convert objects in arrays using JSON.stringify()

Author: Andreas Krummsdorf

lib/json-2-csv.js

@@ -108,7 +108,16 @@ var convertData = function (data, keys) {
  */
 var convertField = function (value) {
     if (_.isArray(value)) { // We have an array of values
-        return options.DELIMITER.WRAP + '[' + value.join(options.DELIMITER.ARRAY) + ']' + options.DELIMITER.WRAP;
+        var result = [];
+        value.forEach(function(item) {
+            if (_.isObject(item)) {
+                // use JSON stringify to convert objects in arrays, otherwise toString() will just return [object Object]
+                result.push(JSON.stringify(item));
+            } else {
+                result.push(item);
+            }
+        });
+        return options.DELIMITER.WRAP + '[' + result.join(options.DELIMITER.ARRAY) + ']' + options.DELIMITER.WRAP;
     } else if (_.isDate(value)) { // If we have a date
         return options.DELIMITER.WRAP + value.toString() + options.DELIMITER.WRAP;
     } else if (_.isObject(value)) { // If we have an object

test/CSV/unQuoted/arrayValueDocsWithObjects.csv

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+info.name,coursesTaken,year
+Mike,[CS2500;CS2510],Sophomore
+John,[ANTH1101;POL2312;MATH2142;POL3305;LAW2100],Senior
+Joe,[{"name":"CS2500","students":100};{"name":"CS2510","students":78}],Freshman

test/JSON/arrayValueDocsWithObjects.json

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+[
+    {
+        "info": {
+            "name": "Mike"
+        },
+        "coursesTaken": ["CS2500", "CS2510"],
+        "year": "Sophomore"
+    },
+    {
+        "info": {
+            "name": "John"
+        },
+        "coursesTaken": ["ANTH1101", "POL2312", "MATH2142", "POL3305", "LAW2100"],
+        "year": "Senior"
+    },
+    {
+        "info": {
+            "name": "Joe"
+        },
+        "coursesTaken": [{"name": "CS2500", "students": 100}, {"name": "CS2510", "students": 78}],
+        "year": "Freshman"
+    }
+]

test/testCsvFilesList.json

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
     "key": "unQuoted",
     "files": [
       {"key": "arrayValue", "file": "test/CSV/unQuoted/arrayValueDocs.csv"},
+      {"key": "arrayValueDocsWithObjects", "file": "test/CSV/unQuoted/arrayValueDocsWithObjects.csv"},
       {"key": "arrayValue_specificKeys", "file": "test/CSV/unQuoted/arrayValueDocs_specificKeys.csv"},
       {"key": "nestedJson", "file": "test/CSV/unQuoted/nestedJson.csv"},
       {"key": "nestedJson2", "file": "test/CSV/unQuoted/nestedJson2.csv"},

test/testJson2Csv.js

@@ -86,6 +86,16 @@ var json2csvTests = function () {
                 });
             });
 
+            it('should parse an array of JSON documents which includes arrays with objects to CSV', function (done) {
+                converter.json2csv(jsonTestData.arrayValueDocsWithObjects, function (err, csv) {
+                    if (err) { throw err; }
+                    true.should.equal(_.isEqual(err, null));
+                    csv.should.equal(csvTestData.unQuoted.arrayValueDocsWithObjects);
+                    csv.split(options.EOL).length.should.equal(5);
+                    done();
+                });
+            });
+
             it('should parse an array of JSON documents with the same schema but different ordering of fields', function (done) {
                 converter.json2csv(jsonTestData.sameSchemaDifferentOrdering, function (err, csv) {
                     if (err) { throw err; }

test/testJsonFilesList.js

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 module.exports = {
     arrayValue: require('./JSON/arrayValueDocs'),
+    arrayValueDocsWithObjects: require('./JSON/arrayValueDocsWithObjects'),
     arrayValue_specificKeys: require('./JSON/arrayValueDocs_specificKeys'),
     nestedComma: require('./JSON/nestedComma'),
     nestedJson: require('./JSON/nestedJson'),