Tabular JSON

This node module helps manipulate tabular data found in a JSON object. Data with sub-objects, including arrays, can be flattened, converted into an array, an HTML table, or a delimited string. Many options are available to customize each function.

Install

npm install tabular-json

Usage

var tabular = require('tabular-json');

Functions

• flatten(obj, options) - Convert to array. Each row is an object.
• array(obj, options) - Convert to array. Each row is a sub-array.
• delimit(obj, options) - Convert to delimited string (such as csv).
• html(obj, options) - Convert to HTML table <table>.

Flatten

flatten(obj, options)

• obj - Object to convert to array.
• options - (Optional) A JSON object containing customizations
  • headers - Array - Headers to include in output array. Defaults to all properties found in object.
  • sort - Array or String - Header(s) to sort by.
    • Prefix a string with minus '-' to sort in descending order.
  • dot - String - The string that sub-objects in header strings. Defaults to '.'.

flatten(obj, options) Example

var obj = [
  {
    Name: "Jane",
    Age: 47,
    Address: {
      City: "Detroit",
      State: "Michigan"
    }
  },
  {
    Name: "John",
    Age: 35,
    Address: {
      City: "New York",
      State: "New York"
    }
  },
  {
    Name: "Steve",
    Age: 35,
    Address: {
      City: "Buffalo",
      State: "New York"
    }
  }
];
 
var opts = {
  dot: ' / ',
  headers: ["Name", "Age","Address / City"],
  sort: ["-Age", "Address / City"] // Sort first by 'Age', oldest first, then by 'Address / City'
};
 
var result = tabular.flatten(obj, opts);

The variable result contains the array:

[
  {Name: "Jane", Age: 47, "Address / City": "Detroit"},
  {Name: "Steve", Age: 35, "Address / City": "Buffalo"},
  {Name: "John", Age: 35, "Address / City": "New York"}
]

Array

array(obj, options)

• obj - Object to convert to array.
• options - (Optional) A JSON object containing customizations. All options in flatten(), plus:
  • includeHeaders - Boolean - If true, the first element in output will be an array of the headers. Defaults to true.

array(obj, options) Example

opts = {
  sort: "Name"
};
 
result = tabular.array(obj, opts);

The variable result contains the array:

[
  ["Name", "Age", "Address.City", "Address.State"],
  ["Jane", 47, "Detroit", "Michigan"],
  ["John", 35, "New York", "New York"],
  ["Steve", 35, "Buffalo", "New York"]
]

array(obj, options) Complex Example

Tabular can handle much more complex objects. If sub-array are contained in obj, the output will reflect the sub-arrays by containing a row for each element. There is no limit to the complexity of the object.

var customers = [
  {
    name: "Acme Ltd",
    address: {
      city: "Las Vegas",
      state: "Nevada"
    },
    orders: [
      {
        id: "SO1",
        shipments: [
          {id: "INV1"}, {id: "INV2"}
        ]
      },
      { id: "SO2", orderedAt: new Date("January 1, 2000")}
    ],
    contacts: [
      "Jim",
      "Johanna"
    ]
  }, {
    name: "ABC Co",
    address: {
      city: "Las Angeles"
    },
    orders: [
      {id: "SO3",
    shipments: [{id: "INV3"}]}
    ]
  }, {
    name: "XYZ Inc"
  }
];
 
result = tabular.array(customers);

The variable result contains the array:

[
  [ 'name', 'address.city', 'address.state', 'orders.id', 'orders.shipments.id', 'orders.orderedAt', 'contacts' ],
  [ 'XYZ Inc', null, null, null, null, null, null ],
  [ 'Acme Ltd','Las Vegas','Nevada','SO2',null,Sat Jan 01 2000 00:00:00 GMT-0500 (EST),null ],
  [ 'Acme Ltd', 'Las Vegas', 'Nevada', 'SO1', 'INV1', null, null ],
  [ 'Acme Ltd', 'Las Vegas', 'Nevada', 'SO1', 'INV2', null, null ],
  [ 'ABC Co', 'Las Angeles', null, 'SO3', 'INV3', null, null ],
  [ 'Acme Ltd', 'Las Vegas', 'Nevada', null, null, null, 'Jim' ],
  [ 'Acme Ltd', 'Las Vegas', 'Nevada', null, null, null, 'Johanna' ]
]

