How do I force a Coldfusion cfc to output numeric data over JSON as a string?

Question

I'm calling a Coldfusion component (cfc) using jQuery.post(). I need an integer or string representation of the number returned for use in a URL.

{"PAGE":"My Page Title","ID":19382}
or
{"PAGE":"My Page Title","ID":"19382"}

Instead what I get back is a decimal:

{"PAGE":"My Page Title","ID":19382.0}

Needed to update the following HTML:

<a href="page.cfm?id=19382" id="pagelink">My Page Title</a>

Conceptually, I suppose there are multiple answers:

1) I could use jQuery to grab the number left of the decimal point.

2) I could force Coldfusion to send the number as a string.

3) I could generate the whole link server side and just replace the whole link tag HTML (not the preferred answer, but maybe it is the best)

Does anyone know how to do 1 or 2? Is 3 better?

Relevant Javascript: (Not optimized)

$(".link").live('click', function () {
    var $linkID, serviceUrl;
    serviceUrl = "mycfc.cfc?method=getPage";
    $linkID = $(this).attr("rel");

    $.post(serviceUrl, { linkid: $linkID }, function (result) { 
        $('#pagelink').val(result.TITLE);
        if (result.FMKEY.length) {
             // NEED the ID number WITHOUT the .0 at the end
             $('#pagelink').attr("href") = "page.cfm?id=" + result.ID;
             $('#pagelink').text(result.TITLE);
        }
    }, "json");
});

My CFC:

<component output="no">
<cfsetting showdebugoutput="no">
<cffunction name="getPage" access="remote" returnFormat="JSON" output="no" hint="Looks up a Page Title and ID">
    <cfargument name="linkID" type="string" required="yes">
    <cfset var page = queryNew("id,title")>
    <cfset var result = structNew()>
    <cfquery datasource="myDatasource" name="page">
        SELECT TOP 1 id, title
        FROM pages
        WHERE linkID = <cfqueryparam cfsqltype="cf_sql_integer" value="#arguments.linkID#">     
    </cfquery>
    <cfif page.recordcount>
        <cfset result.id = page.id>
        <cfset result.title = page.title>
    </cfif>
    <cfreturn result>
</cffunction>
</component>

Answer 1

use parseInt() in JS. Kindda like your solution 1, but this is easier than you think.

$('#pagelink').attr("href") = "page.cfm?id=" + parseInt(result.ID, 10);

CF serializes any integer like 123 into "123.0" by default, but usually it doesn't matter in typeless language like JS, or CF for the matter.

The default behavior of SerializeJSON() (what remote function uses) cannot be overridden, but if you like, you can use one of the 3rd party JSON library from www.riaforge.org

p.s. Even if you browse to "something.cfm?id=123.0", URL.id is just a numeric value in CF that EQ to 123. Although your URL looks a little weird, if it is posting to CF, it'll still work.

Answer 2

It's a known SerializeJSON() bug/feature. See this answer for possible workaround.

Answer 3

As an aside, for when you'd rather use solution 2) "I could force Coldfusion to send the number as a string", for instance when using a plugin that expects strings like dataTable and not wanting to touch the client code...

Just trying to force the number or string representing a number like below will not work :

Test["caseSensitiveName"] = "#numericString#";

But adding a leading space will force the JSON string type :

Test["caseSensitiveName"] = " #numericString#";

Hack hack hack, but can come in handy.

Answer 4

2) I could force Coldfusion to send the number as a string.

Are you doing any math with the id? Probably not. As far as your jquery is concerned, this is a string that contains only numbers, not an integer. Treat it as such.

Answer 5

Coming at it from another angle, if you control the back end too, you could try forcing ColdFusion to serialize the number as an integer, by using javaCast("int", someIntegerThatColdFusionThinksIsAFloat).