JSON

Here is a tool that jsonifies the controller output. Note that you need to use CherryPy 3.0.1 or later to use tool decorators with RoutesDispatcher:

from simplejson import JSONEncoder
encoder = JSONEncoder()

def jsonify_tool_callback(*args, **kwargs):
    response = cherrypy.response
    response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
    response.body = encoder.iterencode(response.body)

cherrypy.tools.jsonify = cherrypy.Tool('before_finalize', jsonify_tool_callback, priority=30) 

The iterencode function of the simplejson JSONEncoder returns a generator that jsonifies the result incrementally (for example if you're jsonifying a large list you start getting json outputs for the first objects right away).

I usually use this by setting _cp_config on a controller class or as a decorator on the method:

from cherrypy import tools

class Root(object):
    @tools.jsonify()
    def getrange(self, limit=4):
        return range(limit)

-- Arnar Birgisson

There are some issues with this approach, namely that your page handler must return an iterable or cherrypy.response.body will try to turn it into an iterable for you. A true decorator, or a tool that wrapped the page handler, would be slightly less fragile.

-- Robert Brewer