Newbie: What does Ext.decode do?

Question

I have a function:

function openOpportunityHome() {

    showSpinner("Loading.Please wait ");
    Ext.Ajax.request({
                url : contextPath + '/OpportunityTracker.do',
                method : 'POST',
                params : {
                    'role' : SALES_TRACKER_ROLE
        },
                success : function(response, request) {
                    hideSpinner();
                    MD_opportunityMasterDataVO = Ext
                            .decode(response.responseText);
                    ADMIN_OPP_LIST_FLAG =MD_opportunityMasterDataVO.adminOppListFlag;
                    showOpportunitySearch();

                },
                failure : function(response, request) {
                    hideSpinner();
                    ajaxFailureCallbackFn(response, request);
                }
            });
   }

When I call Ext.decode(response.responseText), what exactly happens? Please tell from the perspective of a request/response Scope.

Answer 1

Ext.decode() is just a JSON parser similar to JSON.parse() and parses a string of text into objects you can access in your Javascript.

It's actually an alias for Ext.JSON.decode().

You can read more about it here in the ExtJS documentation.

Answer 2

You can use 3 methods to parse the response.

1. Browser default method: JSON.parse()
2. Ext methods: Ext.JSON.decode() shorthand Ext.decode()

Basically response.responseText will be in String format. After its been decoded, it will be an object. If the response is null then decode method will throw an error.