After Effects Extendscript Read JSON

readJSON.jsx

//from https://github.com/fabianmoronzirfas/extendscript/wiki/Read-In-JSON-From-File-And-DONT-Eval
//For after effects Extendscript
//This function returns the json object for you to parse as needed

//usage:
// assume data.json looks like this: { "Cat":{"power":2, "affection": 4, "default_name":"Bagel"}}
// var myjson = getJSON("data.json");
// var cat_power = myjson.cat.power


function getJSON(filename) {   

    var script_file = File($.fileName); // get the location of the script file
    var script_file_path = script_file.path; // get the path from the script file 

    var file_to_read = File(script_file_path + "/"+ filename );// build the relative path to the JSON
    var my_JSON_object = null; // create an empty variable
    var content; // this will hold the String content from the file
    if(file_to_read !== false){// if it is really there
          file_to_read.open('r'); // open it
          content = file_to_read.read(); // read it
          my_JSON_object =  JSON.parse(content);// now evaluate the string from the file
          
          //$.writeln(my_JSON_object);   //debug if the json object is being read
          //$.writeln(my_JSON_object.toSource());
          
          //alert(my_JSON_object.toSource()); // if it all went fine we have now a JSON Object instead of a string call length
          file_to_read.close(); // always close files after reading'
          
          return my_JSON_object;       //get the object so we can use it   
          
          }else{
          alert("Something has gone wrong. Make sure youre not trying to parse your json again"); // if something went wrong
    }

}