$.ajax ColdFusion cfc JSON Hello World

I've simplified this example as much as I can. I have a remote function:

<cfcomponent output="false">
<cffunction name="Read" access="remote" output="false">
    <cfset var local = {}>

    <cfquery name="local.qry" datasource="myDatasource">
    SELECT PersonID,FirstName,LastName FROM Person
    </cfquery>
    <cfreturn local.qry>
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>

And using the jQuery $.ajax method, I would like to make an unordered list of everyone.

    <!DOCTYPE HTML>
    <html>
    <head>
    <script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    google.load("jquery", "1");
    </script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery(function($){
    $.ajax({
            url: "Remote/Person.cfc?method=Read&ReturnFormat=json",
            success: function(data){
                var str = '<ul>';
// This is where I need help:
                for (var I=0; I<data.length; I++) {
                    str += '<li>' + I + data[I][1]+ '</li>'
                }
                str += '</ul>';
                $('body').html(str);
            },
            error: function(ErrorMsg){
               console.log("Error");
            }
        });
    });
    </script>
    </head>
    <body>
    </body>
    </html>

The part where I'm lost is where I'm looping over the data. I prefer to the use jQuery $.ajax method because I understand that $.get and $.post don't have error trapping.

I don't know how to handle JSON returned from the cfc.

Solution

Looks like the result is in json format(check the docs http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/help.html?content=Tags_f_21.html). "If you specify returnformat="json" and the function returns a query, ColdFusion serializes the query into a JSON Object with two entries, and array of column names, and an array of column data arrays. For more information see SerializeJSON." http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/help.html?content=Tags_f_21.html

So the first array(data.COLUMNS should be an array of column names. data.COLUMNS[0] would give you the name of the first column. data.DATA[0] would give you the first row of the query.

A nice trick is to use console.log(data) in chrome or firebug console to view the data in it's structured form.

I didn't test this, but it should be close. Just generating a basic table from the data.

$.ajax({
    url: 'Remote/Person.cfc?method=Read&ReturnFormat=json',
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function(response) {
        var str = '<table><tr>';
        var i;
        var j;

        //loop over each column name for headers
        for (i = 0; i < response.COLUMNS.length; i++) {
              str += '<th>' + response.COLUMNS[i] + '</th>';
          }
        }
        str += '</tr>';

        //loop over each row
        for (i = 0; i < response.DATA.length; i++) {
          str += '<tr>';
          //loop over each column
          for (j = 0; j < response.DATA[i].length; j++) {
              str += '<td>' + response.DATA[i][j] + '</td>';
          }
          str += '</tr>';
        }
        str += '</table>';

        $('body').html(str);
    },
    error: function(ErrorMsg) {
       console.log('Error');
    }
});