Accessing data in a multidimensional JSON array with jQuery

Question

I am trying to work out how to access data in an essentially multidimensional JSON array.

My jQuery AJAX request looks like this:

 $("#login-form").submit(function(e) {
 e.preventDefault();
 $.ajax({
   type: 'POST',
   url: '/ajax/login',
   data: 'email='+$("#email").val()+'&password='+$("#password").val(),
   success: function(data){

     // FIRE ALERT HERE        
     alert(data.firstname);

     },
     dataType: 'json'
  });
});

This is what i am getting back. User account details, plus a list of products they have against their account.

{
    "logged_in":true,
    "firstname":"Joe",
    "surname":"Bloggs",
    "Full_name":"Joe Bloggs",
    "email":"[email protected]",
    "phone":"+123456789",
    "website":"",
    "age":"26-35",
    "street":"1 Street Ave",
    "city":"Townland",
    "state":"NA",
    "postcode":"1234",
    "country":"Australia",
    "products":2,
    "0":{
        "product_no":"1087",
        "customer":"2",
        "bought_from":"1",
        "date_of_purchase":"2011-04-08",
        "method":"instore",
        "invoice":"0",
        "current":"1"
    },
    "1":{
        "product_no":"24",
        "customer":"2",
        "bought_from":"1",
        "date_of_purchase":"2011-04-08",
        "method":"instore",
        "invoice":"0",
        "current":"1"
    }
}

As you can see, i am alerting the first name, which is fine. I can access everything in the first dimension by using data.key but i'm not sure how then i need to index the next dimension. Obviously I would like to display each of the products somehow.

Suggestions would be most welcome.

Answer 1

Inside your success function you can treat the JSON data as a JavaScript object. You can access the product array and objects inside it like this:

console.log(data.products + " product(s) in data"); // data.products is 2 (integer)
for(var i = 0; i < data.products; i++) {            // 
    var product = data[i.toString()];               // 0.toString() is "0"
                                                    // data["0"] is what you want
                                                    // now product points to the property "0"
    console.log(product.product_no);                // so you can use product.xxx
                                                    // or product["xxx"]
}                                                   // likewise for "1", "2", "3" and so on

Replace console.log with alert if you do not know what console is.

Answer 2

Each of the product details can be accessed through data[iProductIndex.toString()] member. Data is stored inside data["0"] and data["1"], therefore to access them you need to convert integer value to string. Unfortunately you won't be able to use $.each loop because "0" and "1" are separate member objects. Use for loop with iProductIndex.