Why does one form file iteration work but the other throws % exception? (working with JSON parse in Google-apps-script) - json

Question

I was trying to use the method found here (see most up-voted answer):
Google Apps Script Fastest way to find a row?
I currently use this while it does work I wanted to try the above linked method yet when I replace the below code
function AutoPopulate (evalue)
{
//uses google drive file irretator reads in JSON file and parses it to a Javascript object that we can work with
var iter = DriveApp.getFilesByName("units.json");
// iterate through all the files named units.json
while (iter.hasNext()) {
// define a File object variable and set the Media Tyep
var file = iter.next();
var jsonFile = file.getBlob().getDataAsString();
// log the contents of the file
//Logger.log(jsonFile);
}
var UnitDatabase = JSON.parse(jsonFile);
//Logger.log(UnitDatabase);
//Logger.log(UnitDatabase[1027]);
return UnitDatabase[evalue];
}
WITH THIS CODE:
function AutoPopulate (evalue)
{
//this method did not work for me but should have according to stackflow answer linked above I am trying to understand why or how I can find out why it may have thrown an error
var jsonFile = DriveApp.getFilesByName("units.json").next(),
UnitDatabase = UnitDatabase.getBlob().getDataAsString();
return UnitDatabase[evalue];
}
I get an error in the excecution indicating that there is a % at postion 0 in the JSON, between the methods I dont alter the JSON file in anyway so I dont understand why does the top method work but the bottom one does not?
For further information the idea behind the code is that I have a list of Unit numbers and model numbers that are in a spreadsheet. I then convert this to a JSON file, this however is only done when a new unit is added to the fleet. As I learned one can parse a whole JSON file into a javascript object which makes working with the data set much faster. This javascript object is used so that when a user enters a UNIT# the MODEL# is auto populated based on the JSON file.
I cannot share the JSON file as it contains client information.

Answer 1

Your code does not work for two reasons:
You have a typo in the line UnitDatabase = UnitDatabase.getBlob()... - it should be UnitDatabase = jsonFile.getBlob()...
If you want to retrieve a nested object from a json file - you need to parse the JSOn - otherwise it is considered a string and you can not access the nested structure
Modified working code:
function AutoPopulate2 (evalue)
{
var jsonFile = DriveApp.getFilesByName("units.json").next();
var UnitDatabase = JSON.parse(jsonFile.getBlob().getDataAsString());
return UnitDatabase[evalue];
}
Mind that this code will only work if you have a "units.json" file on your drive and if evalue is a valid 1st-level nested object of this json.