Expressions - how to parse external JSON to get key-value string rather than number

[cello23]

Hello, 

I'd like to create an expression to call an external json file (data2.json) which contains part-of-speech (pos) tags. They are expressed as key-value pairs, eg "pos": "VERB". I would like to get pos-tagged words (eg 'VERB') and assign them a different colour. 

Am an Expressions newbie - sorry! Don't know if this is even possible. So far after lots of online videos 🙂 I can 

• call the 'text' string - footage("data2.json").dataValue([0]);
• call a numerical token value - thisComp.layer("data2.json")("Data")("Outline")("tokens")("tokens 1")("end")

But can't work out how to call a string value from key-value pair. 

Any help much appreciated!

The JSON has this structure:

{

  "text": "The same face: the very same. Marley wore his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots. ",

  "tokens": [

    {

      "id": 0,

      "start": 0,

      "end": 3,

      "tag": "DT",

      "pos": "DET",

      "morph": "Definite=Def|PronType=Art",

      "lemma": "the"

    },

    {

      "id": 1,

      "start": 4,

      "end": 8,

      "tag": "JJ",

      "pos": "ADJ",

      "morph": "Degree=Pos",

      "lemma": "same"

    },

[Mylenium]

You would probably sort them into an array based on their indexes and simply use that. Otherwise it may just be simpler to just export the files in a simpler structure. Parsing such complex node hierarchies for potentially hundreds or thousands of words is going to drag down performance massively.

Mylenium

[cello23]

Thanks so much for your help, Mylenium! It will only be up to 50 words, but I get your point that it's better to simplify the external file. 

I just managed to get the value string by using this in a text layer: thisComp.layer("data2.json")("Data")("Outline")("tokens")("tokens 5")("lemma")

and this in the data2.json layer: footage("data2.json").dataValue([1,1,4])

which for a newbie was v exciting! But discovered that 'tokens 5' isn't a useful name for indexing 🙂