List data JSON formatting error

[Steve Workings]

I'm getting a regular error submitting a list's data as JSON, and wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a solution:

The list is initially defined with static data including this:

[{......."Acquisition_Date" : "06/05/2017",.....}]

The list is populated from its detail view, including a control named Acquisition_Date that is defined as a date type.

The population from the detail controls to the list is the standard:

var listObj = {dialog.object}.getControl('LIST1');
listObj.updateListFromUXControls();

When the user is ready for a final "Submit" I'm sending it to a callback for processing, again with the standard:

var listData = {dialog.object}.getListData('LIST1');
var jsonDataStr = JSON.stringify(listData);
var _dataToSubmit = A5.ajax.buildURLParam('__Data',jsonDataStr);
{dialog.Object}.ajaxCallback('','','Save','',_dataToSubmit);

and the callback begins with:

dim arr as p
arr = json_parse(e.__data)

All of this works nearly all the time. But there's often a frequent error with json_parse(). So I've been saving the e.__data before it gets to the json_parse() function and found this:

. . . "Acquisition_Date":"11/14/2"0"18 ", . . .

The example I'm working has three records being submitted in e.__data and all three have exactly the same problem.

I tried a client-side Transform Data Type in the list for this field, but that returned far more than just this date no matter what I did.

So I'm not sure how to solve this.

Anyone have an idea?

Thanks.

[alexc]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Hey Steve i have tested this and not getting an issue like you explain above.
What value are you getting in javascript chrome debugger console for _dataToSubmit
Simply console.log(_dataToSubmit) in your javascript code will give you the value in the chrome debugger console.

[Davidk]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

The Alpha version/build you're using is required information. Any release or pre-release could introduce errors... with any release following correcting issues.

Also, how is your Acquisition_Date input?

[Steve Workings]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Thanks Alex. I can't reliably reproduce this enough to do what you suggest. I finally identified the problem by saving e.__data to my debugging table as the first action in the callback, and then relying on a user to tell me when it happened so I could go find one with an error. This happens maybe only once every 50 times or so on average; it's not something I'm likely to nail with the console.

[alexc]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Hey Steve,

Could i suggest you also log client side js variables jsonDataStr and _dataToSubmit via a globalobj like {dialog.object}.__UnquieName.
where you are generating the code from the server post the action something like

DIM uniquelink = _something 'Could make it so you can associate with log in db

js = <<text%
js = js + "var listData = {dialog.object}.getListData('LIST1');"
js = js + "var jsonDataStr = JSON.stringify(listData);"
js = js + "var _dataToSubmit = A5.ajax.buildURLParam('__Data',jsonDataStr);"
js = js + "{dialog.object}.__" + uniquelink + ".jsonDataStr = jsonDataStr;"
js = js + "{dialog.object}.__" + uniquelink + "._dataToSubmit = _dataToSubmit ;"

[WebDesignShop]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

So, as it appears the overall issue is that sometimes you get extra quotes in your date string? If that is true then you need to create a function to check each submitted value and make sure it's not including any non valid characters within the string. Maybe the users in some cases are inputting the date manually rather than using a date picker....I don't know. Definitely add the function to check each value before adding it to the submission.

[mikeallenbrown]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Try this...

var listData = {dialog.object}.getListData('LIST1');
var jsonDataStr = JSON.stringify(listData);
[COLOR="#FF0000"]jsonDataStr = encodeURIComponent(jsonDataStr);[/COLOR]
var _dataToSubmit = A5.ajax.buildURLParam('__Data',jsonDataStr);
{dialog.Object}.ajaxCallback('','','Save','',_dataToSubmit);

call back...

dim arr as p
arr = json_parse([COLOR="#FF0000"]urldecode(e.__data)[/COLOR])

I've made it a standard practice of mine to encode the data in situations like yours. It handles the special characters that might be bombing your callback.

https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsre...icomponent.asp

https://documentation.alphasoftware....20Function.xml

[Davidk]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

The A5.ajax.buildURLParam() method includes url encoding. The data is automatically decoded on the server side.

Since this is a random issue, there's something else going on that's not been reported. We don't know what build/version is being used so we can't use that information to test and narrow the search. We also don't know how the date data is being input.

My tests show no issues.

[mikeallenbrown]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

The A5.ajax.buildURLParam() method includes url encoding.

oh ... Then nevermind.

[Steve Workings]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

So, as it appears the overall issue is that sometimes you get extra quotes in your date string? If that is true then you need to create a function to check each submitted value and make sure it's not including any non valid characters within the string. Maybe the users in some cases are inputting the date manually rather than using a date picker....I don't know. Definitely add the function to check each value before adding it to the submission.

Users are forced to choose from the date picker, and several users from different countries have reported this. Thanks.

[RichCPT]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Steve,
I wonder if you could instead use e.dataSubmittedJSON? (https://documentation.alphasoftware....bmitted%20json

I know it looks like the problem is with the date field, but I'm not convinced about that.
I think there is a quoting issue going on with a text field that occurs before the date field and the "A5.ajax.buildURLParam()" doesn't know how to handle it because it expects JSON.stringify() to have done its job properly: https://github.com/gatling/gatling/issues/3296

[Steve Workings]

Re: List data JSON formatting error

Well, I've changed nothing and users are no longer reporting the error. Yesterday it officially got checked off the bug list.

Appreciate help all around, but right now I'm off to other fires. Wish I had an explanation but I don't.