Retrieving Keys from JSON Array key-value pair dynamically - Javascript

Question

I have a question that would like to seek your expertise on.

This is a JSON array that I have:

[{"A":20,"B":32,"C":27,"D":30,"E":40}]

What I would like to do is to retrieve the keys (A, B, C, D, E) from the JSON array instead of the values. I am able to retrieve the values but not the keys.

I am using this to retrieve the values dynamically:

function calculateSum(jsonArray) {
    var result = 0;
    for (var i = jsonArray.length - 1;  i >= 0; --i)
    {
        var o = jsonArray[i];
        A = o.A;
        B = o.B;
        C = o.C;
        D = o.D;
        E = o.E;
        result = A + B + C + D + E;
        return result;
    }

    return result;
}

Similarly, what should I do to retrieve the keys using JavaScript?

Answer 1

Are you using D3.js as your tag implies? Because in that case, you can just use d3.keys():

var data = [{"A":20,"B":32,"C":27,"D":30,"E":40}];
d3.keys(data[0]); // ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E"] 

If you want the sum of all the values, you might be better off using d3.values() and d3.sum():

var data = [{"A":20,"B":32,"C":27,"D":30,"E":40}, {"F":50}];
// get total of all object totals
var total = d3.sum(data, function(d) {
    // get total of a single object's values
    return d3.sum(d3.values(d));
});
total; // 199

Answer 2

All of the current posted solutions have a problem. None of them check for object.hasOwnProperty(prop) while iterating over an object using a for...in loop. This might cause phantom keys to appear if properties are added to the prototype.

Quoting Douglas Crockford

Be aware that members that are added to the prototype of the object will be included in the enumeration. It is wise to program defensively by using the hasOwnProperty method to distinguish the true members of the object.

Adding a check for hasOwnProperty to maerics' excellent solution.

var getKeys = function (arr) {
        var key, keys = [];
        for (i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
            for (key in arr[i]) {
                if (arr[i].hasOwnProperty(key)) {
                    keys.push(key);
                }
            }
        }
        return keys;
    };