flatten-unflatten-object.js

var flattenObj = function (object, target, prefix) {
    prefix = prefix || '';

    return _(object).inject(function(result, value, key) {
        if (_.isObject(value)) {
            flattenObj(value, result, prefix + key + '.');
        } else {
            result[prefix + key] = value;
        }

        return result;
    }, target || {});
};

console.log(flattenObj({attrs: {address: {state: 'NJ', city: 'NY'}, name: 'Bob'}, age: 32}));

/**
 * Un-flattening objects
 * { 'attr.address.street': 'Wall' } => {attr: {address: {street: 'Wall'}}}
 */
var unFlattenObj = function(object) {
    return _(object).inject(function(result, value, keys) {
        var current = result,
            partitions = keys.split('.'),
            limit = partitions.length - 1;

        _(partitions).each(function(key, index) {
            current = current[key] = (index == limit ? value : (current[key] || {}));
        });

        return result;
    }, {});
};


console.log(unFlattenObj({'attrs.address.street': 'Wall', 'attrs.address.city': 'NY', 'attrs.address.state': 'NJ', 'attrs.name': 'Bob', 'age': 32}));