Access object child properties using a dot notation string [duplicate]

Answer 1

I've extended Andy E's answer, so that it can also handle arrays:

function getDescendantProp(obj, desc) {
    var arr = desc.split(".");

    //while (arr.length && (obj = obj[arr.shift()]));

    while (arr.length && obj) {
        var comp = arr.shift();
        var match = new RegExp("(.+)\\[([0-9]*)\\]").exec(comp);
        if ((match !== null) && (match.length == 3)) {
            var arrayData = { arrName: match[1], arrIndex: match[2] };
            if (obj[arrayData.arrName] != undefined) {
                obj = obj[arrayData.arrName][arrayData.arrIndex];
            } else {
                obj = undefined;
            }
        } else {
            obj = obj[comp]
        }
    }

    return obj;
}

There are probably more efficient ways to do the Regex, but it's compact.

You can now do stuff like:

var model = {
    "m1": {
        "Id": "22345",
        "People": [
            { "Name": "John", "Numbers": ["07263", "17236", "1223"] },
            { "Name": "Jenny", "Numbers": ["2", "3", "6"] },
            { "Name": "Bob", "Numbers": ["12", "3333", "4444"] }
         ]
    }
}

// Should give you "6"
var x = getDescendantProp(model, "m1.People[1].Numbers[2]");