B4J Question JSON to build a menu bar in B4J

[jtbandmusic]

Hello!
An eon ago (maybe 1990 or so) I wrote a program I was proud of, and
after a career change, stroke, retirement, etc., I decided to rewrite it.
Everthing has been fine until I got to recreating the menu. Instead of
the VB6 buider I need to enter a JSON string in the menubar to create the menu.
I've never seen JSON, and this doesn't even look like computer code.

I have searched for JSON which might form a menu, but examples are hard
to find. What I need is going to look a lot like the text below, with
the indented lines beginning {Text: which will become the menu titles
and the column on the left margin producing the menu items below.

I'm hoping some smart, helpful person will correct the puncuation and
send send this back in valid JSON string form.

Thanks!
John Thompson

 

[teddybear]

[
  {
    "Text": "_File",
    "Children": [
      "_New Show",
      "_Save",
      "Save As",
      "_Load",
      "_Print",
      "_Print Page",
      "-",
      "_Close"
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_Panels",
    "Children": [
      "_Show",
      "_Page",
      "_Linear",
      "_Block",
      "_FTL",
      "_Route",
      "_Selection",
      "_Props",
      "_Drawing"
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_View",
    "Children": [
      "_Grid & Snap",
      "_Menber",
      "_Field",
      "_Ghost & Hide",
      "_Height",
      "_Zoom",
      "_Center",
      "Path Lines"
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_Roster",
    "Children": [
      "_Create Roster",
      "_Member Names",
      "_Help",
      "_About Hugo"
    ]
  }
]

You can check valid json using json-validator

 

[rraswisak]

One of JSON syntax rule: must have pairs of name and value:

[
  {
    "Text": "_File",
    "Children": [
      { "Name": "new_show", "Text": "_New Show" },
      { "Name": "save", "Text": "_Save" },
      { "Name": "save_as", "Text": "Save As" },
      { "Name": "load", "Text": "_Load" },
      { "Name": "print", "Text": "_Print" },
      { "Name": "print_page", "Text": "_Print Page" },
      { "Name": "separator", "Text": "-" },
      { "Name": "close", "Text": "_Close" }
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_Panels",
    "Children": [
      { "Name": "show", "Text": "_Show" },
      { "Name": "page", "Text": "_Page" },
      { "Name": "linear", "Text": "_Linear" },
      { "Name": "block", "Text": "_Block" },
      { "Name": "ftl", "Text": "_FTL" },
      { "Name": "route", "Text": "_Route" },
      { "Name": "selection", "Text": "_Selection" },
      { "Name": "props", "Text": "_Props" },
      { "Name": "drawing", "Text": "_Drawing" }
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_View",
    "Children": [
      { "Name": "grid_snap", "Text": "_Grid & Snap" },
      { "Name": "member", "Text": "_Menber" },
      { "Name": "field", "Text": "_Field" },
      { "Name": "ghost_hide", "Text": "_Ghost & Hide" },
      { "Name": "height", "Text": "_Height" },
      { "Name": "zoom", "Text": "_Zoom" },
      { "Name": "center", "Text": "_Center" },
      { "Name": "path_line", "Text": "Path Lines" }
    ]
  },
  {
    "Text": "_Roster",
    "Children": [
      { "Name": "create_rooster", "Text": "_Create Roster" },
      { "Name": "member_names", "Text": "_Member Names" },
      { "Name": "help", "Text": "_Help" },
      { "Name": "about", "Text": "_About Hugo" }
    ]
  }
]

This is how to read the data:

Dim parser As JSONParser 
parser.Initialize(<text>) '<text> is json data
Dim jRoot As List = parser.NextArray 
For Each coljRoot As Map In jRoot 
 Dim Text As String = coljRoot.Get("Text") 
 Dim Children As List = coljRoot.Get("Children") 
 For Each colChildren As Map In Children 
  Dim Text As String = colChildren.Get("Text") 
  Dim Name As String = colChildren.Get("Name") 
 Next 
Next

 

[cklester]

One of JSON syntax rule: must have pairs of name and value:

JSON can have arrays (which do not have to have name:value pairs). @teddybear 's code is valid.

 

[Chris2]

Designer Menu Items

Menus in the internal designer are declared as JSON strings. If you have never worked with the JSON format then it is a good time to learn this format. It is simple and very popular. Short tutorial: http://www.vogella.com/tutorials/JSON/article.html In our case the JSON string describes a list...

www.b4x.com

 

[jtbandmusic]

Original poster here. I just copied HoneyBear's JSON into my program's menu textbox; it works perfectly!
Thanks everyone, and especially HoneyBear.
Thanks again;
John Thompson

 

[JohnJ]

Have a look at this.

Menu Designer

The task of creating menu for b4j is not simple because you have to create a jason string. I made a tool for creating the string based on this thread https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/designer-menu-items.56602/ While doing that I exercised the new designer :) For first level menu items...

www.b4x.com