object_chain.js

/*
{
   "a":{
      "b":{
         "b1":1
      },
      "c":2
   }
}
 */
const dummy_object_complete = JSON.parse("{\"a\":{\"b\":{\"b1\": 1}, \"c\": 2}}");
/*
{
  "a":{
    "c":2
  }
}
 */
const dummy_object_incomplete = JSON.parse("{\"a\":{\"c\": 2}}");
const DELIMETER = "."

class UniversalObject {
    constructor(object) {
        this.elements = new Object();
        for (let key in object) {
            if (object.hasOwnProperty(key) && object[key].constructor === ({}).constructor) {
                this.elements[key] = new UniversalObject(object[key]);
            } else if (object.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
                this.elements[key] = object[key];
            }
        }
    }

    get_by_path(path) {
        let key = path.split(DELIMETER)[0]
        if (this.elements[key] === undefined) {
            return undefined;
        } else if (path.split(DELIMETER).length === 1) {
            return this.elements[key]
        } else {
            return this.elements[key].get_by_path(path.substring(path.indexOf('.') + 1, path.length))
        }
    }
}

/*
In console:
>> u1 = new UniversalObject(dummy_object_complete) // create complete univeral dummy object
<< UniversalObject {elements: {…}}
>> u2 = new UniversalObject(dummy_object_incomplete) // create incomplete universal dummy object
<< UniversalObject {elements: {…}}
>> u1.get_by_path("a.b.b1")
<< 1
>> u2.get_by_path("a.b.b1")
<< undefined // would have caused TypeError in normal circumstances
 */