Load local JSON data in jQgrid without AddJsonRows

I suppose that the same question is interesting for other persons. So +1 from me for the question.

You can solve the problem in at least two ways. The first one you can use datatype: "jsonstring" and datastr: data. In the case you need to add additional parameter jsonReader: { repeatitems: false }.

The second way is to use datatype: "local" and data: data.rows. In the case the localReader will be used to read the data from the data.rows array. The default localReader can read the data.

The corresponding demos are here and here.

I modified a little your data: filled "Name" column and included the third item in the input data.

Now you can use local paging, sorting and filtering/searching of the data. I included a little more code to demonstrate the features. Below you find the code of one from the demos:

$(document).ready(function () {
    'use strict';
    var data = {
            "page": "1",
            "records": "3",
            "rows": [
                { "id": "83123a", Name: "Name 1", "PackageCode": "83123a" },
                { "id": "83432a", Name: "Name 3", "PackageCode": "83432a" },
                { "id": "83566a", Name: "Name 2", "PackageCode": "83566a" }
            ]
        },
        grid = $("#packages");

    grid.jqGrid({
        colModel: [
            { name: 'PackageCode', index: 'PackageCode', width: "110" },
            { name: 'Name', index: 'Name', width: "300" }
        ],
        pager: '#packagePager',
        datatype: "jsonstring",
        datastr: data,
        jsonReader: { repeatitems: false },
        rowNum: 2,
        viewrecords: true,
        caption: "Packages",
        height: "auto",
        ignoreCase: true
    });
    grid.jqGrid('navGrid', '#packagePager',
        { add: false, edit: false, del: false }, {}, {}, {},
        { multipleSearch: true, multipleGroup: true });
    grid.jqGrid('filterToolbar', { defaultSearch: 'cn', stringResult: true });
});

UPDATED: I decided to add more details about the differences between datatype: "jsonstring" and datatype: "local" scenarios because the old answer be read and voted by many readers.

I suggest to modify the above code a little to show better the differences. The fist code uses datatype: "jsonstring"

$(function () {
    "use strict";
    var data = [
            { id: "10", Name: "Name 1", PackageCode: "83123a", other: "x", subobject: { x: "a", y: "b", z: [1, 2, 3]} },
            { id: "20", Name: "Name 3", PackageCode: "83432a", other: "y", subobject: { x: "c", y: "d", z: [4, 5, 6]} },
            { id: "30", Name: "Name 2", PackageCode: "83566a", other: "z", subobject: { x: "e", y: "f", z: [7, 8, 9]} }
        ],
        $grid = $("#packages");

    $grid.jqGrid({
        data: data,
        datatype: "local",
        colModel: [
            { name: "PackageCode", width: 110 },
            { name: "Name", width: 300 }
        ],
        pager: "#packagePager",
        rowNum: 2,
        rowList: [1, 2, 10],
        viewrecords: true,
        rownumbers: true,
        caption: "Packages",
        height: "auto",
        sortname: "Name",
        autoencode: true,
        gridview: true,
        ignoreCase: true,
        onSelectRow: function (rowid) {
            var rowData = $(this).jqGrid("getLocalRow", rowid), str = "", p;
            for (p in rowData) {
                if (rowData.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
                    str += "propery \"" + p + "\" + have the value \"" + rowData[p] + "\n";
                }
            }
            alert("all properties of selected row having id=\"" + rowid + "\":\n\n" + str);
        }
    });
    $grid.jqGrid("navGrid", "#packagePager",
        { add: false, edit: false, del: false }, {}, {}, {},
        { multipleSearch: true, multipleGroup: true });
    $grid.jqGrid("filterToolbar", { defaultSearch: "cn", stringResult: true });
});

It displays (see the demo)

One can see unsorted items in the same order like input data. The items of input data will be saved in internal parameters data and _index. getLocalRow method used in onSelectRow shows that items of internal data contains only properties of input items which names corresponds to name property of some jqGrid columns. Additionally unneeded _id_ property will be added.

On the other side the next demo which uses datatype: "local" displays sorted data and all properties inclusive complex objects will be still saved in the internal data:

The code used in the last demo is included below:

$(function () {
    "use strict";
    var data = [
            { id: "10", Name: "Name 1", PackageCode: "83123a", other: "x", subobject: { x: "a", y: "b", z: [1, 2, 3]} },
            { id: "20", Name: "Name 3", PackageCode: "83432a", other: "y", subobject: { x: "c", y: "d", z: [4, 5, 6]} },
            { id: "30", Name: "Name 2", PackageCode: "83566a", other: "z", subobject: { x: "e", y: "f", z: [7, 8, 9]} }
        ],
        $grid = $("#packages");

    $grid.jqGrid({
        data: data,
        datatype: "local",
        colModel: [
            { name: "PackageCode", width: 110 },
            { name: "Name", width: 300 }
        ],
        pager: "#packagePager",
        rowNum: 2,
        rowList: [1, 2, 10],
        viewrecords: true,
        rownumbers: true,
        caption: "Packages",
        height: "auto",
        sortname: "Name",
        autoencode: true,
        gridview: true,
        ignoreCase: true,
        onSelectRow: function (rowid) {
            var rowData = $(this).jqGrid("getLocalRow", rowid), str = "", p;
            for (p in rowData) {
                if (rowData.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
                    str += "propery \"" + p + "\" + have the value \"" + rowData[p] + "\"\n";
                }
            }
            alert("all properties of selected row having id=\"" + rowid + "\":\n\n" + str);
        }
    });
    $grid.jqGrid("navGrid", "#packagePager",
        { add: false, edit: false, del: false }, {}, {}, {},
        { multipleSearch: true, multipleGroup: true });
    $grid.jqGrid("filterToolbar", { defaultSearch: "cn", stringResult: true });
});

So I would recommend to use datatype: "local" instead of datatype: "jsonstring". datatype: "jsonstring" could have some advantages only in some very specific scenarios.