Convert string to object hierarchy

Question

I have the following string returned from an API and I want to convert it to an object hierarchy using javascript.

The string received is:

"paymentInfoList.paymentInfo(0).receiver.amount":"12.00"

I want to convert it to a javascript object like:

{
    paymentInfoList: {
        PaymentInfo: [{
             receiver: {
                 amount: 12.0
             }
        }]
    }
}

I could write my own parser but wonder if there is some code already out there.

Update

Based on the answer from @JasonCust here is a parser to parse a full response from the PayPal Adaptive Payments Pay method: https://github.com/danielflippance/paypal-ap-parser

Answer 1

I don't know of an existing parser that handles that format. Maybe something on Paypal's developer site? If you roll your own you could do so using a recursive function like the example below. I haven't tested it thoroughly but it's a POC that it's easy enough to do.

function setObjVal(obj, paths, val) {
  var path;
  var arrayInfo;

  if (paths.length === 0) {
    return val;
  }

  obj = obj || {};
  path = paths.shift();
  arrayInfo = path.match(arrayRegExp);

  if (arrayInfo) {
    path = arrayInfo[1];

    if (!Array.isArray(obj[path])) {
      obj[path] = [];
    }

    obj[path][arrayInfo[2]] = setObjVal(obj[path][arrayInfo[2]], paths, val);
  }
  else {
    obj[path] = setObjVal(obj[path], paths, val);
  }

  return obj;
}

var arrayRegExp = /^(\w+)\((\d+)\)$/;

var input = '"paymentInfoList.paymentInfo(0).receiver.amount":"12.00"';
var pair = input.split(':').map(function (str) { return str.replace(/"/g, ''); });
var newObj = setObjVal({}, pair[0].split('.'), pair[1]);

function setObjVal(obj, paths, val) {
  var path;
  var arrayInfo;
  
  if (paths.length === 0) {
    return val;
  }

  obj = obj || {};
  path = paths.shift();
  arrayInfo = path.match(arrayRegExp);
  
  if (arrayInfo) {
    path = arrayInfo[1];
    
    if (!Array.isArray(obj[path])) {
      obj[path] = [];
    }
    
    obj[path][arrayInfo[2]] = setObjVal(obj[path][arrayInfo[2]], paths, val);
  }
  else {
    obj[path] = setObjVal(obj[path], paths, val);
  }
  
  return obj;
}

document.write('<pre>' + JSON.stringify(newObj, null, 4) + '</pre>');

Alternatively if you want to use lodash you could use _.set():

var newObj = _.set({}, pair[0].replace(/\(/g, '[').replace(/\)/g, ']'), pair[1]);

var input = '"paymentInfoList.paymentInfo(0).receiver.amount":"12.00"';
var pair = input.split(':').map(function (str) { return str.replace(/"/g, ''); });

var newObj = _.set({}, pair[0].replace(/\(/g, '[').replace(/\)/g, ']'), pair[1]);

document.write('<pre>' + JSON.stringify(newObj, null, 4) + '</pre>');

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/3.10.0/lodash.min.js"></script>