describe-json [![Build Status][3]][4] [![Coverage Status][1]][2]

#### Describes a JSON object metadata

![browser support
](https://ci.testling.com/itayw/describe-json)

The library takes a JSON object and returns it's metadata in several useful ways.
I've developed this package as part of the [joola.io project][joola.io] to handle the transformation of JSON rich documents into NoSQL datastores.
This process requires some descriptive attributes for each of the JSON nodes and this library assists in this process.

describe-json uses two libraries for traversing the JSON and parsing its metadata, [traverse][traverse] which iterates over the JSON object and [kindof][kindof] which is used to determine the typeof the value.

``javascript
var djson = require('describe-json');
var obj = {
number: 1,
string: 'string',
date: new Date(),
array: [1, '2', [1, 2]],
nested: {
number: 1,
string: 'string',
date: new Date()
}
};
console.log(djson.describe(obj));
`
Results with

`javascript
{ number: 'number',
string: 'string',
date: 'date',
array: [ 'number', 'string', [ 'number', 'number' ] ],
nested: { number: 'number', string: 'string', date: 'date' }
}
`

$3

`bash
$ npm install describe-json
`

API

$3

Generates a metadata representation of the provided JSON object.

Accepts obj which is a JSON object and traverses it to return another JSON object containing the metadata.

- Arrays are returned with their contents expanded and each replaced with the metadata of the array item value.
- Strings are parsed in attempt to cast them as a valid date.
- Root is not parsed and returned.

`javascript
var djson = require('describe-json');
var obj = {
number: 1,
string: 'string',
date: new Date(),
array: [1, '2', [1, 2]],
nested: {
number: 1,
string: 'string',
date: new Date()
}
};
console.log(djson.describe(obj));
`
Results with

`javascript
{ number: 'number',
string: 'string',
date: 'date',
array: [ 'number', 'string', [ 'number', 'number' ] ],
nested: { number: 'number', string: 'string', date: 'date' }
}
`

$3


Returns an array of [key, value] containing all leaf node values.

`js
var obj = {
level0: 1,
a: {
b: {
c: {
d: 1
}
}
},
aa: {
bb: ['cc']
}
};
`
Results with:
`js
[
[ 'level0', 1 ],
[ 'a.b.c.d', 1 ],
[ 'aa.bb', [ 'cc' ] ]
]
``

$3

I would love to get your help and have outlined a simple Contribution Policy to support a transparent and easy merging of ideas, code, bug fixes and features.
If you're looking for a place to start, you can always go over the list of open issues, pick one and get started. If you're feeling lost or unsure, just let me know.

###License
Copyright (c) 2014 Itay Weinberger. MIT Licensed, see LICENSE for details.

[1]: https://coveralls.io/repos/itayw/describe-json/badge.png?branch=master
[2]: https://coveralls.io/r/itayw/describe-json?branch=master
[3]: https://travis-ci.org/itayw/describe-json.png?branch=master
[4]: https://travis-ci.org/itayw/describe-json?branch=master

[joola.io]: http://github.com/joola/joola.io
[traverse]: https://github.com/substack/js-traverse
[kindof]: https://github.com/moll/js-kindof