Formatting JSON Data with ColdFusion for HighCharts - json

Question

So I'm working on a pie chart using HighSlide and ColdFusion.
To make this simple, for the data it expects a string like this:
data: [{name: 'Jane',y: 13}, {name: 'John',y: 23}, {name: 'Joe',y: 19}]
What i've done to accomplish this is to loop through my query results and create a string like this:
<cfloop query="getAreaCounts">
<cfset areaList = listAppend(areaList, "{name: '#name#',y: #y#}")>
</cfloop>
I know there has to be an easier/smarter way right? Since this is JSON data, i figured I could just do this:
<cfoutput>#SerializeJSON(getAreaCounts)#</cfoutput>
But that returns a JSON string like this which highcharts won't process:
{"COLUMNS":["Y","NAME"],"DATA":[[8,"Area1"],[7,"Area2"],[1,"Area3"],[1,"Area4"]]}
Any help pointing me in the right direction would be great. Do I need to dig deeper into a JSON - howto?

Answer 1

You're going to want to convert the query to an array of structs and then run serializeJSON() on that array.
Below is a method that I use pretty frequently when working with a lot of queries and JSON. I think that I got it from Ben Nadel's site and then converted it to cfscript.. I'll try to track down the blog post after I post this answer.
public array function queryToArray( required query qry ) {
var columns = arguments.qry.getColumnNames();
var ofTheJedi = [];
for( var i = 1; i LTE qry.recordCount; i++ ) {
var obj = {};
for( var k = 1; k LTE arrayLen( columns ); k++ ) {
structInsert( obj, columns[ k ], arguments.qry[ columns[ k ] ][ i ] );
}
arrayAppend( ofTheJedi, obj );
}
return ofTheJedi;
}
So, in your case you would do something like this:
<cfset myJSON = queryToArray( getAreaCounts ) />
<cfoutput>#serializeJSON( myJSON )#</cfoutput>
EDIT: Here's Ben's blog post that inspired the method above: http://www.bennadel.com/blog/124-Ask-Ben-Converting-a-Query-to-an-Array.htm

Answer 2

You need something like this (untested but you get the idea)
<cfscript>
data = [{name='Jane',y=13],{name='John',y=23},{name='Joe',y=19}];
</cfscript>
<cfoutput>#serializeJson(data)#</cfoutput>
You need to create a Coldfusion array of strucutres (each with "name" and "y" as members).. then serialize it. What you are serializeing above is the query object. By your code it looks like you meant to serialze the "arealist" variable - but that var would probably not come out correct either because it is not an array of structures - it is a list of strings.