jQuery Serialize Object

As seen on StackOverflow: Convert forms to JSON LIKE A BOSS.

Adds the method serializeObject to jQuery, to perform complex form serialization into JavaScript objects.

The current implementation relies in jQuery.serializeArray() to grab the form attributes and then create the object using the input name attributes.

This means it will serialize the inputs that are supported by .serializeArray(), that use the standard W3C rules for successful controls to determine which inputs should be included; in particular:

• The input cannot be disabled and must contain a name attribute.
• No submit button value is serialized since the form is not submitted using a button.
• Data from <input type="file"> inputs are not serialized.

2.0

Version 2.0 takes jquery-serialize-object into maturity. It is now backed by a full test suite so you can be confident that it will work in your web app.

Moving ahead, on top of core serialization, .serializeObject will support correct serializaton for boolean and number values, resulting valid types for both cases.

Look forward to these in >= 2.1.0

API

Given a basic HTML form

<form id="contact">
  <input name="user[email]" value="jsmith@example.com">
  <input name="user[pets][]" type="checkbox" value="cat" checked>
  <input name="user[pets][]" type="checkbox" value="dog" checked>
  <input name="user[pets][]" type="checkbox" value="bird" checked>
  <input type="submit">
</form>

.serializeObject — serializes the selected form into a JavaScript object

$('form#contact').serializeObject();
//=> {user: {email: "jsmith@example.com", pets: ["cat", "dog"]}}

.serializeJSON — serializes the selected form into JSON

$('form#contact').serializeJSON();
//=> '{"user":{"email":"jsmith@example.com","pets":["cat","dog"]}}'

Tests

To run the tests, you will need node.js and mocha.

$ npm install
$ npm test

CoffeeScript

CoffeeScript has been dropped for >= 2.0.0. If members of the community would like to support this, please feel free to add a CoffeeScript version.

If you'd like to use the the 1.0.0 version, it is still available here.

Contributing

jquery-serialize-object utilizes browserify to keep great code composition in the core, facilitate testing, and prevent source code duplication.

To start developing, you will first need to install the development dependencies:

$ npm install

Changes will primarily happen in lib/form-serialier.js, but feel free to take a peek at lib/plugin.js to see how it integrates with jQuery.

Once you have finished your changes, build the new plugin:

$ npm run-script browserify

All pull requests must be backed by tests or they will be rejected. Additionally, please update the compiled file using Google Closure Compiler. There is not an automated process for updating this file yet.