CSON

CoffeeScript-Object-Notation. Same as JSON but for CoffeeScript objects.

Install

NPM

Install: npm install --save cson
Use: require('cson')

What is CSON?

Everyone knows JSON, it's the thing that looks like this:

{
  "greatDocumentaries": [
    "earthlings.com",
    "forksoverknives.com",
    "cowspiracy.com"
  ],
  "importantFacts": {
    "emissions": "Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.\nGoodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”\nWorldWatch, November/December 2009. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA. Pp. 10–19.\nhttp://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294",
    "landuse": "Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.\nThornton, Phillip, Mario Herrero, and Polly Ericksen. “Livestock and Climate Change.” Livestock Exchange, no. 3 (2011).\nhttps://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/10601/IssueBrief3.pdf",
    "burger": "One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce – the equivalent of 2 months’ worth of showers.\nCatanese, Christina. “Virtual Water, Real Impacts.” Greenversations: Official Blog of the U.S. EPA. 2012.\nhttp://blog.epa.gov/healthywaters/2012/03/virtual-water-real-impacts-world-water-day-2012/\n“50 Ways to Save Your River.” Friends of the River.\nhttp://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=50ways",
    "milk": "1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.\n“Water trivia facts.” United States Environmental Protection Agency.\nhttp://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm#_edn11",
    "more": "http://cowspiracy.com/facts"
  }
}

Now let's write the same thing in CSON:

# Comments!!!

# An Array with no commas!
greatDocumentaries: [
	'earthlings.com'
	'forksoverknives.com'
	'cowspiracy.com'
]

# An Object without braces!
importantFacts:
	# Multi-Line Strings! Without Quote Escaping!
	emissions: '''
		Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
		Goodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”
		WorldWatch, November/December 2009. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA. Pp. 10–19.
		http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
		'''

	landuse: '''
		Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land.
		Thornton, Phillip, Mario Herrero, and Polly Ericksen. “Livestock and Climate Change.” Livestock Exchange, no. 3 (2011).
		https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/10601/IssueBrief3.pdf
		'''

	burger: '''
		One hamburger requires 660 gallons of water to produce – the equivalent of 2 months’ worth of showers.
		Catanese, Christina. “Virtual Water, Real Impacts.” Greenversations: Official Blog of the U.S. EPA. 2012.
		http://blog.epa.gov/healthywaters/2012/03/virtual-water-real-impacts-world-water-day-2012/
		“50 Ways to Save Your River.” Friends of the River.
		http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=50ways
		'''

	milk: '''
		1,000 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of milk.
		“Water trivia facts.” United States Environmental Protection Agency.
		http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm#_edn11
		'''

	more: 'http://cowspiracy.com/facts'

Which is far more lenient that JSON, way nicer to write and read, no need to quote and escape everything, has comments and readable multi-line strings, and won't fail if you forget a comma.

Using CSON

Via the Command Line

Use CSON with the command line with:

# Convert a JSON file into a CSON file
json2cson in.json > out.cson
# Same thing via piping
cat in.json | json2cson > out.cson

# Convert a CSON file into a JSON file
cson2json in.cson > out.json
# Same thing via piping
cat in.cson | cson2json > out.json

Requires a global CSON install: npm install -g cson

Via the API

Each method can be executed without a callback like so:

result = require('CSON').createCSONString({a:{b:'c'}}, {/* optional options argument */})
if ( result instanceof Error ) {
	console.log(result.stack)
} else {
	console.log(result)
}

Or via a callback like so:

CSON.createCSONString({a:{b:'c'}}, {/* optional options argument */}, function(err,result){
	console.log(err, result)
})

Executing the method with a callback still executes the method synchronously.

Click the below function names to open more detailed documentation.

Create Strings

String CSON.stringify(data, replacer?, indent?)
Converts an Object into a CSON String

String CSON.createCSONString(data, opts?, next?)
Converts an Object into a CSON String

String CSON.createJSONString(data, opts?, next?)
Converts an Object into a JSON String

String CSON.createString(data, opts?, next?)
Converts an Object into a String of the desired format If the format option is not specified, we default to CSON

Parse Strings

Object CSON.parse(data, opts?, next?)
Parses a CSON String into an Object

Object CSON.parseCSONString(data, opts?, next?)
Parses a CSON String into an Object

Object CSON.parseJSONString(data, opts?, next?)
Parses a JSON String into an Object

Object CSON.parseCSString(data, opts?, next?)
Parses a CoffeeScript String into an Object

Object CSON.parseJSString(data, opts?, next?)
Parses a JavaScript String into an Object

Object CSON.parseString(data, opts?, next?)
Converts a String of the desired format into an Object If the format option is not specified, we default to CSON

Parse Files

Object CSON.load(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a CSON file into an Object

Object CSON.parseCSONFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a CSON file into an Object

Object CSON.parseJSONFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a JSON file into an Object

Object CSON.parseCSFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a CoffeeScript file into an Object

Object CSON.parseJSFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a JavaScript file into an Object

Object CSON.parseFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Parses a file path of the desired format into an Object If the format option is not specified, we use the filename to detect what it should be, otherwise we default to CSON

Require Files

Object CSON.requireCSFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Requires a CoffeeScript file and returns the result Object

Object CSON.requireJSFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Requires a JavaScript file and returns the result Object

Object CSON.requireFile(filePath, opts?, next?)
Requires or parses a file path of the desired format into an Object If the format option is not specified, we use the filename to detect what it should be, otherwise we default to parsing CSON