qb1-obj

An object (a.k.a map or dictionary) that keeps string keys in insertion order, but also may be rearranged into any order desired.

A mind-bendingly simple implementation.

qb1-obj gives direct access to keys (on purpose) - see comment below

Install

npm install qb1-obj

Usage

var obj = require('qb1-obj')

var o = obj()
o.put('a', 99)
o.put('b', "hi")
o.put('key c',[1,2,null])

o.length

> 3

o.keys                  // note - returns the actual keys array, not a copy.

['a','b','a c']

o.get('a')

> 99

o.at(1)     // fetch by index

> 'hi'

obj.str() is just qb shorthand for 'toString()'. Output is in qb-plain form.

[ o.str(), o.toString() ]

> [ {a:99,b:'hi','a c':[1,2,nul]}
    {a:99,b:'hi','a c':[1,2,nul]} ]

like other qb1 objects, obj supports the json() method:

o.json()
    
> {"a":99,b:"hi","a c":[1,2,null]}

items can be deleted by using remove() or by putting undefined values:

o.remove('a c')
o.keys

> ['a','b']

o.put('a', undefined)

o.keys

> ['b']

note that put(k,null) is not like put(k,undefined). it will put a null value:

o.put('a',null)
 
o.str()
 
> {b:'hi',a:nul}

keys are actual keys used for order, so if we sort them, we can actually change the serialization order of the object values.

o.keys.sort()
o.str()

> {a:nul,b:'hi'}

Construction

qb-obj has a few convenient constructors. The following are all equivalent:

var obj = require('qb-obj')

alternating key, value pairs (single array):

var o = obj(['a', 1, 'b', 2, 'c', 3])

> {a:1,b:2,c:3}

array of keys and array of values:

obj(['a','b','c'], [1,2,3]).str()

> {a:1,b:2,c:3}

array of keys and object of values:

obj(['a','b','c'], {a:1,b:2,c:3}).str()

> {a:1,b:2,c:3}

In the last two cases, the keys are used to select values from the values. For array/array, the positions of the keys select values and missing values are ignored (i.e. if there are more keys than values). For array/object, the object is checked for values and again, missing values are ignored:

obj(['a','b','c'], [1,2]).str()

> {a:1,b:2}

obj(['a','b'], [1,2,3,4,5]).str()

> {a:1,b:2}

obj(['a','b','c'], {c:3, z:200, b:2}).str()

> {b:2,c:3}

Direct access to Keys? Is that safe?

Wait! Isn't that key access extremely dangerous? What about encapsulation? Shouldn't we make defensive copies of the keys instead of just handing them back?

Well, yes, we should do those things if we were building that sort of rich and safe (and complex, and slow-for-big-objects) library, but we take another approach to reducing unwanted surprises in code... we make things simple and transparent enough that they are understood. qb1-obj is so simple that you can go ahead and sort the keys to your purposes, or insert values in the keys if you understand the contract to keep m.keys in sync with the keys of m.obj.
That's it. That's the whole contract.