翻译强力驱动I am trying to consume a web service in VB6. The service - which I control - currently can return a SOAP/XML message or JSON. I am having a really difficult time figuring out if VB6's SOAP type (version 1) can handle a returned object - as opposed to simple types like string, int, etc. So far I cannot figure out what I need to do to get VB6 to play with returned objects.
So I thought I might serialize the response in the web service as a JSON string. Does a JSON parser exist for VB6?
Check out JSON.org for an up-to-date list (see bottom of main page) of JSON parsers in many different languages. As of the time of this writing, you'll see a link to two different JSON parsers there:
The actual syntax for this VB JSON library is really simple:
Dim p As Object Set p = JSON.parse(strFormattedJSON) 'Print the text of a nested property ' Debug.Print p.Item("AddressClassification").Item("Description") 'Print the text of a property within an array ' Debug.Print p.Item("Candidates")(4).Item("ZipCode")Building on ozmike solution, which did not work for me (Excel 2013 and IE10). The reason is that I could not call the methods on the exposed JSON object. So its methods are now exposed through functions attached to a DOMElement. Didn't know this is possible (must be that IDispatch-thing), thank you ozmike.
As ozmike stated, no 3rd-party libs, just 30 lines of code.
Option Explicit Public JSON As Object Private ie As Object Public Sub initJson() Dim html As String html = "" Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application") With ie .navigate "about:blank" Do While .Busy: DoEvents: Loop Do While .readyState 4: DoEvents: Loop .Visible = False .document.Write html .document.Close End With ' This is the body element, we call it JSON:) Set JSON = ie.document.getElementById("JSONElem") End Sub Public Function closeJSON() ie.Quit End FunctionThe following test constructs a JavaScript Object from scratch, then stringifies it. Then it parses the object back and iterates over its keys.
Sub testJson() Call initJson Dim jsObj As Object Dim jsArray As Object Debug.Print "Construction JS object ..." Set jsObj = JSON.Parse("{}") Call jsObj.setItem("a", 1) Set jsArray = JSON.Parse("[]") Call jsArray.setItem(0, 13) Call jsArray.setItem(1, Math.Sqr(2)) Call jsArray.setItem(2, 15) Call jsObj.setItem("b", jsArray) Debug.Print "Object: " & JSON.stringify(jsObj, 4) Debug.Print "Parsing JS object ..." Set jsObj = JSON.Parse("{""a"":1,""b"":[13,1.4142135623730951,15]}") Debug.Print "a: " & jsObj.getItem("a") Set jsArray = jsObj.getItem("b") Debug.Print "Length of b: " & jsArray.getItem("length") Debug.Print "Second element of b: "; jsArray.getItem(1) Debug.Print "Iterate over all keys ..." Dim keys As Object Set keys = jsObj.getKeys("all") Dim i As Integer For i = 0 To keys.getItem("length") - 1 Debug.Print keys.getItem(i) & ": " & jsObj.getItem(keys.getItem(i)) Next i Call closeJSON End Suboutputs
Construction JS object ... Object: { "a": 1, "b": [ 13, 1.4142135623730951, 15 ] } Parsing JS object ... a: 1 Length of b: 3 Second element of b: 1,4142135623731 Iterate over all keys ... a: 1 b: 13,1.4142135623730951,15I know this is an old question but my answer hopefully will be a big help to others who keep on coming to this page after searching for "vba json".
I found this page to be very helpful. It provides several Excel-compatible VBA classes that deal with processing data in JSON format.
Here is a "Native" VB JSON library.
It is possible to use JSON that is already in IE8+. This way your not dependent on a third party library that gets out of date and is untested.
see amedeus' alternative version here
Sub myJSONtest() Dim oJson As Object Set oJson = oIE_JSON() ' See below gets IE.JSON object ' using json objects Debug.Print oJson.parse("{ ""hello"": ""world"" }").hello ' world Debug.Print oJson.stringify(oJson.parse("{ ""hello"": ""world"" }")) ' {"hello":"world"} ' getting items Debug.Print oJson.parse("{ ""key1"": ""value1"" }").key1 ' value1 Debug.Print oJson.parse("{ ""key1"": ""value1"" }").itemGet("key1") ' value1 Debug.Print oJson.parse("[ 1234, 4567]").itemGet(1) ' 4567 ' change properties Dim o As Object Set o = oJson.parse("{ ""key1"": ""value1"" }") o.propSetStr "key1", "value\""2" Debug.Print o.itemGet("key1") ' value\"2 Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' {"key1":"value\\\"2"} o.propSetNum "key1", 123 Debug.Print o.itemGet("key1") ' 123 Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' {"key1":123} ' add properties o.propSetNum "newkey", 123 ' addkey! JS MAGIC Debug.Print o.itemGet("newkey") ' 123 Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' {"key1":123,"newkey":123} ' assign JSON 'objects' to properties Dim o2 As Object Set o2 = oJson.parse("{ ""object2"": ""object2value"" }") o.propSetJSON "newkey", oJson.stringify(o2) ' set object Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' {"key1":123,"newkey":{"object2":"object2value"}} Debug.Print o.itemGet("newkey").itemGet("object2") ' object2value ' change array items Set o = oJson.parse("[ 1234, 4567]") ' Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' [1234,4567] Debug.Print o.itemGet(1) o.itemSetStr 1, "234" Debug.Print o.itemGet(1) Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' [1234,"234"] o.itemSetNum 1, 234 Debug.Print o.itemGet(1) Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' [1234,234] ' add array items o.itemSetNum 5, 234 ' add items! JS Magic Debug.Print o.itemGet(5) ' 234 Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' [1234,234,null,null,null,234] ' assign JSON object to array item o.itemSetJSON 3, oJson.stringify(o2) ' assign object Debug.Print o.itemGet(3) '[object Object] Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o.itemGet(3)) ' {"object2":"object2value"} Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' [1234,234,null,{"object2":"object2value"},null,234] oIE_JSON_Quit ' quit IE, must shut down or the IE sessions remain. Debug.Print oJson.stringify(o) ' can use after but but IE server will shutdown... soon End SubYou can bridge to IE.JSON from VB.
