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Transform values from a JSON representation

Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Created
08 Apr, 2021
Category
Tip
Tags
JavaScript
When transforming a given variable to the JSON representation, we might see unexpected results if the variable contains an unserializable property.
Let's consider a simple object that represents the information of a person. It has the `phones` property that is a set of different phone numbers.
const person = {
name: 'John Doe',
ages: 42,
phones: new Set(['123', '456', '789']),
};
The set is transformed to an empty object which is unexpected output:
JSON.stringify(person);

// "{"name":"John Doe","ages":42,"phones":{}}"
We can solve the issue by passing the second parameter to the `stringify` function. It can be a function of two parameters representing the key and value of the current iterated item.
JSON.stringify(variable, (key, value) => {
// The return value will be used in final output

// If the function returns `undefined`,
// the item will be excluded from the output
return ...;
});
Here is how the phone numbers are transformed when we see the `phones` key:
JSON.stringify(person, (key, value) => (key === 'phones' ? [...value.values()] : value));

// "{"name":"John Doe","ages":42,"phones":["123","456","789"]}"
Want to transform all `Set` values? No problem!
JSON.stringify(person, (key, value) => (value instanceof Set ? [...value.values()] : value));

See also

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