Why does the page display text saying “[object Object]” instead of the actual page?

Why does the page display text saying “[object Object]” instead of the actual page?

If you have ever encountered a situation where your web page displays the text “[object Object]” instead of the expected content, don’t worry, you are not alone. This issue often occurs when you are trying to display an object directly on the page without converting it to a string or extracting the desired value from it. In this blog post, we will explore the common reasons behind this problem and provide solutions to fix it.

Reason 1: Object is being directly inserted into the HTML

One possible reason for seeing “[object Object]” is that you are directly inserting an object into the HTML without any conversion. When an object is inserted into the HTML, it is automatically converted to a string using the object’s toString() method. By default, this method returns “[object Object]”. To display the actual content of the object, you need to convert it to a string or extract the desired value.

Solution 1: Converting the object to a string

// Example object
const myObject = { name: "John", age: 25 };

// Convert the object to a string
const objectAsString = JSON.stringify(myObject);

// Display the string on the page
document.getElementById("myElement").textContent = objectAsString;

Reason 2: Object is not being properly accessed

Another reason for seeing “[object Object]” is that you are not accessing the desired value from the object correctly. When you try to display an object directly, JavaScript automatically calls the toString() method on the object. If the object’s toString() method is not overridden, it will return “[object Object]”. To display the actual content, you need to access the specific property or value within the object.

Solution 2: Accessing the desired value from the object

// Example object
const myObject = { name: "John", age: 25 };

// Access the desired value from the object
const desiredValue = myObject.name;

// Display the value on the page
document.getElementById("myElement").textContent = desiredValue;

Reason 3: Object is being implicitly converted to a string

In some cases, the object might be implicitly converted to a string by an operation or function. This can happen when you try to concatenate an object with a string using the “+” operator or when passing an object to a function that expects a string. In such cases, the object is converted to a string using its toString() method, resulting in “[object Object]”. To avoid this, you need to explicitly convert the object to a string before performing the operation or passing it to a function.

Solution 3: Explicitly converting the object to a string

// Example object
const myObject = { name: "John", age: 25 };

// Explicitly convert the object to a string
const objectAsString = JSON.stringify(myObject);

// Concatenate the string with another string
const concatenatedString = "Hello, " + objectAsString;

// Display the concatenated string on the page
document.getElementById("myElement").textContent = concatenatedString;

By following these solutions, you should be able to resolve the issue of seeing “[object Object]” on your web page. Remember to convert the object to a string or access the desired value within the object to display the expected content.