D3 JSON data conversion

Question

I have this JSON data structure:

[
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name1", "size": "size1" },
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1", "size": "size3" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1", "size": "size4" }
]

and I want to convert it to a nested structure like this:

{
    "name": "root",
    "children": [
        { "name": "d1",
            "children": [
                { "dep": "d1", "name": "name1", "size": "size1" },
                { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" }
            ]
        },
        { "name": "d2",
            "children": [
                { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1", "size": "size3" },
                { "dep": "d2", "name": "name2", "size": "size4" }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

... and further using it to make the Reingold–Tilford Tree. Can anyone point me to the right direction, I'm pretty new to D3!

Answer 1

The strategy is to create a new empty data structure corresponding to what you want, and then fill it by going through the whole original dataset. Here is the code:

var data = [
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name1", "size": "size1" },
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1", "size": "size3" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name2", "size": "size4" }
]

var newData = {"name": "root", "children": {}}

data.forEach(function (d) {
    if (typeof newData.children[d.dep] !== 'undefined') {
        newData.children[d.dep].children.push(d)
    } else {
        newData.children[d.dep] = {"name": d.dep, "children": [d]}
    }
})
newData.children = Object.keys(newData.children).map(function (key) {
    return newData.children[key];
});

The assignment at the end is to transform the object into an array.

Which gives the desired result for newData:

{
    "name": "root",
    "children": [
        { "name": "d1",
            "children": [
                { "dep": "d1", "name": "name1", "size": "size1" },
                { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" }
            ]
        },
        { "name": "d2",
            "children": [
                { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1", "size": "size3" },
                { "dep": "d2", "name": "name2", "size": "size4" }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/chrisJamesC/eB4jF/

Note: This method does not work for nested structures. It will be way harder to do this for nested structures but you can always use a recursive function.

---

EDIT: As suggested by @imarane in his answer, you can use the d3.nest() which is way better than my hand made solution. You might thus accept his answer. By playing with it, it even was really easy to have multiple levels of nest:

var data = [
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name1", "size": "size1" },
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1"},
    { "dep": "d2"}
]

var newData = {
    "key":"root", 
    "children": 
        d3.nest()
            .key(function(d){return d.dep})
            .key(function(d){return d.name})
            .key(function(d){return d.size})
            .entries(data)
}     

Which give:

{"key":"root","children":[
    {"key":"d1","values":[
        {"key":"name2","values":[
            {"dep":"d1","name":"name2","size":"size1"},
            {"dep":"d1","name":"name2","size":"size2"}
        ]}
    ]},
    {"key":"d2","values":[
        {"key":"name1","values":[
            {"dep":"d2","name":"name1"}
        ]},
        {"key":"undefined","values":[
            {"dep":"d2"}
        ]}
    ]}
]}

Which the following data structure (I hope better to understand the whole point):

var data = [
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size1" },
    { "dep": "d1", "name": "name2", "size": "size2" },
    { "dep": "d2", "name": "name1"},
    { "dep": "d2"}
]

JsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/chrisJamesC/eB4jF/2/

More on Nest: http://bl.ocks.org/phoebebright/raw/3176159/