Accessing nested JavaScript objects with string ke

Question

I have a data structure like this :

var someObject = {
    'part1' : {
        'name': 'Part 1',
        'size': '20',
        'qty' : '50'
    },
    'part2' : {
        'name': 'Part 2',
        'size': '15',
        'qty' : '60'
    },
    'part3' : [
        {
            'name': 'Part 3A',
            'size': '10',
            'qty' : '20'
        }, {
            'name': 'Part 3B',
            'size': '5',
            'qty' : '20'
        }, {
            'name': 'Part 3C',
            'size': '7.5',
            'qty' : '20'
        }
    ]
};

And I would like to access the data using these variable :

var part1name = "part1.name";
var part2quantity = "part2.qty";
var part3name1 = "part3[0].name";

part1name should be filled with someObject.part1.name 's value, which is "Part 1". Same thing with part2quantity which filled with 60.

Is there anyway to achieve this with either pure javascript or JQuery?

Answer 1

The solutions here are just for accessing the deeply nested keys. I needed one for accessing, adding, modifying and deleting the keys. This is what I came up with:

var deepAccessObject = function(object, path_to_key, type_of_function, value){
    switch(type_of_function){
        //Add key/modify key
        case 0: 
            if(path_to_key.length === 1){
                if(value)
                    object[path_to_key[0]] = value;
                return object[path_to_key[0]];
            }else{
                if(object[path_to_key[0]])
                    return deepAccessObject(object[path_to_key[0]], path_to_key.slice(1), type_of_function, value);
                else
                    object[path_to_key[0]] = {};
            }
            break;
        //delete key
        case 1:
            if(path_to_key.length === 1){
                delete object[path_to_key[0]];
                return true;
            }else{
                if(object[path_to_key[0]])
                    return deepAccessObject(object[path_to_key[0]], path_to_key.slice(1), type_of_function, value);
                else
                    return false;
            }
            break;
        default:
            console.log("Wrong type of function");
    }
};

• path_to_key: path in an array. You can replace it by your string_path.split(".").
• type_of_function: 0 for accessing(dont pass any value to value), 0 for add and modify. 1 for delete.

Answer 2

This is the solution I use:

function resolve(path, obj=self, separator='.') {
    var properties = Array.isArray(path) ? path : path.split(separator)
    return properties.reduce((prev, curr) => prev && prev[curr], obj)
}

Example usage:

// accessing property path on global scope
resolve("document.body.style.width")
// or
resolve("style.width", document.body)

// accessing array indexes
// (someObject has been defined in the question)
resolve("part3.0.size", someObject) // returns '10'

// accessing non-existent properties
// returns undefined when intermediate properties are not defined:
resolve('properties.that.do.not.exist', {hello:'world'})

// accessing properties with unusual keys by changing the separator
var obj = { object: { 'a.property.name.with.periods': 42 } }
resolve('object->a.property.name.with.periods', obj, '->') // returns 42

// accessing properties with unusual keys by passing a property name array
resolve(['object', 'a.property.name.with.periods'], obj) // returns 42

Limitations:

• Can't use brackets ([]) for array indices—though specifying array indices between the separator token (e.g., .) works fine as shown above.

Answer 3

While reduce is good, I am surprised no one used forEach:

function valueForKeyPath(obj, path){
        const keys = path.split('.');
        keys.forEach((key)=> obj = obj[key]);
        return obj;
    };

Test

Answer 4

Inspired by @webjay's answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/46008856/4110122

I made this function which can you use it to Get/ Set/ Unset any value in object

function Object_Manager(obj, Path, value, Action) 
{
    try
    {
        if(Array.isArray(Path) == false)
        {
            Path = [Path];
        }

        let level = 0;
        var Return_Value;
        Path.reduce((a, b)=>{
            level++;
            if (level === Path.length)
            {
                if(Action === 'Set')
                {
                    a[b] = value;
                    return value;
                }
                else if(Action === 'Get')
                {
                    Return_Value = a[b];
                }
                else if(Action === 'Unset')
                {
                    delete a[b];
                }
            } 
            else 
            {
                return a[b];
            }
        }, obj);
        return Return_Value;
    }

    catch(err)
    {
        console.error(err);
        return obj;
    }
}

To use it:

 // Set
 Object_Manager(Obj,[Level1,Level2,Level3],New_Value, 'Set');

 // Get
 Object_Manager(Obj,[Level1,Level2,Level3],'', 'Get');

 // Unset
 Object_Manager(Obj,[Level1,Level2,Level3],'', 'Unset');

Answer 5

If you need to access different nested key without knowing it at coding time (it will be trivial to address them) you can use the array notation accessor:

var part1name = someObject['part1']['name'];
var part2quantity = someObject['part2']['qty'];
var part3name1 =  someObject['part3'][0]['name'];

They are equivalent to the dot notation accessor and may vary at runtime, for example:

var part = 'part1';
var property = 'name';

var part1name = someObject[part][property];

is equivalent to

var part1name = someObject['part1']['name'];

or

var part1name = someObject.part1.name;

I hope this address your question...

EDIT

I won't use a string to mantain a sort of xpath query to access an object value. As you have to call a function to parse the query and retrieve the value I would follow another path (not :

var part1name = function(){ return this.part1.name; }
var part2quantity = function() { return this['part2']['qty']; }
var part3name1 =  function() { return this.part3[0]['name'];}

// usage: part1name.apply(someObject);

or, if you are uneasy with the apply method

var part1name = function(obj){ return obj.part1.name; }
var part2quantity = function(obj) { return obj['part2']['qty']; }
var part3name1 =  function(obj) { return obj.part3[0]['name'];}

// usage: part1name(someObject);

The functions are shorter, clearer, the interpreter check them for you for syntax errors and so on.

By the way, I feel that a simple assignment made at right time will be sufficent...

Answer 6

Building off of Alnitak's answer:

if(!Object.prototype.byString){
  //NEW byString which can update values
Object.prototype.byString = function(s, v, o) {
  var _o = o || this;
      s = s.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, '.$1'); // CONVERT INDEXES TO PROPERTIES
      s = s.replace(/^\./, ''); // STRIP A LEADING DOT
      var a = s.split('.'); //ARRAY OF STRINGS SPLIT BY '.'
      for (var i = 0; i < a.length; ++i) {//LOOP OVER ARRAY OF STRINGS
          var k = a[i];
          if (k in _o) {//LOOP THROUGH OBJECT KEYS
              if(_o.hasOwnProperty(k)){//USE ONLY KEYS WE CREATED
                if(v !== undefined){//IF WE HAVE A NEW VALUE PARAM
                  if(i === a.length -1){//IF IT'S THE LAST IN THE ARRAY
                    _o[k] = v;
                  }
                }
                _o = _o[k];//NO NEW VALUE SO JUST RETURN THE CURRENT VALUE
              }
          } else {
              return;
          }
      }
      return _o;
  };

}

This allows you to set a value as well!

I've created an npm package and github with this as well