How do I include one JSON in another JSON?

Question

My first JSON is:

{  
  "categoryId":"Painting",  
  "subCategoryId":"Residential",  
  "alternatives":    [1,2,3,4,5],  
  "criterias":["price","quantity","yom","company"],  
  "answers":[["1000","12343","4543","","4645646"],["12","23","34","","45"],["2014","","2000","1990","2005"],["xyz","","Abc","jkl","mno"]]  
}

This will come from a java URL, here I am using PHP, in PHP I am calling a java URL.

My Second JSON is:

{"criterias":"Location"}

I am generating this using JQuery. How can I include the second JSON into the first JSON criterias?

JSON doesn't have any mechanism to reference/include JSON in other files. You manually have to edit the JSON and insert your other JSON there. Or load both JSON files with whatever language you are processing the data in, and write some custom logic to merge the data in that language. — Felix Kling, Mar 06 '14 at 06:24
Which language you are referring? You need to convert your first json string to object and add a new property to it. — Purushotham, Mar 06 '14 at 06:25
Now that you added the jquery tag, are you asking how to (custom) merge two objects? Then it doesn't have anything to do with JSON anymore. Where the data comes from becomes irrelevant. — Felix Kling, Mar 06 '14 at 06:27
I am using jquery and php. Do we need to do this using ajax. — sreenath, Mar 06 '14 at 06:28
*"Do we need to do this using ajax"* No, you can load the JSON with PHP and modify the resulting arrays/objects. TBH, your question is very vague. It's unclear whether you want to reference on JSON file from the other (which is not possible) or merge the data structures after the JSON is parsed, at which point it doesn't have anything to do with JSON anymore. — Felix Kling, Mar 06 '14 at 06:29
First json will come from Java url, i need to add extra values to the first json and i need to send that back. How is it possible? — sreenath, Mar 06 '14 at 06:29

score 12 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 20 '19 at 15:30

12

The simplest way to include one file in another is to use cpp (C preprocessor).

For example, if I have test.json as

{"name":"NAME",
#include "another.json"
}

and another.json as

"inner":"value"

you should be able to obtain

$ cpp -P test.json
{"name":"NAME",
"inner":"value"
}

Of course, you will need to make sure that resulting syntax is correct by properly formatting both pieces.

answered Mar 20 '19 at 15:30

Ildar Rakhmanov

121
1
2

1

Must say it is a very creative way, wouldn't say it's the most elegant, but i like the thought. – Tomer W Mar 08 '20 at 11:57

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '14 at 06:38

I believe the original question is how to merge these 2 JSON objects within javascript. Assuming that, the answer is simple.

var firstJson = {  
  "categoryId":"Painting",  
  "subCategoryId":"Residential",  
  "alternatives":    [1,2,3,4,5],  
  "criterias":["price","quantity","yom","company"],  
  "answerss":[["1000","12343","4543","","4645646"],["12","23","34","","45"],["2014","","2000","1990","2005"],["xyz","","Abc","jkl","mno"]]  
};

var secondJson = {"criterias":"Location"};

firstJson.criterias = $.extend({},firstJson.criterias,secondJson.criterias);

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 06 '14 at 06:35

1

You need to convert your first JSON string to object and add a new property to it.

If it is Java, you can use Google's Gson library

Gson gson = new Gson();
JsonObject jsonObj = gson.fromJson (jsonStr, JsonElement.class).getAsJsonObject();
jsonObj.add("criterias", "Location");

If it is JavaScript,

var jObj = JSON.parse(jsonString);
jObj.criterias = "Location";  //jObj.NewItem = "NewValue";

answered Mar 06 '14 at 06:35

Purushotham

3,770
29
41

@sreenath Can you show me your firstjson string? Eg. var jObj = JSON.parse('{"key":"value"}'); console.log(jObj.key); – Purushotham Mar 06 '14 at 06:55
It is working now ,i had forgot to include quotes. Thanks @uttam. – sreenath Mar 06 '14 at 07:01

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 19 '23 at 05:02

There is a library in npm which does this in simplest way.

Check this: https://www.npmjs.com/package/coded-json

But the cost is, your target file extension should be .cjson otherwise your json schema will validate with errors.

There are other features like adding comments. Check documentation here: https://github.com/SubhenduShekhar/cjson/blob/main/README.md

score -4 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

-4

Here is the example of how you write nested JSON

{"menu": {
   "id": "file",
   "value": "File",
   "popup": {
       "menuitem": [
           {"value": "New", "onclick": "CreateNewDoc()"},
           {"value": "Open", "onclick": "OpenDoc()"},
           {"value": "Close", "onclick": "CloseDoc()"}
        ]
   }
 }}

For More examples visit following links:

http://www.jsonexample.com/

http://json.org/example

create nested JSON object in php?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

1
1

answered Mar 06 '14 at 06:34

Jatin patil

4,252
1
18
27

the original question was how to merge two json not nested json. – hasan.in Jun 08 '22 at 17:42

How do I include one JSON in another JSON?

5 Answers5