Array Objectify

Hierarchically transform an array of similar objects into a single object.

Install / Update

npm install --save array-objectify

Syntax

output = arrayObjectify(hierarchy, data[, keepRepetetions])

• hierarchy is an array: Determines the order of parsing.
• data is an obect: Defines the data we want to transform.
• keepRepetetions is boolean (optional, default value is false): If this flag is set, child arrays of the result will contain the exact values gotten from the input data without checking for duplication. (look at the example)

Usage

const arrayObjectify = require('array-objectify');
 
// this is the data we want to parse into new object format
const data = [
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'yellow',
        content: 'Vitamin Y',
        nickName: 'Y-diple'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'yellow',
        content: 'Vitamin X',
        nickName: 'X-diple'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'mango',
        color: 'red',
        content: 'Vitamin yellow',
        nickName: 'yellow-mango'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'green',
        content: 'Vitamin green',
        nickName: 'green-mango'
    }
];
 
// now we've to mention the order of hierarchy in which array-objectify should parse the data
const hierarchy = ['fruit', 'color'];
 
// parse data in the order of given hierarchy
const objectified = arrayObjectify(hierarchy, data);
console.log(objectified);
/* output=>
 
{
    "apple": {
        "yellow": {
            "content": [
                "Vitamin Y",
                "Vitamin X"
            ],
            "nickName": [
                "Y-diple",
                "X-diple"
            ]
        },
        "green": {
            "content": [
                "Vitamin green"
            ],
            "nickName": [
                "green-mango"
            ]
        }
    },
    "mango": {
        "red": {
            "content": [
                "Vitamin yellow"
            ],
            "nickName": [
                "yellow-mango"
            ]
        }
    }
}
 
*/

Things Explained

• We're passing an array of similar objects and we want that to be hierarchically parsed into an object.
• The syntax is output = arrayObjectify(hierarchy, data, keepRepetetions).
  • data is the array of objects we want to convert.
  • hierarchy is an array of hierarchically ordered object field names in which the package should parse the data.
  • keepRepetetions is Boolean and this argument is optional. Default value is false.
  • The field names that are not mentioned in the hierarchy will be the child of the last parent. Consider the below example:

const data = [
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'yellow',
        content: 'Vitamin Y',
        nickName: 'Y-diple'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'yellow',
        content: 'Vitamin X',
        nickName: 'X-diple'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'mango',
        color: 'red',
        content: 'Vitamin yellow',
        nickName: 'yellow-mango'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'mango',
        color: 'red',
        content: 'Vitamin yellow',
        nickName: 'yellow-mango-dupe'
    },
    {
        fruit: 'apple',
        color: 'green',
        content: 'Vitamin green',
        nickName: 'green-mango'
    }
];

Let's say we want to covert this whole array into an object, based on the field name fruit. And then each fruit need to be again ordered based on the field name color. Rest of the fields names (content and nickName) are local to each colored fruit. So we should not want them to mention it on hierarchy. Thus the hierarchy goes like:

const hierarchy = ['fruit', 'color'];

Those fields which are not mentioned in the hierarchy will come under the last hierarchical parent, in our case, the color field. Now the parsed output would be as follows:

const out = arrayObjectify(hierarchy, data); // keepRepetetions = fasle (default)
console.log(out);

output =>

{
    "apple": {
        "yellow": {
            "content": ["Vitamin Y","Vitamin X"],
            "nickName": ["Y-diple","X-diple"]
        },
        "green": {
            "content": ["Vitamin green"],
            "nickName": ["green-mango"]
        }
    },
    "mango": {
        "red": {
            "content": ["Vitamin yellow"],
            "nickName": ["yellow-mango","yellow-mango-dupe"]
        }
    }
}

Let's run this again with keepRepetetions turned on, so that you can visually differentiate the action of keepRepetetions flag:

let out = arrayObjectify(hierarchy, data, true);
console.log(out);

output =>

{
    "apple": {
        "yellow": {
            "content": ["Vitamin Y","Vitamin X"],
            "nickName": ["Y-diple","X-diple"]
        },
        "green": {
            "content": ["Vitamin green"],
            "nickName": ["green-mango"]
        }
    },
    "mango": {
        "red": {
            "content": ["Vitamin yellow","Vitamin yellow"],
            "nickName": ["yellow-mango","yellow-mango-dupe"]
        }
    }
}

Look at the mango field: Vitamin yellow is repeating. In some usecases, it may requre things in that way. It will not repeat if keepRepetetions is turned off.

---

Still unclear? Please rise an issue.

Enjoy :)

Just in case, if you liked this package,

Change log

• v1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3
  • Better docs - Handling greenkeeper issues
• v1.0.0
  • Initial release

License

MIT © Vajahath Ahmed