Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined

You are not passing the variable correctly. One fast solution is to make a global variable like this:

var global_json_data;
$(document).ready(function() {
    var json_source = "https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0ApL1zT2P00q5dG1wOUMzSlNVV3VRV2pwQ2Fnbmt3M0E/od7/public/basic?alt=json";
    var string_data ="";
    var json_data = $.ajax({
        dataType: 'json', // Return JSON
        url: json_source,
        success: function(data){
            var data_obj = [];
            for (i=0; i<data.feed.entry.length; i++){
                var el = {'key': data.feed.entry[i].title['$t'], 'value': '<p><a href="'+data.feed.entry[i].content['$t']+'>'+data.feed.entry[i].title['$t']+'</a></p>'};
                data_obj.push(el)};

            console.log("data grabbed");  
            global_json_data =   data_obj;

            return data_obj;


        },      

        error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown){ 
                        $('#results_box').html('<h2>Something went wrong!</h2><p><b>' + textStatus  + '</b> ' + errorThrown  + '</p>');
        }
    }); 

    $(':submit').click(function(event){
        var json_data = global_json_data;
        event.preventDefault();
        console.log(json_data.length);

        //function
        if ($('#place').val() !=''){
            var copy_string = $('#place').val();
            var converted_string = copy_string;
            for (i=0; i<json_data.length; i++){
                //console_log(data.feed.entry[i].title['$t']);
                converted_string = converted_string.replace(json_data.feed.entry[i].title['$t'], 
                    '<a href="'+json_data.feed.entry[i].content['$t']+'>'+json_data.feed.entry[i].title['$t']+'</a>');
            }  
            $('#results_box').text(converted_string).html();
        }
    });

});//document ready end 

"ProjectID" JSON data format problem Remove "ProjectID": This value collection objeckt key value

 { * * "ProjectID" * * : {
            "name": "ProjectID",
            "value": "16,36,8,7",
            "group": "Genel",
            "editor": {
                "type": "combobox",
                "options": {
                    "url": "..\/jsonEntityVarServices\/?id=6&task=7",
                    "valueField": "value",
                    "textField": "text",
                    "multiple": "true"
                }
            },
            "id": "14",
            "entityVarID": "16",
            "EVarMemID": "47"
        }
    }

console.log(typeof json_data !== 'undefined'
    ? json_data.length : 'There is no spoon.');

...or more simply...

console.log(json_data ? json_data.length : 'json_data is null or undefined');

You are accessing an object that is not defined.

The solution is check for null or undefined (to see whether the object exists) and only then iterate.