jquery-queryBuilder init rules with last search submitted

I have a form with integrated the plugin querybuilder.js.org

My js is:

FROM: scripts.js

$(document).ready(function(e) {

 // INIT PLUGIN

 $('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder({
   plugins: ['bt-tooltip-errors'],
   filters: [{
     id: 'description',
     label: 'Description',
     type: 'string'
   }]
 });

 // RESTORE RULES FROM LAST SEARCH

 $('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('setRules', decodeURIComponent($("#rules").val()) );

 // ON SUBMIT, EDIT THE FORM AND APPEND SQL, PARAMS to USE IN SEARCH FROM DATABASE, AND APPEND RULES TO RESTORE IT TO NEXT LOAD OF THE PAGE

 $("#btn-submit").on("click", function(e) {

    e.preventDefault(); 
    var form = $("#form");  
    var rules = $('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('getRules');
    var query = $('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('getSQL', 'question_mark');

    // FOR RESTORE INITIAL VALUES ON RELOAD PAGE            
    form.append('<input type="hidden" name="rules" value="' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(rules, null, 2)) + '">');

    form.append('<input type="hidden" name="sql" value="' + query.sql + '">');

    form.append('<input type="hidden" name="params" value="' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(query.params, null, 2)) + '">');

    form.submit();

 });

});

My piece of code in index.php is:

<?php

  if ( isset($_POST) ) {

  $rules = isset($_POST['rules']) ? $_POST['rules'] : "";

  }

  ?>

  <form name="form" id="form" role="form" method="post" action="">
    <div id="queryBuilder"></div>

    <!--used only to restore rules in jquery-querybuilder-->
    <input type="hidden" id="rules" value="<?php echo $rules; ?>">


    <button type="button" id="btn-submit" class="btn btn-success">Search</button>
  </form>

Problem is that rules are not restored as expected.

If I insert an alert on document ready like:

alert(decodeURIComponent($("#rules").val()));

I get correct rules:

{
  "condition": "AND",
  "rules": [
    {
      "id": "description",
      "field": "description",
      "type": "string",
      "input": "text",
      "operator": "equal",
      "value": "test value"
    }
  ],
  "valid": true
}

It seem this $('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('setRules', decodeURIComponent($("#rules").val()) ); is not a valid way to init the plugin.

If I try to hard-code the rules in this way:

var rules_basic = {
  "condition": "AND",
  "rules": [
    {
      "id": "description",
      "field": "description",
      "type": "string",
      "input": "text",
      "operator": "equal",
      "value": "test value"
    }
  ],
  "valid": true
};

$('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder({
   plugins: ['bt-tooltip-errors'],
   filters: [{
     id: 'description',
     label: 'Description',
     type: 'string'
   }],
   rules: rules_basic 
 });

Then all work correctly!

How can I force to get init rules from an dynamic hidden input field? My script.js is separate from HTML so i can't (and I don't want) to force writing initial rules using PHP like:

index.php:

.... HTML PART

..... JS PART

$('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder({
   plugins: ['bt-tooltip-errors'],
   filters: [{
     id: 'description',
     label: 'Description',
     type: 'string'
   }],
   rules: <?php echo $rules; ?>    // <---------------- HERE
 });

Possible reason is that you got a string value with ".val" function but plugin needs an JSON object to set the rules, please try to use this code in script.js:

var customRules = decodeURIComponent($("#rules").val());
$('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('setRules', JSON.parse(customRules) );

Instead of this one:

$('#queryBuilder').queryBuilder('setRules', decodeURIComponent($("#rules").val()) );