Calculating the JSONPath

Question

Assuming I have a fairly complex JSON object such as the one below:

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "address": [{
    "streetAddress": "1 street",
    "special": {
      "1 a": "1 b"
    }
  }, {
    "streetAddress": "2 naist street",
    "special": {
      "2 a": "2 b"
    }
  }],
  "phoneNumbers": [{
    "type": "iPhone",
    "number": "0123-4567-8888"
  }]
}

Are there any tools/libraries to calculate the JSONPath to a particular key/value pair?

For example: the JSONPath to the third row of data (streetAddress": "1 street") can be extracted using the JSONPath $.address[0].streetAddress.

Ideally I want something like this: calculateJSONPath(3) - where 3 is the 3rd key starting from the top and this function will return $.address[0].streetAddress. I don't imagine there'll be something that does exactly this, but I got to start somewhere, if not from scratch.

Edit: Sample use case: User loads a JSON file into my application. I allow them to select specific keys using my interface. Imagine checkboxes next to each key. Next the user can upload a second JSON file and see if the previously selected keys/values are present in the second JSON.

Edit 2: Searching won't work as I want the key/values selected by the user to be located in the same hierarchy as the first JSON. Eg: If the user selects "1 a": "1 b" in the first JSON file, the second JSON file must have the same key/value in the same nested hierarchy.

Answer 1

Here is a taste of what I said (check an checkbox to see my point):

var $ = {
  "firstName": "John",
  "address": [{
    "streetAddress": "1 street",
    "special": {
      "2 a": "2 a"
    }
  }, {
    "streetAddress": "2 naist street",
    "special": {
      "2 a": "2 a"
    }
  }],
  "phoneNumbers": [{
    "type": "iPhone",
    "number": "0123-4567-8888"
  }]
};


// the recursive function that create the structure
function createStructure(container, obj, path) {
  for(var key in obj) {
    var d = cd(key, path);
    if(typeof obj[key] == "object")
      createStructure(d, obj[key], path + "['" + key + "']");
    container.appendChild(d);
  }
}

// of course we call the function ...
createStructure(document.getElementById("preview"), $, "$");


// create a preview element (unimportant)
function cd(prop, path) {
  var d = document.createElement("div");
  var s = document.createElement("span");

  var i = document.createElement("input");
  i.setAttribute("data-path", path + "['" + prop +"']");
  i.onclick = check;
  i.type = "checkbox";
  s.appendChild(i);
 
  s.appendChild(document.createTextNode(prop));
  d.appendChild(s);
  return d;
}

// the event handler (unimportant)
function check(e) {
  if(e.target.checked)
    alert(e.target.getAttribute("data-path"));
}

div {
  padding: 5px;
  padding-left: 25px;
}

span {
  border-bottom: 1px solid black;
  border-left: 1px solid black;
}

<div id="preview">
  <span><input type="checkbox" data-path="$"/>$</span>
</div>