flatten()

Flattens a deeply nested object into a object containing only keys and values. Previously nested objects have the hierarchy represented as a keypath in their property key.

flatten(object [, delimiter])

Parameters

object    - A deeply nested Object to flatten.
delimiter - A delimiter to use in the keypaths (default: ".")

Returns

Returns the flattened object.

Examples

var data = {
  track: {
    name: 'Michelle',
    url: 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul/Michelle',
    album: {
      name: 'Rubber Soul'
      url: 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul'
      tracks: 12
    },
    artist: {
      name: 'The Beatles',
      url: 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles'
    }
  }
};

flatten(data);
// => returns {
//   'track.name': 'Michelle',
//   'track.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul/Michelle',
//   'track.album.name': 'Rubber Soul'
//   'track.album.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul'
//   'track.album.tracks': 12
//   'track.artist.name': 'The Beatles',
//   'track.artist.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles'
// }

To use with node.js:

var flatten = require('flatten').flatten;
flatten(data);

expand()

Expands a previously flattened object restoring keys with keypaths into full objects. Also accepts an optional delimiter to manually specify a keypath.

expand(object [, delimiter])

Parameters

object    - A flattened Object to restore.
delimiter - A delimiter to use in the keypaths (default: ".")

Returns

Returns the newly expanded object.

Examples

var data = {
  'track.name': 'Michelle',
  'track.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul/Michelle',
  'track.album.name': 'Rubber Soul'
  'track.album.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/Rubber+Soul'
  'track.album.tracks': 12
  'track.artist.name': 'The Beatles',
  'track.artist.url': 'http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles'
};

expand(data);
// => returns data object as seen in flatten example above.

To use with node.js:

var expand = require('flatten').expand;
expand(data);

.noConflict()

Both functions have a .noConflict() method that allows you to reassign them to another variable in the same way as jQuery.noConflict().

To assign the functions to another library (eg. Underscore):

// Extend underscore.js
_.mixin({
  flattenObject: flatten.noConflict(),
  expandObject:  expand.noConflict()
});

// Extend jQuery
$.extend({
  flatten: flatten.noConflict(),
  expand:  expand.noConflict()
});

Licence

Released under the MIT license