oguching/csvtojsonconverter

csv to json converter assignment on edx introduction to nodejs course

csvtojson

Module 1 Assignment Lab: CSV to JSON Converter

Usage
$ node converter.js or
$ node converter.js path-to-csv-file

Walkthrough

• We import csvtojson, fs and path into my project. csvtojson is an npm module while the others are node core modules.
• Next we create a variable csvFilePath to hold the path to the input csv file.
• The program uses the sample csv file (customer-data.csv) provided for this assignment as the default argument but provides option to use any file when running as a commandline program. The csv file is provided as the second argument after specifying the file to run. See usage above.
• The function convertToJSON() accepts a csv file and converts the file to JSON format. If no file is specified, a default file is used. In the function we create an array to hold each JSON object so that we have an array of JSON objects.
• Next we call the csvtojson() function and pass in our csv file, we listen for the json event and push each event to array.
• When the done event is triggered we call JSON.stringify() and pass our array as argument then write its contents to file. We then log a message on successful write.
• I'm using the async fs.writeFile() for no other reason than that I prefer it.

Notes

• At first attempt I named the repo csvtojson and tried to install the csvtojson module from npm. Npm complained so I changed my project name to avoid the name conflict.
• After csvtojson converted the input csv file to json, I had to do a JSON.stringify() before writing the output json to disk.
• I am writing the output json to a file (out.json) in the current working directory
• I tested the program with another csv file from the ibm site. The file is in the ./data folder.

Meta

• I'm using standard for code linting. Code linting is a great idea by the way, it helps you avoid classes of errors and enforce a uniform style when collaborating on a project. I was using xo but found that standard fits my style better.