Make sure that JSON.stringify is set to automatically encode the forward slash character as `\/`

Question

Make sure that JSON.stringify is set to automatically encode the forward slash character as `\/`

In my current project, I am developing a service using nodejs to replace an old system written in .NET. This new service exposes a JSON API, and one of the API calls returns a date. In the Microsoft date format for JSON, the timestamp is represented as 1599890827000:

/Date(1599890827000)/

The issue I'm facing stems from the fact that JSON.stringify (which is used with res.send and res.json in express) does not escape forward slashes. However, the existing Microsoft library (System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer) expects forward slashes to be escaped.

For instance, the client expects the JSON data to look like this:

{
  "Expires": "\/Date(1599890827000)\/"
}

But when using JSON.stringify, it produces the following output:

{
  "Expires": "/Date(1599890827000)/"
}

Although the second result is technically valid JSON, the Microsoft library fails to parse it because it doesn't conform to their expected format.

Is there a way to make Express/Node.js automatically escape forward slashes during JSON.stringify or some other workaround for this situation?

I have considered using a regex replacement after calling stringify, but due to our object caching mechanism, converting to JSON before sending data to the client would be quite cumbersome.

Note: It's important to note that I am unable to modify the client application, only the API service.

javascript json node.js

Answer 1

Answer №1

Before escaping, the replacer must be applied, resulting in one of the following scenarios:

"/Date(1599890827000)/"

Or:

"\\/Date(1599890827000)\\/"

Practically speaking, you will need to perform a string replacement on the final output like this:

JSON.stringify(data).replace(/\//g, '\\/');

This implies that you cannot directly use the built-in res.json(data) method and might have to create a custom function for replacing it as shown below:

function dotNetJSONResponse(res, data) {

    var app = res.app;
    var replacer = app.get('json replacer');
    var spaces = app.get('json spaces');
    var body = JSON.stringify(data, replacer, spaces);

    if (!this.get('Content-Type')) {
        res.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
    }

    return res.send(body.replace(/\//g, '\\/'));
}

Usage example:

app.get('/url', function (req, res) {
     dotNetJSONResponse(res, data);
});

Nevertheless, addressing this issue in .NET would be a more future-proof solution.

Answer 2

Before escaping, the replacer must be applied, resulting in one of the following scenarios:

"/Date(1599890827000)/"

Or:

"\\/Date(1599890827000)\\/"

Practically speaking, you will need to perform a string replacement on the final output like this:

JSON.stringify(data).replace(/\//g, '\\/');

This implies that you cannot directly use the built-in res.json(data) method and might have to create a custom function for replacing it as shown below:

function dotNetJSONResponse(res, data) {

    var app = res.app;
    var replacer = app.get('json replacer');
    var spaces = app.get('json spaces');
    var body = JSON.stringify(data, replacer, spaces);

    if (!this.get('Content-Type')) {
        res.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
    }

    return res.send(body.replace(/\//g, '\\/'));
}

Usage example:

app.get('/url', function (req, res) {
     dotNetJSONResponse(res, data);
});

Nevertheless, addressing this issue in .NET would be a more future-proof solution.

Answer 3

Answer №2

Implement the replacer parameter

function replaceSlashes(key, value) 
{
  if ( typeof value == "string")
  {
    value = value.replace(/\//g, "\\/");
  }
  return value;
}

var jsonString = JSON.stringify(jsonString, replaceSlashes);

This code snippet will still result in a double backward slash because the stringify method alone cannot output a single slash without escaping it.\

To achieve this, consider using the following approach:

JSON.stringify({
  "Expires": "\/Date(1599890827000)\/"
}, replaceSlashes).replace(/\\\\/g, "\\");

Answer 4

Implement the replacer parameter

function replaceSlashes(key, value) 
{
  if ( typeof value == "string")
  {
    value = value.replace(/\//g, "\\/");
  }
  return value;
}

var jsonString = JSON.stringify(jsonString, replaceSlashes);

This code snippet will still result in a double backward slash because the stringify method alone cannot output a single slash without escaping it.\

To achieve this, consider using the following approach:

JSON.stringify({
  "Expires": "\/Date(1599890827000)\/"
}, replaceSlashes).replace(/\\\\/g, "\\");

Make sure that JSON.stringify is set to automatically encode the forward slash character as `\/`

Answer №1

Answer №2

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