Searching through JSON array using JavaScript/jQuery

Question

I'm using Google Maps to return the location name and state of where the user's location is. This is the portion I'm interested in:

"address_components" : [
        {
           "long_name" : "Salem",
           "short_name" : "Salem",
           "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Rockingham",
           "short_name" : "Rockingham",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "New Hampshire",
           "short_name" : "NH",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "United States",
           "short_name" : "US",
           "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
        }
     ]

Is there a way to find which objects contain the "locality" and "administrative_area_level_1" value and return the "long_name" string of the appropriate object using JavaScript or jQuery? How would I go about doing so?

possible duplicate of [How to search JSON tree with jQuery](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5288833/how-to-search-json-tree-with-jquery) — Khamidulla, Dec 23 '13 at 04:48
check if the current selected object has an array that contains the string "locality or administrative_area_level_1".. — Akshay Khandelwal, Dec 23 '13 at 04:49

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 23 '13 at 05:02

There you go. Please find the fiddle here

By using a function like below:

function getLocality(){
    for(var i = 0 ; i< address_components.length; i++){
        var obj = address_components[i];
        var arr = obj["types"];
        for(var j = 0; j<arr.length;j++ ){
            if(arr[j] == "locality"){
                return obj;
            }
        }

    }
}

Or rather writing the Array prototype that does the same

Array.prototype.getByType = function(type){
    for(var i = 0 ; i< address_components.length; i++){
        var obj = address_components[i];
        var arr = obj["types"];
        for(var j = 0; j<arr.length;j++ ){
            if(arr[j] == type){
                return obj;
            }
        }

    }
}

And Using the Prototype as below:

address_components.getByType("administrative_area_level_1").long_name // Note that you pass the type to the prototype function that does the job for you

where address_components is the Array returned by the Google Maps

Off course you send the array to be parsed for the value. Hence if you r return value is inside a data object like `var data = {}` and you save the return value as `data = {"address_components" : [{...}]}` then you pass the `data["address_components"].getById..` — Akshay Khandelwal, Dec 23 '13 at 05:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 09 '14 at 13:43

Instead of polluting your code, you can use this JS lib; DefiantJS (http://defiantjs.com) which extends the global object JSON with the method "search". This method enables you to search a JSON structure with XPath query syntax. The result is that your code becomes much cleaner and readable.

Here is the working fiddle;
http://jsfiddle.net/hbi99/SjvZ9/

var data = {
       ...
    },
    res = JSON.search( data, '//*[types="administrative_area_level_1" or types="locality"]' ),
    str = '';

    for (var i=0; i<res.length; i++) {
        str += res[i].long_name +'<br/>';
    }

    document.getElementById('output').innerHTML = str;

Not familiar with XPath? Check out this XPath Evaluator to give you a hint of how easy it is; http://www.defiantjs.com/#xpath_evaluator

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 04:58

Try this:

var data = {"address_components" : [
        {
           "long_name" : "Salem",
           "short_name" : "Salem",
           "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Rockingham",
           "short_name" : "Rockingham",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "New Hampshire",
           "short_name" : "NH",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "United States",
           "short_name" : "US",
           "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
        }
]};
for(var i = 0; i < data.address_components.length; i++){
    if(data[i].long_name == 'something'){
      // do something
    }
    //or
    if(data[i].types[0] == 'administrative_area_level_1'){
      // do something
    }
}

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 23 '13 at 04:59

Try this,

var addr_comp = [{"long_name": "Salem","short_name": "Salem","types": ["locality", "political"]}, {"long_name": "Rockingham","short_name": "Rockingham","types": ["administrative_area_level_2", "political"]}, {"long_name": "New Hampshire","short_name": "NH","types": ["administrative_area_level_1", "political"]}, {"long_name": "United States","short_name": "US","types": ["country", "political"]}];
function getlocalityAdminLevel(addrType){
    for(var a=0,len=addr_comp.length;a<len;a++){
        ac=addr_comp[a];
        if(ac.types){
            for (var t = 0, tl = ac.types.length; t < tl; t++) {
                ty = ac.types[t];
                if (ty == addrType) {
                    return ac;break;
                } 
            }
        }
    }
}
console.log(getlocalityAdminLevel('locality'));
console.log(getlocalityAdminLevel('administrative_area_level_1'));

Working demo

You can get long_name and short_name by using it like,

locality=getlocalityAdminLevel('locality');
if(locality && locality.long_name){
    alert(locality.long_name);
}

Demo 1

Searching through JSON array using JavaScript/jQuery

4 Answers4