Visual FoxPro

Understanding JSON Array vs JSON Object

See more JSON Examples

This example explains the difference between a JSON Array and a JSON Object. A JSON Array begins with "[" and ends with "]", whereas a JSON Object begins with "{" and ends with "}".

Elements contained in a JSON array are accessed by index, whereas elements in a JSON object are typically accessed by name (but can also be accessed by index).

Visual FoxPro

LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL lcStrJsonArray
LOCAL loJsonA
LOCAL lcStrJsonObj
LOCAL loJsonO

lnSuccess = 0

* A JSON array should be loaded into a Chilkat JSON array,
* whereas a JSON object should be loaded into a Chilkat JSON object.

* A JSON array may contain objects, and a JSON object may contains arrays, but
* it is the top-level (outermost) element that defines whether the JSON
* document is an array or an object.
* An array begins and ends with "[" ... "]"
* An object begins and ends with "{" ... "}"

* For example, an array containing 2 objects:
lcStrJsonArray = '[ { "name": "Bill" }, { "name": "Ted" } ]'

* Load it into a JSON array.
loJsonA = CreateObject('Chilkat.JsonArray')
lnSuccess = loJsonA.Load(lcStrJsonArray)
? "number of array elements: " + STR(loJsonA.Size)

* This is an object containing an array:
lcStrJsonObj = '{ "characters": [ "Bill", "Ted" ] }'

* Load it into a JSON object.
loJsonO = CreateObject('Chilkat.JsonObject')
lnSuccess = loJsonO.Load(lcStrJsonObj)
? "number of object members: " + STR(loJsonO.Size)

RELEASE loJsonA
RELEASE loJsonO