see how it works

Much Like XML

  • JSON is plain text
  • JSON is "self-describing" (human readable)
  • JSON is hierarchical (values within values)
  • JSON can be parsed by JavaScript
  • JSON data can be transported using AJAX

Much Unlike XML

  • No end tag
  • Shorter
  • Quicker to read and write
  • Can be parsed using built-in JavaScript eval()
  • Uses arrays
  • No reserved words

Why JSON?

For AJAX applications, JSON is faster and easier than XML:

Using XML

  • Fetch an XML document
  • Use the XML DOM to loop through the document
  • Extract values and store in variables

Using JSON

  • Fetch a JSON string
  • eval() the JSON string

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