Convert JavaScript string in dot notation into an object reference

Question

Given a JS object

var obj = { a: { b: \'1\', c: \'2\' } }

and a string

\"a.b\"

how can I convert the stri

Answer 1

Using object-scan seems a bit overkill, but you can simply do

const objectScan = require('object-scan');

const get = (obj, p) => objectScan([p], { abort: true, rtn: 'value' })(obj);

const obj = { a: { b: '1', c: '2' } };

console.log(get(obj, 'a.b'));
// => 1

console.log(get(obj, '*.c'));
// => 2

There are a lot more advanced examples in the readme.

Answer 2

It's not clear what your question is. Given your object, obj.a.b would give you "2" just as it is. If you wanted to manipulate the string to use brackets, you could do this:

var s = 'a.b';
s = 'obj["' + s.replace(/\./g, '"]["') + '"]';
alert(s); // displays obj["a"]["b"]

Answer 3

you could also use lodash.get

You just install this package (npm i --save lodash.get) and then use it like this:

const get = require('lodash.get');

const myObj = { user: { firstName: 'Stacky', lastName: 'Overflowy' }, id: 123 };

console.log(get(myObj, 'user.firstName')); // prints Stacky
console.log(get(myObj, 'id')); //prints  123

//You can also update values
get(myObj, 'user').firstName = John;

Answer 4

This is my extended solution proposed by: ninjagecko

For me simple string notation was not enough, so below version supports things like:

index(obj, 'data.accounts[0].address[0].postcode');

/**
 * Get object by index
 * @supported
 * - arrays supported
 * - array indexes supported
 * @not-supported
 * - multiple arrays
 * @issues:
 *  index(myAccount, 'accounts[0].address[0].id') - works fine
 *  index(myAccount, 'accounts[].address[0].id') - doesnt work
 * @Example:
 * index(obj, 'data.accounts[].id') => returns array of id's
 * index(obj, 'data.accounts[0].id') => returns id of 0 element from array
 * index(obj, 'data.accounts[0].addresses.list[0].id') => error
 * @param obj
 * @param path
 * @returns {any}
 */
var index = function(obj, path, isArray?, arrIndex?){

    // is an array
    if(typeof isArray === 'undefined') isArray = false;
    // array index,
    // if null, will take all indexes
    if(typeof arrIndex === 'undefined') arrIndex = null;

    var _arrIndex = null;

    var reduceArrayTag = function(i, subArrIndex){
        return i.replace(/(\[)([\d]{0,})(\])/, (i) => {
            var tmp = i.match(/(\[)([\d]{0,})(\])/);
            isArray = true;
            if(subArrIndex){
                _arrIndex =  (tmp[2] !== '') ? tmp[2] : null;
            }else{
                arrIndex =  (tmp[2] !== '') ? tmp[2] : null;
            }
            return '';
        });
    }

    function byIndex(obj, i) {
        // if is an array
        if(isArray){
            isArray = false;
            i = reduceArrayTag(i, true);
            // if array index is null,
            // return an array of with values from every index
            if(!arrIndex){
                var arrValues = [];
                _.forEach(obj, (el) => {
                    arrValues.push(index(el, i, isArray, arrIndex));
                })
                return arrValues;
            }
            // if array index is specified
            var value = obj[arrIndex][i];
            if(isArray){
                arrIndex = _arrIndex;
            }else{
                arrIndex = null;
            }
            return value;
        }else{
            // remove [] from notation,
            // if [] has been removed, check the index of array
            i = reduceArrayTag(i, false);
            return obj[i]
        }
    }

    // reduce with byIndex method
    return path.split('.').reduce(byIndex, obj)
}

Answer 5

here's my 10 cents to case, bellow function will get/set based on path provided,.. sure u can improve it, remove || and replace it with Object.hasOwnProperty if you do care about false values mistakenly,

i tested it with a.b.c and a.b.2.c {a:{b:[0,1,{c:7}]}} and its works for both setting and getting :).

cheerz

function helper(obj, path, setValue){
  const l = String(path).split('.');
  return l.reduce((o,i, idx)=>{
   if( l.length-idx===1)  { o[i] = setValue || o[i];return setValue ? obj : o[i];}
  o[i] = o[i] || {};
   return o[i];
  }, x)
}

Answer 6

If you wish to convert any object that contains dot notation keys into an arrayed version of those keys you can use this.

---

This will convert something like

{
  name: 'Andy',
  brothers.0: 'Bob'
  brothers.1: 'Steve'
  brothers.2: 'Jack'
  sisters.0: 'Sally'
}

to

{
  name: 'Andy',
  brothers: ['Bob', 'Steve', 'Jack']
  sisters: ['Sally']
}

---

convertDotNotationToArray(objectWithDotNotation) {

    Object.entries(objectWithDotNotation).forEach(([key, val]) => {

      // Is the key of dot notation 
      if (key.includes('.')) {
        const [name, index] = key.split('.');

        // If you have not created an array version, create one 
        if (!objectWithDotNotation[name]) {
          objectWithDotNotation[name] = new Array();
        }

        // Save the value in the newly created array at the specific index 
        objectWithDotNotation[name][index] = val;
        // Delete the current dot notation key val
        delete objectWithDotNotation[key];
      }
    });

}