format JSON response with \

ajax, coldfusion, jquery-autocomplete, json

Solution

The `\` is the escape character and needs to be escaped itself if it is part of the content.

So, the `JSON` string should like this before the client receives it:

[
    {
        "id": "23029",
        "label": "F:\\path\\to\\file\\filename.txt",
        "value": "filename.txt"
    },
    {
        "id": "23030",
        "label": "F:\\path\\to\\file\\filename.txt",
        "value": "filename.txt"
    },
    {
        "id": "23031",
        "label": "F:\\path\\to\\file\\filename.txt",
        "value": "filename.txt"
    }
]

Problem

I'm trying to format a json response as such: ``` [ { "id": "23029", "label": "F:\path\to\file\filename.txt", "value": "filename.txt" }, { "id": "23030", "label": "F:\path\to\file\filename.txt", "value": "filename.txt" }, { "id": "23031", "label": "F:\path\to\file\filename.txt", "value": "filename.txt" } ``` ] but according to JSONLint, the \ is breaking the "structure"? If I replace the \ with a | it works so I know the \ is the problem. I'm using the response in jQuery's Autocomplete. Should I be using SerializeJSON() instead? If so, do I need to change something in the ajax autocomplete script? ``` $(function() { var cache = {}, lastXhr; $( "#media" ).autocomplete({ minLength: 2, source: function( request, response ) { var term = request.term; if ( term in cache ) { response( cache[ term ] ); return; } lastXhr = $.getJSON( "ajax/search.cfm", request, function( data, status, xhr ) { cache[ term ] = data; if ( xhr === lastXhr ) { response( data ); } }); } }); }); ```

Original source