Create a function oIE_JSON
Public g_IE As Object ' global Public Function oIE_JSON() As Object ' for array access o.itemGet(0) o.itemGet("key1") JSON_COM_extentions = "" & _ " Object.prototype.itemGet =function( i ) { return this[i] } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.propSetStr =function( prop , val ) { eval('this.' + prop + ' = ""' + protectDoubleQuotes (val) + '""' ) } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.propSetNum =function( prop , val ) { eval('this.' + prop + ' = ' + val + '') } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.propSetJSON =function( prop , val ) { eval('this.' + prop + ' = ' + val + '') } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.itemSetStr =function( prop , val ) { eval('this[' + prop + '] = ""' + protectDoubleQuotes (val) + '""' ) } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.itemSetNum =function( prop , val ) { eval('this[' + prop + '] = ' + val ) } ; " & _ " Object.prototype.itemSetJSON =function( prop , val ) { eval('this[' + prop + '] = ' + val ) } ; " & _ " function protectDoubleQuotes (str) { return str.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\').replace(/""/g,'\\""'); }" ' document.parentwindow.eval dosen't work some versions of ie eg ie10? IEEvalworkaroundjs = "" & _ " function IEEvalWorkAroundInit () { " & _ " var x=document.getElementById(""myIEEvalWorkAround"");" & _ " x.IEEval= function( s ) { return eval(s) } ; } ;" g_JS_framework = "" & _ JSON_COM_extentions & _ IEEvalworkaroundjs ' need IE8 and DOC type g_JS_HTML = " " & _ " " & _ " " & _ " " & _ " HEllo" On Error GoTo error_handler ' Create InternetExplorer Object Set g_IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application") With g_IE .navigate "about:blank" Do While .Busy: DoEvents: Loop Do While .ReadyState 4: DoEvents: Loop .Visible = False ' control IE interface window .Document.Write g_JS_HTML End With Set objID = g_IE.Document.getElementById("myIEEvalWorkAround") objID.Click ' create eval Dim oJson As Object 'Set oJson = g_IE.Document.parentWindow.Eval("JSON") ' dosen't work some versions of IE Set oJson = objID.IEEval("JSON") Set objID = Nothing Set oIE_JSON = oJson Exit Function error_handler: MsgBox ("Unexpected Error, I'm quitting. " & Err.Description & ". " & Err.Number) g_IE.Quit Set g_IE = Nothing End Function Public Function oIE_JSON_Quit() g_IE.Quit Exit Function End FunctionUp vote if you find useful
VBA-JSON by Tim Hall, MIT licensed and on GitHub. It's another fork of vba-json that emerged end of 2014. Claims to work on Mac Office and Windows 32bit and 64bit.
UPDATE: Found a safer way of parsing JSON than using Eval, this blog post shows the dangers of Eval ... http://exceldevelopmentplatform.blogspot.com/2018/01/vba-parse-json-safer-with-jsonparse-and.html
Late to this party but sorry guys but by far the easiest way is to use Microsoft Script Control. Some sample code which uses VBA.CallByName to drill in
'Tools->References-> 'Microsoft Script Control 1.0; {0E59F1D2-1FBE-11D0-8FF2-00A0D10038BC}; C:\Windows\SysWOW64\msscript.ocx Private Sub TestJSONParsingWithCallByName() Dim oScriptEngine As ScriptControl Set oScriptEngine = New ScriptControl oScriptEngine.Language = "JScript" Dim sJsonString As String sJsonString = "{'key1': 'value1' ,'key2': { 'key3': 'value3' } }" Dim objJSON As Object Set objJSON = oScriptEngine.Eval("(" + sJsonString + ")") Debug.Assert VBA.CallByName(objJSON, "key1", VbGet) = "value1" Debug.Assert VBA.CallByName(VBA.CallByName(objJSON, "key2", VbGet), "key3", VbGet) = "value3" End SubI have actually done a series of Q&As which explore JSON/VBA related topics.
