How can I view an object with an alert()

Question

I tried to do a debug but I am having problems. Now I try with alert(). For example I want to see the value of:

var product = { ProductName: $('!Answer_Response[0]').val(),
                  UnitPrice: $('#Price').val(),
                  Stock: $('#Stock').val()
              };

When I say alert(product) it just gives me [object Object]. How can I make alert show what's really there?

Answer 1

you can use the JSON.stringify() method found in modern browsers and provided by json2.js.

var myObj = {"myProp":"Hello"};
alert (JSON.stringify(myObj));    // alerts {"myProp":"Hello"};

or

also check this library : http://devpro.it/JSON/files/JSON-js.html

Answer 2

you can use toSource method like this

alert(product.toSource());

Answer 3

If you want to easily view the contents of objects while debugging, install a tool like Firebug and use console.log:

console.log(product);

If you want to view the properties of the object itself, don't alert the object, but its properties:

alert(product.ProductName);
alert(product.UnitPrice);
// etc... (or combine them)

As said, if you really want to boost your JavaScript debugging, use Firefox with the Firebug addon. You will wonder how you ever debugged your code before.

Answer 4

This is what I use:

var result = [];
for (var l in someObject){
  if (someObject.hasOwnProperty(l){
    result.push(l+': '+someObject[l]);
  }
}
alert(result.join('\n'));

If you want to show nested objects too, you could use something recursive:

function alertObject(obj){
 var result = [];
 function traverse(obj){
 for (var l in obj){
   if (obj.hasOwnProperty(l)){
     if (obj[l] instanceof Object){
       result.push(l+'=>[object]');
       traverse(obj[l]);
     } else {
       result.push(l+': '+obj[l]);
     }
   }
  }
 }
 traverse(obj);
 return result;
}

Answer 5

You should really use Firebug or Webkit's console for debugging. Then you can just do console.debug(product); and examine the object.

Answer 6

Use Javascript native JSON.stringify method. To visualise it in a nicer way, you can use, like: JSON.stringify(obj,null, 4)

var obj = {data:[{"empmenuid":"1","empid":null,"deptid":"66","aliasid":"66","firstname":"66","lastname":"66","sin":"66","status":"66","empclass":"66","hiredate":"66","seneoritydate":"66","separationdate":"66"},{"empmenuid":"3","empid":null,"deptid":"12","aliasid":"12","firstname":"12","lastname":"12","sin":"12","status":"12","empclass":"12","hiredate":"12","seneoritydate":"12","separationdate":"12","recalldate":"12","martialstatus":"12","gender":"12","pager":"12","locid":"12","jobtitle":"12","jobtitlestart":"12","fullpart":"12","manager":"12","managername":"12","middlename":"12","nickname":"12","paytype":"12","payfreq":"12"}],
recordType : 'object'};

alert(JSON.stringify(obj,null, 4));

Answer 7

Try this:

alert(JSON.parse(product) );

Answer 8

alert (product.UnitName + " " + product.UnitPrice + " " + product.Stock)

or else create a toString() method on your object and call

alert(product.toString())

But I have to agree with other posters - if it is debugging you're going for then firebug or F12 on IE9 or chrome and using console.log is the way to go

Answer 9

Depending on which property you are interested in:

alert(product.ProductName);
alert(product.UnitPrice);
alert(product.Stock);

Answer 10

alert( JSON.stringify(product) );