An option to disable references on tables in toJSON()

[dmi7ry]

Describe the bug
If there are links to same table then toJSON() will insert the table only ocne and all other times a link will be used (^T^):

run a = { this = "that" }
run toJSON({ alpha = a, beta = a })
[16:19:52] Command results: [ { "alpha": { "this": "that" }, "beta": "^T^1" } ] [string]

It may be OK for some cases, but if we want to use it outside of MTA, it's not useful at all. Most cases we want the result would be like this:

run a = { this = "that" }
run toJSON({ alpha = a, beta = a }, true, "none", true ) -- last `true` to diable references on tables
[16:19:52] Command results: [ { "alpha": { "this": "that" }, "beta": { "this": "that" } } ] [string]

To reproduce

run a = { this = "that" }
run toJSON({ alpha = a, beta = a })
[16:19:52] Command results: [ { "alpha": { "this": "that" }, "beta": "^T^1" } ] [string]

Expected behaviour

run a = { this = "that" }
run toJSON({ alpha = a, beta = a }, true, "none", true ) -- last `true` to diable references on tables
[16:19:52] Command results: [ { "alpha": { "this": "that" }, "beta": { "this": "that" } } ] [string]

Screenshots
none

Version
1.5.6

Additional context
I'm not sure this is a bug. If it will be an option (toJSON's arument), it is also OK.

A little discussion about the issue there

[jushar]

That's one of MTA's weird behaviours and was made to prevent recursive table constructs.

Not sure what we do about that. Just changing it would break breakwards compatibility, so we would at least need a parameter to control that. But I generally agree with you that the behaviour you described is the expected behaviour.
For the meantime, you could use a pure Lua JSON library: https://github.com/rxi/json.lua

[dmi7ry]

That's one of MTA's weird behaviours and was made to prevent recursive table constructs.

I'm pretty sure it's just to reduce the size (there is similar things on element data, afair). And I'm not
sure how it may prevent recursive table constructs.

Just changing it would break breakwards compatibility

fromJSON still will work and result will be same for both cases (old and new). The result of improved toJSON also will be valid. So, how it would break something? Can you give an example?

For the meantime, you could use a pure Lua JSON library: https://github.com/rxi/json.lua

Sure. But any lua's implementation reduces performance. And it may be critical in some cases.

[patrikjuvonen]

I'm pretty sure it's just to reduce the size (there is similar things on element data, afair). And I'm not
sure how it may prevent recursive table constructs.

If you have a table that refers to itself in the table, this causes an issue. This JSON behavior was introduced to prevent infinite referencing although in JS such is prevented by actual error. Problem is it doesn't seem to work right.

fromJSON still will work and result will be same for both cases (old and new). The result of improved toJSON also will be valid. So, how it would break something? Can you give an example?

It will break backwards compatibility in toJSON as per your issue description. Some people may be relying on the old format.

Also isn't this a duplicate of #1073?

[dmi7ry]

Also isn't this a duplicate of #1073?

No. 1073 is about {}

[patrikjuvonen]

Ah, you're right. Seems like we had discussion about this issue in there so I got confused.

[dmi7ry]

Could someone change type from bug to enhancement?