Troubleshooting a JSON parsing error in Airtable script block

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1

Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with a script block I made in Airtable. It’s supposed to send an update to my app through an endpoint, but I’m getting this weird error:

ERROR
SyntaxError: Unexpected token C in JSON at position 0

at Unexpected token C in JSON at position 0

I’m not sure what’s causing it. The script seems pretty straightforward. It retrieves information from a table, builds a request, and sends it to either a test or live URL. Here’s a simplified version of what I’m attempting to do:

let data = getDataFromTable();
let url = chooseEnvironment();
let request = {
  items: [{ id: '5678', name: 'Ms Johnson' }]
};

let response = await sendRequest(url, JSON.stringify(request));
console.log(response);

Could someone help me figure out what might be causing this issue? Any insights on how to fix the JSON handling would be much appreciated!

2

Based on your error message, it seems the issue lies with the response you’re receiving rather than the request you’re sending. The ‘Unexpected token C’ suggests the response starts with a character ‘C’, which isn’t valid JSON.

I’d recommend logging the raw response before parsing it. You can modify your code like this:

let rawResponse = await sendRequest(url, JSON.stringify(request));
console.log('Raw response:', rawResponse);
let response = JSON.parse(rawResponse);

This will help you see what’s actually being returned. It’s possible you’re getting an HTML error page or some other non-JSON response. Check your endpoint URL and ensure it’s correct for both test and live environments.

Also, verify that your sendRequest function isn’t automatically parsing the response. If it is, you might be trying to parse an already parsed object, leading to this error.

3

I encountered a similar issue with JSON parsing in Airtable recently. The error you’re seeing typically occurs when the response from the server isn’t valid JSON. In my case, the API was returning an HTML error page instead of JSON data.

To troubleshoot, I’d suggest logging the raw response before trying to parse it. You might find that the server is returning an error message or invalid data. Also, double-check your API endpoint URL and authentication details.

If the raw response looks good, ensure you’re not accidentally stringifying the request body twice. I’ve made that mistake before! Try removing the JSON.stringify() if your sendRequest function already handles that.

Lastly, wrap the parsing in a try-catch block to get more detailed error information. This helped me pinpoint the exact line causing the issue in my script. Good luck with debugging!

4

hey there, i’ve run into this before. sounds like ur getting an html response instead of json. try logging the raw response before parsing it. also, make sure ur endpoint url is correct and ur not double-stringifying the request. if that doesn’t work, maybe check ur api authentication. good luck troubleshooting!