JSP, JavaScript, and Java Objects

Question

I have a JSP where I'm using a javascript framework to build a chart using the Google Visualization API.

My servlet is returning a sales hashmap object with year as the key and integer (sales number) as the value.

My javascript uses the sales object to add data to the Google chart API which builds my chart. code:

sales = '<%= session.getAttribute("sales") %>';

The sales object in my js gets the hashmap but it's a long string. Do I have to parse it in my javascript or is there a way it will automatically put the hashmap object properly into the javascript sales object?

Answer 1

you wont need to use an external json library (but you could!) - you can print out the json directly into a javascript variable like:

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>
<script>
(function(){
   var sales = {
   <c:forEach var="entry" items="${requestScope['sales'].entrySet}" varStatus="counter">
      '${entry.key}' : ${entry.value} //outputs "2000" :1234 ,
      <c:if test="${!counter.last}">, </c:test>
   </c:foreach>
   };
   //js code that uses the sales object
   doStuffWith(sales);
})()
</script>