Saving CR/LF in json data

Question

I am saving table data to a json object. The table data is coming from txt inputs and textareas in the table cells.

I'm running into a problem with CR/LF characters in the JSON elements holding the textarea data. The JSON data gets saved to the database fine, but when I pass it back to the jQuery function that populates the table using that data, I get this:

SyntaxError: JSON.parse: bad control character in string literal at line 1 column 67 of the JSON data
var array = JSON.parse(notes),

in the console.

I put the JSON data in Notepad++ with Show All Characters on and the CR/LF was at column 67.

Here's a sample of JSON data that I'm working with:

[["","","",""],["","9/23/14","",""],["","30789 detail, x_vendor_no**CR/LF HERE**
20597 header","",""],["","99 del invalid x_vendor_no","",""],["","30780","",""],["","","",""],["","","",""],["","","",""]]

Is there a way to allow CR/LF in the data?

UPDATE 11684's suggestion to use replace to remove the \r part of the CRLF won't work. Here's why:

Here's the complete function that uses the JSON data: (Updated to work with Update #2 code below)

function PopulateTaskTableWithNotes(tableID,notesArray) {
    // JSON parse removed per answer suggestion
    var r, c, note;

    for (r = 0; r < notesArray.length; ++r) {
        for (c = 0; c < notesArray[r].length; ++c) {
            note = notesArray[r][c];
        $('#' + tableID + ' tr:nth-child(' + (r + 1) + ') td:nth-child(' + (c + 1) + ')').children(':first-child').val(note);
        }
    }
}

I still get the error on the line that tries to parse the JSON data. The replace function apparently can't "find" characters within an array element.

UPDATE #2 Here's how I am creating the array:

var siteID = $('#ddlUserSites option:selected').val(),
    numRows = $('#' + tableID + ' tr').length,
    numCols = $('#' + tableID).find('tr:first th').length,
    notesArray = new Array(numRows),
    rowNum = 1,
    note = '',
    colNum;

while (rowNum <= numRows) {
    notesArray[rowNum] = new Array(numCols);

    // Reset colNum for next row iteration
    colNum = 1;
    while (colNum <= numCols) {
        note = '';

        if ($('#' + tableID + ' tr:nth-child(' + rowNum + ') td:nth-child(' + colNum + ')').children(':first-child').is('input,textarea')) {
            note = $('#' + tableID + ' tr:nth-child(' + rowNum + ') td:nth-child(' + colNum + ')').children(':first-child').val();
        }
        notesArray[rowNum][colNum] = note;
        //console.log('Note for rowNum ' + rowNum + ', colNum ' + colNum + ': ' + note);
        colNum++;
    }
    // Remove first element in current row array
    notesArray[rowNum].shift();
    rowNum++;
}
// Remove first element in array
notesArray.shift();
JSON.stringify(notesArray); // Added per an answer here
console.log('Final notesArray: ' + $.toJSON(notesArray));

$.ajax({
    data: {saveTaskNotes: 'true', userID:userID, siteID:siteID, taskTable:tableID, notes:notesArray},
    success: function(data) {
        console.log('Save task notes data: ' + data);
    }
});

The "Final notesArray" console output looks fine, but now, with stringify added, the function above (PopulateTaskTableWithNotes) console output shows that it's reading through every character in the array as a separate element!

Maybe this will help too, as far as what's happening to the data between the creating and reading functions: the array is being saved to a single MySQL database field and then retrieved for the PopulateTable function via $.ajax() (on both ends).

Having said that, do I need to look at what I'm doing with/to the array in the PHP code?

UPDATE #3 Here's the PHP function that takes the data in and writes to the MySQL db:

function SaveTaskNotes($userID,$siteID,$taskTable,$notes) {
    $notes = json_encode($notes);
    $insertUpdateTaskNotesResult = '';
    $insertTaskNotes = "INSERT INTO userProgress (userProgressUserID,userProgressSiteID,userProgressNotesTable,userProgressNotes) values ($userID,$siteID,'" . $taskTable . "','" . $notes . "')";
    $log->lwrite('$insertTaskNotes: ' . $insertTaskNotes);
    $resultInsertTaskNotes = @mysqli_query($dbc,$insertTaskNotes);
    if ($resultInsertTaskNotes) {
        $insertUpdateTaskNotesResult = 'insertTaskNotesSuccess';
    } else {
        if (mysqli_error($dbc) != '') {
            $log->lwrite('INSERT TASK NOTES: An error occurred while attempting to add the task notes. Query: ' . $insertTaskNotes . ', mysqli_error: ' . mysqli_error($dbc));
        }
        $insertUpdateTaskNotesResult = 'insertTaskNotesFail';
    }
    echo $insertUpdateTaskNotesResult;
}

And here's the function that gets the data from the db and sends it to the above $.ajax function:

function GetUserTaskNotes($userID,$siteID,$taskTableID) {
    $queryGetUserTaskNotes = "SELECT userProgressNotes FROM userProgress WHERE userProgressUserID = $userID AND userProgressSiteID = $siteID AND userProgressNotesTable = '" . $taskTableID . "'";
    $log->lwrite('$queryGetUserTaskNotes: ' . $queryGetUserTaskNotes);
    $resultGetUserTaskNotes = @mysqli_query($dbc,$queryGetUserTaskNotes);
    if ($resultGetUserTaskNotes) {
        $taskNotes = mysqli_fetch_assoc($resultGetUserTaskNotes);
        $log->lwrite('Retrieved $taskNotes[\'userProgressNotes\']: ' . $taskNotes['userProgressNotes']);
        echo $taskNotes['userProgressNotes'];
    } else {
        if (mysqli_error($dbc) != '') {
            $log->lwrite('GET TASK NOTES: An error occurred while attempting to retrieve the task notes. Query: ' . $queryGetUserTaskNotes . ', mysqli_error: ' . mysqli_error($dbc));
        }
        echo 'getTaskNotesFail';
    }
}

In both the save and get functions the $log output shows that the array never changes (with the above js/php code) and pasting the array in to notepad++ shows that the CR/LF is still there throughout.

Solution 1

Don't use JSON.parse, the data is already JSON and Javascript can work with it.

You only need it when passing a string, imagine JSON.parse() beeing like string2json().

I think this might already be a solution to your problem, I've never had issues with new line characters.

As Luis said, the problem is not your client (Javascript, jQuery), besides the JSON.parse, but the providing site is wrong.

Example for PHP:

<?php
echo json_encode(array("test" => "


x"));

PHP properly escapes the characters:

{"test":"\r\n\r\n\r\nx"}

But the source of your data is providing malformed JSON.

To fix the JSON issue, either use prepared statements or use:

$notes = str_replace('\', '\\', json_encode($notes)); // in SaveTaskNotes

Solution 2

Well, the error is on the input data (showed in question). You can't have an CR or LF inside a literal in a JSON string. What you can have are that chars escaped as \r \n. The problem is on other side, where escaped codes are replaced by actual chars and therefore the full JSON string becomes invalid.