JSON: is this a json array?

Question

"employees":[
 {"firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe"}, 
 {"firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith"}, 
 {"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}
]

I know that this is a json array.
I want to do something like this:

"employees":[
 "manager":{"firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe"}, 
 "boss1":{"firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith"}, 
 "boss2":{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}
]

Is this json format? Is this a json array?

Answer 1

No, this is not JSON array, you can check it on this link https://www.jsoneditoronline.org/ just past your code on the left side, and surround it with {} , and you will see where the problem is. Also you can test JSON there in the future.

My suggestion is to use something like this.

"employees":[
 {"position":"manager", "firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe"}, 
 {"position":"boss1", "firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith"}, 
 {"position":"boss2", "firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}
]

This would be valid JSON array.

Answer 2

If you add some { and } you can make it valid jsons, like this:

{"employees":[
 {"manager":{"firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe"}}, 
 {"boss1":{"firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith"}}, 
 {"boss2":{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}} 
]}

I tested it on https://www.jsoneditoronline.org/ and this is valid. Without the need to add the extra "position".