Adding an `array` method to bloblang
gramian opened this issue · comments
Dear All,
I would like to propose adding a method array
to bloblang, which returns always an array. Specifically, every non-array input is returned as single element array, while an array input is returned as-is. This is similar to the bytes
method and motivated originally by parsing XML files transformed to JSON: An XML element with a single child element (or attribute) is returned as sub-object, while multiple child elements/attributes are returned as array. To further process such a subtree, it needs to be ensured always an array is returned. Practically this results in unwieldy constructs like this.with("name").values().flatten()
. The newly proposed array
method would reduce this to the more readable this.name.array()
.
Here is the associated pull request: #2538
Thank you for considering this enhancement
Best
@Jeffail WDYT? Does this addition fit? Is the PR in order?