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

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)
}