Serialize form data to JSON

Question

I want to do some pre-server-validation of a form in a Backbone.js model. To do this I need to get the user input from a form into usable data. I found three methods to do this:

1. var input = $("#inputId").val();
2. var input = $("form.login").serialize();
3. var input = $("form.login").serializeArray();

Unfortunately, none of the provide a good reabable and developable JSON object which I require. I already looked through several questions on Stack Overflow, but I found only some extra libraries.

Doesn't Underscore.js, the current jQuery or Backbone.js provide a helper method?

I can't imagine there is no request for such a function.

HTML

<form class="login">
    <label for="_user_name">username:</label>
    <input type="text" id="_user_name" name="user[name]" value="dev.pus" />
    <label for="_user_pass">password:</label>
    <input type="password" id="_user_pass" name="user[pass]" value="1234" />
    <button type="submit">login</button>
</form>

JavaScript

var formData = $("form.login").serializeObject();
console.log(formData);

Outputs

{
    "name": "dev.pus",
    "pass": "1234"
}

Backbone.js model

var user = new User(formData);
user.save();

Answer 1

Here's a function for this use case:

function getFormData($form){
    var unindexed_array = $form.serializeArray();
    var indexed_array = {};

    $.map(unindexed_array, function(n, i){
        indexed_array[n['name']] = n['value'];
    });

    return indexed_array;
}

Usage:

var $form = $("#form_data");
var data = getFormData($form);