Convert Lua data to JSON

Question

This EPGP World of Warcraft addon outputs an epgp.lua database file.

I wrote a plugin to convert the Lua data into a JSON object for display on a guild website. It was working in older versions of the addon, but now I'm having trouble trying to get it to convert the file properly. Here are two snippets that show the conversion problem - see this demo.

The first works great at forming a nested array:

["roster_info"] = {
    {
        "Agantica", -- [1]
        "ROGUE", -- [2]
        "09/03-2013", -- [3]
    }, -- [1]
    {
        "Intikamim", -- [1]
        "PALADIN", -- [2]
        "17/02-2013", -- [3]
    }, -- [2]
},

becomes

"roster_info" : [
    [
        "Agantica",
        "ROGUE",
        "09/03-2013"
    ],
    [
        "Intikamim",
        "PALADIN",
        "17/02-2013"
    ]
]

But the string replacment sees this next snippet as a nested array when it should be an object inside of an array:

["bonus_loot_log"] = {
    {
        ["player"] = "Magebox",
        ["timestamp"] = "2013-03-07 13:44:00",
        ["coinsLeft"] = "-1",
        ["reward"] = "|cffa335ee|Hitem:86815:0:0:0:0:0:0:632235520:90:0:445|h[Attenuating Bracers]|h|r",
    }, -- [1]
            {
        ["player"] = "Lîutasila",
        ["coinsLeft"] = "-1",
        ["timestamp"] = "2013-03-07 13:47:00",
    }, -- [2]
},

becomes

"bonus_loot_log" : [
    [
        "player" : "Magebox",
        "timestamp" : "2013-03-07 13:44:00",
        "coinsLeft" : "-1",
        "reward" : "|cffa335ee|Hitem:86815:0:0:0:0:0:0:632235520:90:0:445|h[Attenuating Bracers]|h|r"
    ],
    [
        "player": "Lîutasila",
        "coinsLeft": "-1",
        "timestamp": "2013-03-07 13:47:00"
    ]
]

Here is the string conversion script that only works on the first snippet.

lua_string
    .replace(/\[(.*)\]\s\=\s/g,'$1:')     // change equal to colon & remove outer brackets
    .replace(/[\t\r\n]/g,'')              // remove tabs & returns
    .replace(/\}\,\s--\s\[\d+\]\}/g,']]') // replace sets ending with a comment with square brackets
    .replace(/\,\s--\s\[\d+\]/g,',')      // remove close subgroup and comment
    .replace(/,(\}|\])/g,'$1')            // remove trailing comma
    .replace(/\}\,\{/g,'],[')             // replace curly bracket set with square brackets
    .replace(/\{\{/g,'[[')                // change double curlies to square brackets
    .replace(/EPGP_DB\s\=/,'');

So, I need some help getting the Lua to convert properly with an array of objects (second example).

Answer 1

// convert EPGP_DB from LUA to JSON
var str = document.getElementsByTagName('data')[0].innerHTML;
var diff;
do {  // replace curlies around arrays with square brackets
    diff = str.length;
    str = str.replace(/\{(((\n\t*)\t)\S.*(\2.*)*)\,\s--\s\[\d+\]\3\}/g,'[$1$3]');
    diff = diff - str.length;
} while (diff > 0);
str = str
.replace(/EPGP_DB\s=\s/, '')         // remove variable definition
.replace(/\s--\s\[\d+\](\n)/g, '$1') // remove comment
.replace(/\,(\n\t*\})/g, '$1')       // remove trailing comma
.replace(/\[(.*?)\]\s\=\s/g,'$1:')   // change equal to colon, remove brackets
.replace(/[\t\r\n]/g,'');            // remove tabs & returns
console.log(str);
json = window.JSON.parse(str);
console.log(json);
document.getElementById('result').innerText = json.global.last_version;