csv2geojson.js causing unsupported property error in IE8

Question

Demo: http://picturethiswebcenter.com/ods_map/

When I access this map from ie8, it throws an "Object doesn't support this property or method" error on this line of csv2geojson.js,

var parsed = (typeof x == 'string') ? dsv(options.delimiter).parse(x) : x;

I have been doing a bit of googling but cannot figure what ie8 is missing here, any reason why this line might throw an error?

Answer 1

The DSV library that csv2geojson.js uses some "build-in" functions that aren't supported in IE8, namely map function. Other parts of the code uses forEach. I pulled up the following snippet from the DSV code:

function dsv(delimiter) {
  var dsv = {},
      reFormat = new RegExp("[\"" + delimiter + "\n]"),
      delimiterCode = delimiter.charCodeAt(0);

  dsv.parse = function(text, f) {
    var o;
    return dsv.parseRows(text, function(row, i) {
      if (o) return o(row, i - 1);
      var a = new Function("d", "return {" + row.map(function(name, i) {
        return JSON.stringify(name) + ": d[" + i + "]";
      }).join(",") + "}");
      o = f ? function(row, i) { return f(a(row), i); } : a;
    });
  };
  ...

The .map and .forEach Array functions are implemented only in JavaScript 1.6 (ECMAScript 5) and higher. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/map#Browser_compatibility .

Long story short, if you want it to work in IE, your code will only work in IE9 or higher. Other options is to rewrite DSV library to be compatible.