circumvent ERROR Converting circular structure to JSON when doing JSON.stringify()?

Question

For debugging I want to serialize javascript objects with JSON.stringify(myobject). But this gives:

TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON

Is there a way to prevent this, by for instance pruning the output tree?

Some more background:

I want to collect some data on different objects and see what is going on, and why a feature works for one situation but not for another. By comparing outputs I hope to be able to find differences which explains why it is not working in "another" situation. I'm using jquery and my debug horse is called chrome. If there are better alternatives for doing this type of debugging activities I'm also very much interested!

Cheers, jeroen.

Mike Lewis · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 18:57:37Z

9

JSON.stringify(obj) does not support circular referencing such as:

var car = {}
car.myself = car;
JSON.stringify(car);

However dojox.json.ref does support circular referencing, if you wanted to explore another option.

However if your purposes are strictly to debug, I'd suggest using the built in browser debugger such as Chrome's, IE's or Firebug(for firefox).

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 18:57

Mike Lewis

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Rob Neuhaus · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-23 18:57:11Z

7

You can use console.log() and the chrome javascript debug console, which will happily let you inspect your object even if it has cyclic references.

answered Mar 23, 2011 at 18:57

Rob Neuhaus

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Nathan Breit · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-04 03:44:18Z

2

For node.js json-ref is a nice lightweight alternative to the dojox.json.ref function suggested by Mike Lewis.

answered Nov 4, 2012 at 3:44

Nathan Breit

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ajtrichards · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-10 11:10:26Z

2

You can now use Douglas Crockford's JSON Stringify plugin:

https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js

This has a decycle option in the download file cycle.js. You could also use console.log() and inspect the JSON in your browsers console.

edited May 10, 2013 at 11:10

answered Jan 10, 2013 at 17:07

ajtrichards

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