This plugin makes it simple to convert to and from JSON:

var thing = {plugin: 'jquery-json', version: 1.3};

var encoded = $.toJSON(thing);              //'{"plugin": "jquery-json", "version": 1.3}'
var name = $.evalJSON(encoded).plugin;      //"jquery-json"
var version = $.evalJSON(encoded).version;  // 1.3

Most people asked me why I would want to do such a thing, which boggles my mind. Javascript makes it relatively easy to convert from JSON, thanks to eval(), but converting to JSON is supposedly an edge requirement.

This plugin exposes five new functions onto the $, or jQuery object:

• toJSON: Serializes a javascript object, number, string, or arry into JSON.
• compactJSON: Serializes as toJSON, but takes out some spaces, making the result that much shorter.
• evalJSON: Converts from JSON to Javascript, quickly, and is trivial.
• secureEvalJSON: Converts from JSON to Javascript, but does so while checking to see if the source is actually JSON, and not with other Javascript statements thrown in.
• quoteString: Places quotes around a string, and inteligently escapes any quote, backslash, or control characters.