ljharb/qs

Stringify with "arrayFormat: comma" encodes objects inside arrays as "[object Object]"

Open

#378 opened on Aug 11, 2020

View on GitHub
 (30 comments) (6 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (744 forks)batch import
bughelp wantedstringify

Repository metrics

Stars
 (8,015 stars)
PR merge metrics
 (Avg merge 6d 22h) (2 merged PRs in 30d)

Description

Tested on version 6.9.4

Stringify with arrayFormat: comma encodes objects inside arrays as [object Object]

I took this code from the examples:

qs.stringify({ a: { b: { c: 'd', e: 'f' } } });
// 'a[b][c]=d&a[b][e]=f'

and added an array around the inside object

qs.stringify({ a: { b: [{ c: 'd', e: 'f' }] } }, { encode: false, arrayFormat: 'comma' })
// 'a[b]=[object Object]'

The inside data is lost this way.

I tried the allowDots setting too, but that didn't fix anything.

I'm not sure what the output should be like exactly, but this is unusable right now. In my project I did Array.map(p => ${p.ID}::${p.Value}), but that's very specific and I'm unsure if the :: is a good seperator.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Inspect the qs source code to understand how the comma arrayFormat serializes non primitive elements. Look at the 'stringify' function's handling of 'comma' option and how it processes array items that are objects. Consider implementing a recursive serialization for object items within arrays when using comma array format.
Tech stack
javascript
Domain
backendapi
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
JavaScript
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60