Play [Scala]: How to flatten a JSON object

Question

Given the following JSON...

{
  \"metadata\": {
    \"id\": \"1234\",
    \"type\": \"file\",
    \"length\": 395
  }
}

... how do I convert it

Answer 1

@Trev has the best solution here, completely generic and recursive, but it's missing a case for array support. I'd like something that works in this scenario:

turn this:

{
  "metadata": {
    "id": "1234",
    "type": "file",
    "length": 395
  },
  "foo": "bar",
  "person": {
    "first": "peter",
    "last": "smith",
    "address": {
      "city": "Ottawa",
      "country": "Canada"
    },
    "kids": ["Bob", "Sam"]
  }
}

into this:

{
  "metadata.id": "1234",
  "metadata.type": "file",
  "metadata.length": 395,
  "foo": "bar",
  "person.first": "peter",
  "person.last": "smith",
  "person.address.city": "Ottawa",
  "person.address.country": "Canada",
  "person.kids[0]": "Bob",
  "person.kids[1]": "Sam"
}

I've arrived at this, which appears to work, but seems overly verbose. Any help in making this pretty would be appreciated.

def flatten(js: JsValue, prefix: String = ""): JsObject = js.as[JsObject].fields.foldLeft(Json.obj()) {
  case (acc, (k, v: JsObject)) => {
    val nk = if(prefix.isEmpty) k else s"$prefix.$k"
    acc.deepMerge(flatten(v, nk))
  }
  case (acc, (k, v: JsArray)) => {
    val nk = if(prefix.isEmpty) k else s"$prefix.$k"
    val arr = flattenArray(v, nk).foldLeft(Json.obj())(_++_)
    acc.deepMerge(arr)
  }
  case (acc, (k, v)) => {
    val nk = if(prefix.isEmpty) k else s"$prefix.$k"
    acc + (nk -> v)
  }
}

def flattenArray(a: JsArray, k: String = ""): Seq[JsObject] = {
  flattenSeq(a.value.zipWithIndex.map {
    case (o: JsObject, i: Int) =>
      flatten(o, s"$k[$i]")
    case (o: JsArray, i: Int) =>
      flattenArray(o, s"$k[$i]")
    case a =>
      Json.obj(s"$k[${a._2}]" -> a._1)
  })
}

def flattenSeq(s: Seq[Any], b: Seq[JsObject] = Seq()): Seq[JsObject] = {
  s.foldLeft[Seq[JsObject]](b){
    case (acc, v: JsObject) =>
      acc:+v
    case (acc, v: Seq[Any]) =>
      flattenSeq(v, acc)
  }
}