toSrc

Turns every JavaScript object or primitive into valid source code that can be evaled again.

You can use it to serialize classes, modules or other programming objects and reuse them in an other environment such as a browser. JSON.stringify doesnt work with programming objects (that contain functions, dates, etc.) because they're no legal JSONs.

Works with node.js (tested) or in the browser (not tested)

Installation

npm install toSrc

Examples

    var toSrc = require("toSrc");
    
    // Primitives
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc(1); // = '1'
    toSrc(true); // = 'true'
    toSrc("1"); // = '"1"'
    toSrc('1'); // = '"1"' toSrc always uses double-quotes    

    // Constants
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc(Math.PI); // = 'Math.PI'
    toSrc(NaN); // = 'NaN'

    // RegExp
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc(/myRegEx/gi); // = '/myRegEx/gi'
    toSrc(new RegExp("myRegEx")); // = '/myRegEx/'

    // Date
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc(new Date()); // = 'new Date(<the time of creation in ms>)'

    // Functions
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    function testFunc() {
        var test = "hello";
    }
    toSrc(testFunc); // = 'function testFunc() {\n    var test = "hello";\n}'
    toSrc(String); // = 'String', native functions don't expose the source code

    // Arrays
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc([1, 2, "3"]); // = '[1, 2, "3"]'
    toSrc([1, 2, ["a", "b", "c"]]); // = '[1, 2, undefined]' because the depth
                                    // is 1 by default
    toSrc([1, 2, ["a", "b", "c"]], 2); // = '[1, 2, ["a", "b", "c"]]'

    // Objects
    ///////////////////////////////////////
    toSrc({
        regEx: /regex/gi,
        anotherObj: {
            test: "test"
        }
    });
    // = '{"regEx": /regex/gi, "anotherObj": undefined}'
    // anotherObj is undefined because the depth is 1 by default.
    toSrc({
        "regEx": /regex/gi,
        "anotherObj": {
            "test": "test"
        }
    }, 2);
    // = '{"regEx": /regex/gi, "anotherObj": {"test": "test"}}'

For more examples check out test/test.js

API

toSrc(obj*, *depth)

• { * } obj:
  The object to stringify. Can also be a primitive like 1 or true.
• {Number=1} depth:
  The depth to go. All nested structures like objects or arrays deeper than this will be undefined. Defaults to 1, meaning that every object or array within obj will be undefined by default.

Usage

In node.js

var toSrc = require("toSrc");

toSrc(obj, depth);

In the browser

Just call toSrc(obj, depth);

Notes

• Circular references will be undefined. No error is thrown, but a warning is logged.
• All math constants are restored to their source representation, e.g.: toSrc(Math.PI); // = 'Math.PI' instead of 3.14...
• All dates are restored to their original time of creation, e.g.: toSrc(new Date()) // = 'new Date(<time of creation in ms>)'
• Dynamic regular expressions created via new RegExp() will not be dynamic anymore. toSrc(new RegExp(someString)) will return '/<value of someString>/' instead of `'new RegExp(someString)'

Feel free to modify the code to meet your needs.

License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2012 Johannes Ewald <mail@johannesewald.de>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.