JSON Hero Path

A TypeScript/JavaScript library that provides a simple way of accessing objects inside JSON using paths

How to install

npm install @jsonhero/path

Getting started

Importing

You can require

const { JSONHeroPath } = require('@jsonhero/path');

Or if you're using TypeScript:

import { JSONHeroPath } from '@jsonhero/path';

Sample object

Given the following JSON variable called employees

let employees = {
  people: [
    {
      name: 'Matt',
      age: 36,
      favouriteThings: ['Monzo', 'The Wirecutter', 'Jurassic Park'],
    },
    {
      name: 'James',
      age: 39,
      favouriteThings: ['Far Cry 1', 'Far Cry 2', 'Far Cry 3'],
    },
    {
      name: 'Eric',
      age: 38,
      favouriteThings: ['Bitcoin'],
    },
    {
      name: 'Dan',
      age: 34,
      favouriteThings: ['Frasier'],
    },
  ],
  count: 4,
};

Simple queries

A simple query to get the 2nd person's name. Note that you can just include index numbers to access array items (0 = first item)

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.1.name');
let name = path.first(employees);
//name = 'James'

let names = path.all(employees);
//names = ['James']

Let's get all the people

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people');
let allPeople = path.all(employees);
//allPeople is set to the array of people

There are only two methods you can perform with a path:

• first() returns the first matching result
• all() returns all the matching results in an array

A $ is placed at the start of a path. If you don't add this, it will just do it automatically for you.

Wildcard queries

Let's get all the names

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.name');
let allNames = path.all(employees);
//allNames = ['Matt', 'James', 'Eric', 'Dan']

Now everyone's favourite things

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.favouriteThings.*');
let allFavouriteThings = path.all(employees);
//allFavouriteThings = ['Monzo', 'The Wirecutter', 'Jurassic Park', 'Far Cry 1', 'Far Cry 2', 'Far Cry 3', 'Bitcoin', 'Frasier']

Array slice queries

We can slice arrays (in the exact same way as the JavaScript .slice() function).

Offset the start index

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.[1:]');
let skipFirstPerson = path.all(employees);
// skipFirstPerson will have everyone but the first person in

Restrict the end index

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.[1:2]');
let justTheSecondPerson = path.all(employees);
// justTheSecondPerson will have only the second person in (start index is 1 and the end won't include index 2)

Negative end indexes remove items from the end of an array

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.[:-1]');
let excludeLastPerson = path.all(employees);
// excludeLastPerson will have everyone except the last person

Getting the result value as well as the paths

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.favouriteThings.*');

// pass this optional object with `includePath` set to true
let results = path.all(testObject1, { includePath: true });

let firstResult = results[0];
//this variable will be an object like this
//{
//  value: 'Monzo',
//   path: a JSONHeroPath for this element
//}

Getting parent, root and children paths from a path

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.favouriteThings');

let parent = path.parent;
// will be a new path: '$.people.*'

let root = path.root;
// will be a new path: '$'

let child = path.child('2');
//will be a new path: '$.people.*.favouriteThings.2'

Accessing components from a path

A path is an array of path components. You can access them directly if you'd like.

You can check if a component is an array type, which is true for wildcards and indexes (e.g. 0)

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.2.favouriteThings.*');

let rootComponent = path.components[0];
let rootComponentIsArray = rootComponent.isArray;
//is false

let personIndexComponent = path.components[2];
let personIndexComponentIsArray = personIndexComponent.isArray;
//is true

let wildcardComponent = path.components[4];
let wildcardComponentIsArray = wildcardComponent.isArray;
//is true

Updating values at a path

You can update values in an object at the specified path.

Setting new values (overwriting existing values at a path)

Overwriting a single object at a path:

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.1');
//this will overwrite the entire object at that path
path.set(employees, {
  name: 'James',
  age: 100,
  favouriteThings: ['Far Cry 1', 'Far Cry 2', 'Far Cry 3', 'Far Cry 4', 'Far Cry 5', 'Far Cry 6'],
});

This will overwrite all the objects at the path:

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.favouriteThings');
//this will set everyone's favourite things to be an array with just Jurassic Park in it
path.set(employees, ['Jurassic Park']);

Merging values

You can merge values into arrays and objects.

For an array this will append the passed in values to the end of the array

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*.favouriteThings');
//this will add Groundhog Day and Milkshakes to everyone's favourite things
path.merge(employees, ['Groundhog Day', 'Milkshakes']);

For an object, this will overwrite properties that already exist and add any that don't

let path = new JSONHeroPath('$.people.*');
//this will update everyone's age to be 21 and add a new hairColour property with a value of Brown
path.merge(employees, {
  age: 21,
  hairColour: 'Brown',
});