Q2 In Excel VBA on Windows, how to loop through a JSON array parsed?
Q5 In Excel VBA on Windows, for parsed JSON variables what is this JScriptTypeInfo anyway?
VB6 - JsonBag, Another JSON Parser/Generator should also be importable into VBA with little trouble.
I would suggest using a .Net component. You can use .Net components from VB6 via Interop - here's a tutorial. My guess is that .Net components will be more reliable and better supported than anything produced for VB6.
There are components in the Microsoft .Net framework like DataContractJsonSerializer or JavaScriptSerializer. You could also use third party libraries like JSON.NET.
You could write an Excel-DNA Add-in in VB.NET. Excel-DNA is a thin library that lets you write XLLs in .NET. This way you get access to the entire .NET universe and can use stuff like http://james.newtonking.com/json - a JSON framework that deserializes JSON in any custom class.
If you are interested, here's a write up of how to build a generic Excel JSON client for Excel using VB.NET:
http://optionexplicitvba.com/2014/05/09/developing-a-json-excel-add-in-with-vb-net/
And here's the link to the code: https://github.com/spreadgit/excel-json-client/blob/master/excel-json-client.dna
Using JavaScript features of parsing JSON, on top of ScriptControl, we can create a parser in VBA which will list each and every data point inside the JSON. No matter how nested or complex the data structure is, as long as we provide a valid JSON, this parser will return a complete tree structure.
JavaScript’s Eval, getKeys and getProperty methods provide building blocks for validating and reading JSON.
Coupled with a recursive function in VBA we can iterate through all the keys (up to nth level) in a JSON string. Then using a Tree control (used in this article) or a dictionary or even on a simple worksheet, we can arrange the JSON data as required.
Full VBA Code here.Using JavaScript features of parsing JSON, on top of ScriptControl, we can create a parser in VBA which will list each and every data point inside the JSON. No matter how nested or complex the data structure is, as long as we provide a valid JSON, this parser will return a complete tree structure.
JavaScript’s Eval, getKeys and getProperty methods provide building blocks for validating and reading JSON.
Coupled with a recursive function in VBA we can iterate through all the keys (up to nth level) in a JSON string. Then using a Tree control (used in this article) or a dictionary or even on a simple worksheet, we can arrange the JSON data as required.
Formula in an EXCEL CELL
=JSON2("{mykey:1111, mykey2:{keyinternal1:22.1,keyinternal2:22.2}, mykey3:3333}", "mykey2", "keyinternal2")DISPLAYS: 22.2
=JSON("{mykey:1111,mykey2:2222,mykey3:3333}", "mykey2")DISPLAYS: 2222
'Tools->References-> 'Microsoft Script Control 1.0; {0E59F1D2-1FBE-11D0-8FF2-00A0D10038BC}; C:\Windows\SysWOW64\msscript.ocx Public Function JSON(sJsonString As String, Key As String) As String On Error GoTo err_handler Dim oScriptEngine As ScriptControl Set oScriptEngine = New ScriptControl oScriptEngine.Language = "JScript" Dim objJSON As Object Set objJSON = oScriptEngine.Eval("(" + sJsonString + ")") JSON = VBA.CallByName(objJSON, Key, VbGet) Err_Exit: Exit Function err_handler: JSON = "Error: " & Err.Description Resume Err_Exit End Function Public Function JSON2(sJsonString As String, Key1 As String, Key2 As String) As String On Error GoTo err_handler Dim oScriptEngine As ScriptControl Set oScriptEngine = New ScriptControl oScriptEngine.Language = "JScript" Dim objJSON As Object Set objJSON = oScriptEngine.Eval("(" + sJsonString + ")") JSON2 = VBA.CallByName(VBA.CallByName(objJSON, Key1, VbGet), Key2, VbGet) Err_Exit: Exit Function err_handler: JSON2 = "Error: " & Err.Description Resume Err_Exit End FunctionAs Json is nothing but strings so it can easily be handled if we can manipulate it the right way, no matter how complex the structure is. I don't think it is necessary to use any external library or converter to do the trick. Here is an example where I've parsed json data using string manipulation.
Sub Json_coder() Dim http As New XMLHTTP60, itm As Variant With http .Open "GET", "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users", False .send itm = Split(.responseText, "id"":") End With x = UBound(itm) For y = 1 To x Cells(y, 1) = Split(Split(itm(y), "name"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 2) = Split(Split(itm(y), "username"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 3) = Split(Split(itm(y), "email"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 4) = Split(Split(itm(y), "street"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 5) = Split(Split(itm(y), "suite"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 6) = Split(Split(itm(y), "city"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 7) = Split(Split(itm(y), "zipcode"": """)(1), """")(0) Cells(y, 8) = Split(Split(itm(y), "phone"": """)(1),