What causes "given options in wrong format" in dianping/cat?

Map every entry explicitly to {value: ..., text: ...}: items.map(function(i){ return {value: i.id, text: i.name}; }).

dianping/cat · error · Error

given options in wrong format

Error message

given options in wrong format

What it means

While building select or radio prompt inputs, bootbox iterates inputOptions and requires every entry to be an object with both value and text properties; an entry missing either throws 'given options in wrong format'. The same check runs (on the first entry) for checkboxes. This prevents half-rendered option lists.

Source

Thrown at cat-home/src/main/webapp/assets/js/uncompressed/bootbox.js:475

      case "password":
        input.val(options.value);
        break;

      case "select":
        var groups = {};
        inputOptions = options.inputOptions || [];

        if (!inputOptions.length) {
          throw new Error("prompt with select requires options");
        }

        each(inputOptions, function(_, option) {

          // assume the element to attach to is the input...
          var elem = input;

          if (option.value === undefined || option.text === undefined) {
            throw new Error("given options in wrong format");
          }


          // ... but override that element if this option sits in a group

          if (option.group) {
            // initialise group if necessary
            if (!groups[option.group]) {
              groups[option.group] = $("<optgroup/>").attr("label", option.group);
            }

            elem = groups[option.group];
          }

          elem.append("<option value='" + option.value + "'>" + option.text + "</option>");
        });

        each(groups, function(_, group) {

View on GitHub (pinned to e815e74d4c)

Solutions

Map every entry explicitly to {value: ..., text: ...}: items.map(function(i){ return {value: i.id, text: i.name}; }).
Validate before the call: inputOptions.every(function(o){ return o && o.value !== undefined && o.text !== undefined; }).
Skip or default malformed records during mapping (o.text = o.text || o.value) if partial data is acceptable.

Example fix

// before
inputOptions: response.users // [{id: 3, name: 'Ann'}, ...] -> throws

// after
inputOptions: response.users.map(function (u) {
  return { value: u.id, text: u.name };
})

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function toInputOptions(rows) {
  return rows.filter(function (r) { return r && r.id !== undefined && r.name !== undefined; })
             .map(function (r) { return { value: r.id, text: r.name }; });
}
var opts = toInputOptions(rows);
if (opts.length) bootbox.prompt({ /* ... */ inputOptions: opts, callback: cb });

Type guard

function isWellFormedInputOption(o) {
  return o !== null && typeof o === 'object' &&
    o.value !== undefined && o.text !== undefined;
}

Prevention

Map API records to {value, text} explicitly
Validate every entry, not just the first
Filter or default malformed records before building the dialog

When it happens

Trigger: inputOptions: [{value: 1}, {text: 'No value'}]; entries built with label or name instead of text; a JSON source using {id, title} keys copied in verbatim; one malformed record in an otherwise good server response.

Common situations: Mapping an API payload to inputOptions but forgetting to rename fields (id→value, name→text); sparse data where some records lack a label; hand-written option arrays with inconsistent shapes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dianping/cat@e815e74d4c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3aa25ac6ed8facec. Report an issue: GitHub.