JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a plain-text format for structured data. It stores information as property–value pairs: a property name describes a field, and its value holds the data. Braces surround one object, commas separate pairs, and property names use double quotation marks. Values are commonly quoted text, but can also be numbers or other JavaScript data types. section 13.2.2
{
"property1": value1,
"property2": value2,
...
"propertyX": valueX
}
A JSON object is a brace-delimited group of named properties. Replace each placeholder with a quoted property name and an appropriate value. section 13.2.2
A spreadsheet row can become one JSON object: column headings become property names, and the row’s cells become values. When a data range has several rows, JSON can place the objects in an array, with commas between objects and square brackets around the full collection. section 13.2.2
Course data as JSON
A course record can use fields such as "Course ID", "Title", "Instructor", "Department", and "Semester". For example, "Semester": 1 is a number, while a course title is quoted text. A collection of course records can then supply the data for a catalog page. section 13.2.2 section 13.5
To turn an Excel range into a downloadable JSON file with ChatGPT:
- Put the data in a range or table, and give every column a unique heading. section 13.9
- Upload the spreadsheet in a ChatGPT 4 session; file uploading is noted as a ChatGPT Plus capability. section 13.2.3
- Prompt for the named range, table, or worksheet to be converted to JSON and written as a .json file. section 13.2.4
- Download and inspect the result. If the wrong data was converted, make the range or worksheet instruction more specific. section 13.2.4
JSON is useful for pages whose displayed data changes in response to visitor actions. JavaScript can fetch a separate JSON file, turn its records into page content, and support controls for searching, filtering, and sorting. Keeping the data in its own file lets an otherwise empty page element be populated after the page loads. section 13.0 section 13.5
Loading JSON into a page
A JavaScript `fetch('college_courses.json')` call can read a JSON file. The response is converted with `response.json()`, then the resulting data is used to populate dropdown lists and course articles. Because this code coordinates loading and manipulation, make JavaScript edits cautiously. section 13.6.3
