CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjsonnode.js
Mikey Chen
Mikey Chen

Reputation: 2410

Why is [Object] printed to the console in node.js instead of an object's contents?

I'm trying to access each individual song in a playlist object returned by the spotify API. When I get the JSON object, it returns me a bunch of [Object] things in "items", which is where the tracks should be:

spotifyApi.getPlaylist(id, listID)
    .then(function (data) {
        // printing data from this line
        console.log('The playlist contains these tracks', data.body);
    }, function (err) {
        console.log('Something went wrong!', err);
    });

output:

Playlist name : thug lif3  Playlist ID: 41moBc7H5bWrR3iiY0Zu9Q
The playlist contains these tracks {
    /*~~~ lots of skipped output ~~~*/
    { href: 'https://api.spotify.com/v1/users/...',
        /*~~~        why [Object]?            ~~~*/
        items: [ [Object], [Object], [Object] ],
        limit: 100
    },
}

Are these [object] things a sign of a nullity, or is there some way I can parse them and get the data from them? The API explorer on Spotify's website shows the actual track objects after "Items", so I'm confused as to why my app request isn't doing the same.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2846

Answers (4)

serjrd
serjrd

Reputation: 81

This should do the trick:

var util = require('util');
...
spotifyApi.getPlaylist(id, listID)
    .then(function (data) {
        // printing data from this line
        console.log('The playlist contains these tracks', util.inspect(data.body, { showHidden: true, depth: null });
    }, function (err) {
        console.log('Something went wrong!', err);
    });

Upvotes: 1

robertklep
robertklep

Reputation: 203231

You can have console.log output proper JSON:

console.log('The playlist contains these tracks %j', data.body);

(the %j is documented here).

The regular output that console.log generates for objects isn't proper JSON, and also limited to a certain object depth; after that, you'll get the [Object] strings.

Upvotes: 2

eljefedelrodeodeljefe
eljefedelrodeodeljefe

Reputation: 6791

This is the rather normal behaviour of node. Either drill down programmatically or use util.inspect link

Upvotes: 1

royhowie
royhowie

Reputation: 11171

That's just how deeply nested objects are printed to node's console. They're still available programmatically. In your case, use data.body.tracks.items to access the objects.

If you want a pretty-printer, you can use bunyan, which'll make nested objects (and everything else) look really nice in the console.

Upvotes: 1

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