json_path 0.4.3

Implementation of JSONPath expressions like "$.store.book[2].price". Reads and writes values in parsed JSON objects.

JSONPath in Dart

import 'dart:convert';

import 'package:json_path/json_path.dart';

void main() {
  final json = jsonDecode('''
{
  "store": {
    "book": [
      {
        "category": "reference",
        "author": "Nigel Rees",
        "title": "Sayings of the Century",
        "price": 8.95
      },
      {
        "category": "fiction",
        "author": "Evelyn Waugh",
        "title": "Sword of Honour",
        "price": 12.99
      },
      {
        "category": "fiction",
        "author": "Herman Melville",
        "title": "Moby Dick",
        "isbn": "0-553-21311-3",
        "price": 8.99
      },
      {
        "category": "fiction",
        "author": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
        "title": "The Lord of the Rings",
        "isbn": "0-395-19395-8",
        "price": 22.99
      }
    ],
    "bicycle": {
      "color": "red",
      "price": 19.95
    }
  }
}  
  ''');

  final prices = JsonPath(r'$..price');

  print('All prices in the store:');

  /// The following code will print:
  ///
  /// $['store']['book'][0]['price']:	8.95
  /// $['store']['book'][1]['price']:	12.99
  /// $['store']['book'][2]['price']:	8.99
  /// $['store']['book'][3]['price']:	22.99
  /// $['store']['bicycle']['price']:	19.95
  prices
      .read(json)
      .map((match) => '${match.path}:\t${match.value}')
      .forEach(print);
}

Limitations

This library is intended to match the original implementations, although filtering expressions (like $..book[?(@.price < 10)]) support is limited and may not always produce the results that you expect. The reason is the difference between the type systems of Dart and JavaScript/PHP. Dart is strictly typed and does not support eval(), so the expressions have to be parsed and evaluated by the library itself. Implementing complex logic this way would create a performance overhead which I prefer to avoid.

Callback filters

If there is a real need for complex filtering, you may use Dart-native callbacks. The syntax, which is of course my own invention and has nothing to do with the "official" JSONPath, is the following:

/// Selects all elements with price under 20
final path = JsonPath(r'$.store..[?discounted]', filters: {
'discounted': (match) =>
    match.value is Map && match.value['price'] is num && match.value['price'] < 20
});

The filtering callbacks may be passed to the JSONPath constructor or to the .read() method. The callback name must be specified in the square brackets and prefixed by ?. It also must be alphanumeric.

Data manipulation

Each JsonPathMatch produced by the .read() method contains the .pointer property which is a valid JSON Pointer and can be used to write/append/remove the referenced value. If you want the data manipulation only, consider the JSON Pointer implementation.

References

• Standard development
• Feature comparison matrix