Delimit

delimit(obj, options)

• obj - Object to convert to delmited string.
• options - (Optional) A JSON object containing customizations. All options in array(), plus:
  • separator - String - Value separator. Defaults to ','.
  • stringWrap - String - Wrapper for string values. Defaults to '"'.
  • escape - String or Function - String values can be manipulated by this function, or prepended with the string. Defaults to a function that doubles any the stringWrap within the string value.
    • Example: The value 6' 2" would escape to 6' 2"" using the default value.
    • function(value, wrap) - Function - Should return the escaped value, escaped in the desired format.
      • value - String - The original value.
      • wrap - String - The stringWrap variable, provided in the function.
  • eol - String - string to append at the end of each line. Defaults to '\n'.
  • dateFormatter - Function - Function that formats any Date value. Defaults to converting dates using the Date function toLocaleDateString().

delimit(obj, options) Example

obj = {
  Name: "John",
  Height: "6' \"2",
  "Birth Day": new Date("June 12, 1994")
};
 
opts = {
  sort: "Name",
  separator: ';',
  stringWrap: "'",
  escape: function(str, wrap) {return str.replace(new RegExp("("+wrap+")", "g"), '\\$1');},
  dateFormatter: function(date) {return date.toISOString().substr(0,10);}
};
 
result = tabular.delimit(obj, opts);

The variable result contains the string:

'Name';'Height';'Birth Day'
'John';'6\' "2';1994-06-12

Html

html(obj, options)

• obj - Object to convert to an html string.
• options - (Optional) A JSON object containing customizations. All options in array(), plus:
  • separator - String - Separates html elements. Defaults to '\t'.
  • eol - String - End of line string. Defaults to '\n'.
  • escapeInnerHTML - Boolean - Determines if values that contain HTML elements should be escaped so they would not be included in the DOM. Defaults to true.
  • convertLinks - Boolean - Determines if values that look like web links should be converted to link anchors. Defaults to false.
  • classes - Object - Add class values by including the properties (all optional): {table, thead, tr, th, tbody, td}.

html(obj, options) Example

opts = {
  dot: "/",
  separator: '  ',
  dateFormatter: function(date) {return date.toISOString().substr(0,10);},
  sort: ["name", "address/state", "address/city", "-contacts"],
  classes: {table: "table table-striped table-bordered"}
};
 
result = tabular.html(customers, opts);

The variable result contains the string:

<table class="table table-striped table-bordered">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>name</th>
      <th>address/city</th>
      <th>address/state</th>
      <th>orders/id</th>
      <th>orders/shipments/id</th>
      <th>orders/orderedAt</th>
      <th>contacts</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>ABC Co</td>
      <td>Las Angeles</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>SO3</td>
      <td>INV3</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acme Ltd</td>
      <td>Las Vegas</td>
      <td>Nevada</td>
      <td>SO2</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>2000-01-01</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acme Ltd</td>
      <td>Las Vegas</td>
      <td>Nevada</td>
      <td>SO1</td>
      <td>INV1</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acme Ltd</td>
      <td>Las Vegas</td>
      <td>Nevada</td>
      <td>SO1</td>
      <td>INV2</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acme Ltd</td>
      <td>Las Vegas</td>
      <td>Nevada</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>Johanna</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acme Ltd</td>
      <td>Las Vegas</td>
      <td>Nevada</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>Jim</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>XYZ Inc</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

name	address/city	address/state	orders/id	orders/shipments/id	orders/orderedAt	contacts
ABC Co	Las Angeles		SO3	INV3
Acme Ltd	Las Vegas	Nevada	SO2		2000-01-01
Acme Ltd	Las Vegas	Nevada	SO1	INV1
Acme Ltd	Las Vegas	Nevada	SO1	INV2
Acme Ltd	Las Vegas	Nevada				Jim
Acme Ltd	Las Vegas	Nevada				Johanna
XYZ Inc