How would you get a JSON path to a given child node of an object?
E.g.:
var data = {
key1: {
children: {
key2:'value',
key3:'value',
key4: { ... }
},
key5: 'value'
}
An variable with a reference to key4 is given. Now I'm looking for the absolute path:
data.key1.children.key4
Is there any way to get this done in JS?
Thank you in advance.
So you have a variable with the value "key3", and you want to know how to access this property dynamically, based on the value of this string?
var str = "key3";
data["key1"]["children"][str];
EDIT
Wow, I can't believe I got this on the first try. There might be some bugs in it, but it works for your test case
LIVE DEMO
var x = data.key1.children.key4;
var path = "data";
function search(path, obj, target) {
for (var k in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(k))
if (obj[k] === target)
return path + "['" + k + "']"
else if (typeof obj[k] === "object") {
var result = search(path + "['" + k + "']", obj[k], target);
if (result)
return result;
}
}
return false;
}
var path = search(path, data, x);
console.log(path); //data['key1']['children']['key4']
This is the way i have done this.
/**
* Converts a string path to a value that is existing in a json object.
*
* @param {Object} jsonData Json data to use for searching the value.
* @param {Object} path the path to use to find the value.
* @returns {valueOfThePath|undefined}
*/
function jsonPathToValue(jsonData, path) {
if (!(jsonData instanceof Object) || typeof (path) === "undefined") {
throw "Not valid argument:jsonData:" + jsonData + ", path:" + path;
}
path = path.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, '.$1'); // convert indexes to properties
path = path.replace(/^\./, ''); // strip a leading dot
var pathArray = path.split('.');
for (var i = 0, n = pathArray.length; i < n; ++i) {
var key = pathArray[i];
if (key in jsonData) {
if (jsonData[key] !== null) {
jsonData = jsonData[key];
} else {
return null;
}
} else {
return key;
}
}
return jsonData;
}
For testing,
var obj = {d1:{d2:"a",d3:{d4:"b",d5:{d6:"c"}}}};
jsonPathToValue(obj, "d1.d2"); // a
jsonPathToValue(obj, "d1.d3"); // {d4: "b", d5: Object}
jsonPathToValue(obj, "d1.d3.d4"); // b
jsonPathToValue(obj, "d1.d3.d5"); // {d6: "c"}
jsonPathToValue(obj, "d1.d3.d5.d6"); // c
Hope that will help someone.