diff --git a/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.cpp b/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.cpp
index 8aa819212a..ebf2e470f4 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.cpp
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ public:
         return Result::ok();
     }
 
-private:
     static Result parseAny (String::CharPointerType& t, var& result)
     {
         t = t.findEndOfWhitespace();
@@ -160,6 +159,7 @@ private:
         return createFail ("Syntax error", &t);
     }
 
+private:
     static Result createFail (const char* const message, const String::CharPointerType* location = nullptr)
     {
         String m (message);
@@ -460,51 +460,6 @@ public:
         out << ']';
     }
 
-/*    static void writeObject (OutputStream& out, DynamicObject& object,
-                             const int indentLevel, const bool allOnOneLine)
-    {
-        NamedValueSet& props = object.getProperties();
-
-        out << '{';
-        if (! allOnOneLine)
-            out << newLine;
-
-        LinkedListPointer<NamedValueSet::NamedValue>* i = &(props.values);
-
-        for (;;)
-        {
-            NamedValueSet::NamedValue* const v = i->get();
-
-            if (v == nullptr)
-                break;
-
-            if (! allOnOneLine)
-                writeSpaces (out, indentLevel + indentSize);
-
-            out << '"';
-            writeString (out, v->name);
-            out << "\": ";
-            write (out, v->value, indentLevel + indentSize, allOnOneLine);
-
-            if (v->nextListItem.get() != nullptr)
-            {
-                if (allOnOneLine)
-                    out << ", ";
-                else
-                    out << ',' << newLine;
-            }
-            else if (! allOnOneLine)
-                out << newLine;
-
-            i = &(v->nextListItem);
-        }
-
-        if (! allOnOneLine)
-            writeSpaces (out, indentLevel);
-
-        out << '}';
-    }*/
-
     enum { indentSize = 2 };
 };
 
@@ -513,7 +468,17 @@ var JSON::parse (const String& text)
 {
     var result;
 
-    if (! JSONParser::parseObjectOrArray (text.getCharPointer(), result))
+    if (! parse (text, result))
+        result = var();
+
+    return result;
+}
+
+var JSON::fromString (StringRef text)
+{
+    var result;
+
+    if (! JSONParser::parseAny (text.text, result))
         result = var();
 
     return result;
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.h b/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.h
index c0dc5055bf..7fb17ee209 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.h
+++ b/modules/juce_core/javascript/juce_JSON.h
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ public:
 
         If you're not interested in the error message, you can use one of the other
         shortcut parse methods, which simply return a var::null if the parsing fails.
+
+        Note that this will only parse valid JSON, which means that the item given must
+        be either an object or an array definition. If you want to also be able to parse
+        any kind of primitive JSON object, use the fromString() method.
     */
     static Result parse (const String& text, var& parsedResult);
 
@@ -60,6 +64,10 @@ public:
 
         If the parsing fails, this simply returns var::null - if you need to find out more
         detail about the parse error, use the alternative parse() method which returns a Result.
+
+        Note that this will only parse valid JSON, which means that the item given must
+        be either an object or an array definition. If you want to also be able to parse
+        any kind of primitive JSON object, use the fromString() method.
     */
     static var parse (const String& text);
 
@@ -94,6 +102,13 @@ public:
     static String toString (const var& objectToFormat,
                             bool allOnOneLine = false);
 
+    /** Parses a string that was created with the toString() method.
+        This is slightly different to the parse() methods because they will reject primitive
+        values and only accept array or object definitions, whereas this method will handle
+        either.
+    */
+    static var fromString (StringRef);
+
     /** Writes a JSON-formatted representation of the var object to the given stream.
         If allOnOneLine is true, the result will be compacted into a single line of text
         with no carriage-returns. If false, it will be laid-out in a more human-readable format.
@@ -106,7 +121,7 @@ public:
     /** Returns a version of a string with any extended characters escaped. */
     static String escapeString (StringRef);
 
-    /** Parses a quoted string in JSON format, returning the un-escaped result in the
+    /** Parses a quoted string-literal in JSON format, returning the un-escaped result in the
         result parameter, and an error message in case the content was illegal.
         This advances the text parameter, leaving it positioned after the closing quote.
     */