How can I read and display the content of a JSON file in Godot 4?

Reading and Displaying JSON Content in Godot 4

Step-by-step Guide

To read and display the content of a JSON file in Godot 4, you need to utilize Godot’s JSON APIs to parse the file and then display it using Godot’s UI nodes like Label or RichTextLabel. Here’s how you can achieve this:

Reading the JSON File

extends Node

# Path to your JSON file
var json_file_path = "res://data/settings.json"

# Function to load JSON content
func load_json():
    var file = File.new()
    if file.file_exists(json_file_path):
        file.open(json_file_path, File.READ)
        var json_content = file.get_as_text()
        file.close()
        return json_content
    print("Error: File not found")
    return "{}"

Parsing JSON Content

Once you have the JSON content as a string, you need to parse it:

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func parse_json(json_string):
    var data = JSON.parse(json_string)
    if data.error != OK:
        print("Failed to parse JSON: ", data.error_string())
        return null
    return data.result

Displaying JSON Content

Using a Label

To display text, add a Label node in your scene and update its text property:

func update_display(parsed_data):
    var label = get_node("Label")
    label.text = "Key: " + str(parsed_data["key"]) + "\nValue: " + str(parsed_data["value"])

Complete Script

Integrate the above functions into a complete script:

extends Node

func _ready():
    var json_content = load_json()
    var parsed_data = parse_json(json_content)
    if parsed_data:
        update_display(parsed_data)

Best Practices

• Error Handling: Always check for errors during file loading and JSON parsing.
• Performance: Avoid loading large JSON files in the game loop. Prefer pre-loading data during scene initialization.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can effectively read and display JSON content in Godot 4. This is particularly useful for dynamically configuring game settings or displaying user-specific data.