object.dump gives quoted string, want to use .dump() to generate javascripts.

[coolhandle01]

Feature Request

First up, amazing library. Love it. Definitely going to play well with V8 and V8PP, so well done.

• What is the issue you have?
  My issue is that j.dump() returns a string in quotes for objects, and I have no way to disable this. I'd like to .dump() something I can build strings with using boost::format without having to write my own dequoting method and suddenly thinking about complexity of string ops. That's your job! ;P

• Please describe the steps to reproduce the issue. Can you provide a small but working code example?
  Simplifying to Pseudo-esque code:

static auto matic= boost::format("var fn = function() { return %s };");

auto j = R"({ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 } })"_json;
auto dumped_j = j.at("some_object").dump();
auto formatted = boost::str(matic % dumped_j ); 
// formatted == "var fn = function() { return \"<some_object_here>\"; }".
// ^^^^ formatted[0] and formatted[len-1] are '\"'

• What is the expected behavior?
  I don't want the quotes on my string-dumped object (others probably do).. I'd like dump to be extended with default parameter bool bQuoted=true so I can set it false.
  auto formatted = boost::str(matic% j.at("some_object").dump(false)); //formatted == "var fn = function() { return <some_object_here>; }".
  // no quotes

• And what is the actual behavior instead?
  I get the quotes, see above. see line 8505 in the header of 2.11

• Which compiler and operating system are you using? Is it a supported compiler?
  MSVC 2015 on Win10 Pro

• Did you use a released version of the library or the version from the develop branch?

• If you experience a compilation error: can you compile and run the unit tests?
  I'm using 2.11 from the releases page

• Describe the feature in as much detail as possible.
  make quotes surrounding dumped objects an option

• Include sample usage where appropriate.
  auto str = j.dump(-1, false);

[nlohmann]

I am not sure whether producing non-compliant JSON text is in the scope of this library. However, I do not fully understand your use case. Could you please provide the exact desired output for the JSON value

{
    "some_object": {
        "happy": true,
        "pi": 3.141
    }
}

[coolhandle01]

As JSON, I'd like it as it is - in C++ land, I'd like a string representation of the object without the surrounding quotes, so that I can inject it into the last %s here: boost::format("var %s = %s.%s(%s)")

I am building a JavaScript based on JSON data.
json.h -> C++ string representing an object -> string inserted into another string(via format/str) -> write to file.

[nlohmann]

So how would the JSON above look like?

[coolhandle01]

Sorry for inflicting confusion here!

The JSON is something like this:

{
    "Calls":
    [
        {
            "var": "returned_value",
            "fn": "named_method",
            "args":
            {
                "some_object": {
                    "happy": true,
                    "pi": 3.141
                 }
            }
        },
        ...
    ]
}

And I'd like to generate the following string as painlessly as possible, before I write it to some_script.js:

var returned_value = KnownThing.named_method({ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }});

[nlohmann]

So you want

{
    "some_object": {
        "happy": true,
        "pi": 3.141
    }
}

to become

{ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }}

?

[coolhandle01]

Nono, Indentation is not an issue or concern here.

When I call dump, I'd like
{ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }}
but I get
"{ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }}"
in fact in the debugger it looks like this:
\"{ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }}\" (last I checked, might be going insane on this project)
and so I have to dequote the string result of .dump() with some hacky method, before writing the said string to some .js.
Like:
auto js = boost::str(boost::format("var %s = %s.%s(%s)"), varname, objname, methodname, args);
where auto args = j.dump();

I'm really struggling to make this clearer!

[nlohmann]

How did you parse the JSON text? Did you use parse to did you write something like json j = "..."?

[gregmarr]

It is impossible for the code you provided to produce the string "{ "some_object": {"happy": true, "pi": 3.141 }}" because your code dumps "some_object". Can you verify that the code you provided is the same as what you're using?

[coolhandle01]

I've worked around it now, because I obviously can't have random symbols in the JSON (variables), so I'm representing var references as strings, and doing a search, so I'm no longer using j.dump() with boost::format. Let me prepare a standalone example to emulate what I was doing. I will return soon with code.

[nlohmann]

Any news on this?

[neel]

I have a similar requirement. Keep the keys unquoted optionally. This can be done by passing a flag to the dump() function. Also I need a verbatim type value which will have string content but dump will not put quotes around it.

[nlohmann]

Without quotes, dump would produce invalid JSON text. If you want such a function, you can traverse the values yourself recursively and produce the desired result. I do not see this as part of the API.