Thread

We came across a weird bug in EE (specifically 1.6.8) where JSON in templates was getting axed by the template parser. Specifically, this hit us on Typedia when we were implementing the type specimens using SWFObject (lines wrapped for clarity):

swfobject.embedSWF( "/s/holder.swf?<?php echo rand(); ?>",
  "{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}", "110", "50", "8.0.0", false,
  {sampleFile: '{file}', sampleName: '{url_title}', sampleSize: 'small'},
  {menu: 'false', wmode: 'opaque'}, {id: '{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}', 
  name: '{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}', styleclass: 'small-specimen has-image'});

was being sent to the browser as

swfobject.embedSWF("/s/holder.swf?<?php echo rand(); ?>", "{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}", 
  "110", "50", "8.0.0", false, , , );

To fix the issue, we forced some line breaks:

swfobject.embedSWF(
  "/s/holder.swf?<?php echo rand(); ?>",
  "{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}", "110", "50", "8.0.0", false,
  {
    sampleFile: '{file}', sampleName: '{url_title}', sampleSize: 'small'
  },
  {
    menu: 'false', wmode: 'opaque'
  },
  {
    id: '{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}', 
    name: '{url_title}-specimen-small{embed:rand}',
    styleclass: 'small-specimen has-image'
  });

My guess is that the issue has something to do with a reprogrammed regular expression that is being a little too greedy, but that’s just a guess.

[Mod Edit: Moved to the Technical Support forum]

I think the problem’s that the EE parser has no way of knowing if a very long string in curly braces really is an EE variable, or not. What template type did you use? Forcing line breaks is an accepted workaround, usually.

I think the problem’s that the EE parser has no way of knowing if a very long string in curly braces really is an EE variable, or not.

It seems like it may be a good idea to have it look for JSON syntax and just leave it along if it is encountered. I’ll look into this more later.

What template type did you use?

Not sure I follow. We are using template files with a little PHP sprinkled in.

It seems like it may be a good idea to have it look for JSON syntax and just leave it along if it is encountered.

I am not sure that’s feasible in all circumstances, but you’re certainly welcome to make a feature request to that effect.

Not sure I follow. We are using template files with a little PHP sprinkled in.

Does that mean you are saving your templates as files? I was referring to template types, like “Web Page” or “Static”. You might want to try “Javascript”.

In addition there are a few things to check:

1.  Add protect_javascript to your config.php

2.  Make sure that Debugging is set to 1 in Admin -> System Preferences -> Output and Debugging

Does that mean you are saving your templates as files? I was referring to template types, like “Web Page” or “Static”. You might want to try “Javascript”.

Ok. Gotcha. We are using templates as files. We are also sending as denoting the templates as “Web Page,” sorry I wasn’t following you. If we were to change to “Javascript,” would that send text/javascript or application/javascript headers or is that type assignment only for EE’s internal purposes?

Add protect_javascript to your config.php

I wasn’t aware of that one… I’ll give it a shot.

Make sure that Debugging is set to 1 in Admin -> System Preferences -> Output and Debugging

I think we have it set to 1, but I’m curious why/how that would help. It doesn’t seem like a related property.

Yup, setting

$conf['debug'] = '1';

Seems to trigger the JSON to be protected. How many other seemingly unrelated things does that configuration option control?

I have used JSON a bit on my sites (usually with the brackets on their own lines). I agree with Aaron, setting the $conf var ‘debug’ to 1 seems unrelated to the issue at hand. I just checked my config.php file for devot-ee and it is set to 1. Isn’t that the default? For the record I always set $conf[‘protect_javascript’] = “n”; as well.

Yes, it’s the default. It’s recommended that errors always be shown to Superadmins.

We’ve ran into this a few times lately.  One example:

// template code in ee
[removed]
jQuery(function() {         
    jQuery("a[rel]").overlay({ })              
});
[removed]

// source in html
[removed]
jQuery(function() {         
    jQuery("a[rel]").overlay();
[removed]

So is the solution is to set protect_javascript to ‘y’?

Set $conf[‘debug’] = ‘1’; and that seems to do it.

Aaron, isn’t that the “Debug Preference: Enables the display of error messages, which are valuable during site development” setting?

Seems unrelated as you and Ryan noted.

It actually is related and is on my list of things to add to the documentation.  You should always have that setting to 1 for a variety of reasons.

Thanks for chiming in, Aaron.