Introduction

Welcome to this comprehensive guide on how we built a JSON analyzer tool usingNext.js, TypeScript, and TailwindCSS. In this blog, we'll walk you through the entire process of how this tool was created, the technologies used, and how you can utilize it for your own purposes.

The tool provides users the ability to input JSON data, validate its structure, and analyze the contents. With an easy-to-read tree view, the tool displays the structure of your JSON, allowing you to explore different levels of the data and see what kind of values are nested within each key.

How It Works

The JSON analyzer works by first taking user input in the form of a JSON string. Once the input is received, the tool performs two key operations:

1. Validation: The tool checks if the input is valid JSON. If it's not, an error message is displayed.
2. Analysis: If the input is valid, the tool processes the JSON object and organizes its structure into a hierarchical tree format.

The analysis step recursively traverses the JSON structure, extracting the keys at each level, along with the types of their associated values. For each key, the user can explore deeper into the structure, viewing nested objects, arrays, or primitive values (like strings, numbers, etc.).

Features of the Tool

• Key-Value Pair Analysis: Each key in the JSON structure is paired with its corresponding value type. For objects, you can click and expand to see the keys within, while arrays show their content types.
• Collapsible Tree View: The hierarchical data is presented in a collapsible format, which means you can expand or collapse different parts of the JSON structure as needed.
• Error Handling: If the JSON input is malformed or invalid, an error message is displayed to help the user correct the issue.
• Real-Time Feedback: As soon as you input your JSON and click "Analyze," the results are shown in real time without reloading the page, providing an efficient user experience.

Implementation Details

The core logic of the JSON analysis tool is built with TypeScript to ensure type safety and ease of development. It relies on the `JSON.parse()` method to validate and parse the input. Once the input is validated, we use a recursive function to traverse the JSON object and extract its structure.

For the user interface, we utilized Next.js for server-side rendering and page routing, while TailwindCSS handles the styling. The tree view is rendered as a series of nested lists in HTML, and TailwindCSS is used to style these elements and provide responsive layouts.

Dark Mode Support

We've also incorporated dark mode support using a simple toggle mechanism. Users can switch between light and dark themes by clicking the button in the header. The dark mode toggle is achieved using a custom hook that applies the appropriate CSS classes to the root element of the document.

In dark mode, the background and text colors switch to create a comfortable viewing experience in low-light environments. This feature makes the tool more versatile and user-friendly.

Conclusion

The JSON Analyzer Tool is a powerful yet simple utility that helps developers and data analysts understand the structure of their JSON data at a glance. Whether you're debugging API responses or exploring large JSON files, this tool provides an intuitive way to navigate and inspect the data.

With features like real-time analysis, collapsible tree view, and dark mode support, this tool is designed to be as accessible and user-friendly as possible. We hope this blog gave you a clear understanding of how we built the tool and how you can use it for your own projects!