Data Format Converter

A lightweight, generic Node.js utility library for converting between JSON, CSV, TXT, and XLSX formats with automatic delimiter detection.

Features

• ✅ JSON ↔ CSV conversion
• ✅ JSON ↔ TXT conversion
• ✅ CSV ↔ TXT conversion
• ✅ XLSX → CSV conversion
• ✅ Auto-detect delimiters (comma, tab, etc.)
• ✅ Simple API - Easy to use
• ✅ Zero configuration - Works out of the box
• ✅ Flexible options - Customize as needed

Installation

npm install data-flip

Usage

Import the library

const DataFormatConverter = require('data-flip');

JSON to CSV

const jsonData = [
  { name: 'John', age: 30, city: 'New York' },
  { name: 'Jane', age: 25, city: 'London' }
];

const csv = DataFormatConverter.jsonToCsv(jsonData);
console.log(csv);
// Output:
// name,age,city
// John,30,New York
// Jane,25,London

CSV to JSON

const csvString = `name,age,city
John,30,New York
Jane,25,London`;

const json = DataFormatConverter.csvToJson(csvString);
console.log(json);
// Output:
// [
//   { name: 'John', age: '30', city: 'New York' },
//   { name: 'Jane', age: '25', city: 'London' }
// ]

JSON to TXT (Tab-delimited)

const jsonData = [
  { name: 'John', age: 30, city: 'New York' },
  { name: 'Jane', age: 25, city: 'London' }
];

const txt = DataFormatConverter.jsonToTxt(jsonData);
console.log(txt);
// Output:
// name	age	city
// John	30	New York
// Jane	25	London

TXT to JSON (Auto-detect delimiter)

const txtString = `name\tage\tcity
John\t30\tNew York
Jane\t25\tLondon`;

const json = DataFormatConverter.txtToJson(txtString);
console.log(json);
// Output:
// [
//   { name: 'John', age: '30', city: 'New York' },
//   { name: 'Jane', age: '25', city: 'London' }
// ]

TXT to CSV

const txtString = `name\tage\tcity
John\t30\tNew York
Jane\t25\tLondon`;

const csv = DataFormatConverter.txtToCsv(txtString);
console.log(csv);
// Output:
// name,age,city
// John,30,New York
// Jane,25,London

CSV to TXT

const csvString = `name,age,city
John,30,New York
Jane,25,London`;

const txt = DataFormatConverter.csvToTxt(csvString);
console.log(txt);
// Output:
// name	age	city
// John	30	New York
// Jane	25	London

XLSX to CSV

// Convert from file path
const csv = DataFormatConverter.xlsxToCsv('./data.xlsx');
console.log(csv);
// Output:
// name,age,city
// John,30,New York
// Jane,25,London

// Convert specific sheet by name
const csv2 = DataFormatConverter.xlsxToCsv('./data.xlsx', { 
  sheetName: 'Sheet2' 
});

// Convert specific sheet by index
const csv3 = DataFormatConverter.xlsxToCsv('./data.xlsx', { 
  sheetIndex: 1 
});

// Convert from Buffer (useful for uploaded files)
const fs = require('fs');
const buffer = fs.readFileSync('./data.xlsx');
const csv4 = DataFormatConverter.xlsxToCsv(buffer);

Auto-detect and Convert to JSON

// Works with CSV
const csvString = `name,age,city
John,30,New York`;

const json1 = DataFormatConverter.autoToJson(csvString);

// Works with tab-delimited
const txtString = `name	age	city
John	30	New York`;

const json2 = DataFormatConverter.autoToJson(txtString);

// Works with JSON string
const jsonString = '[{"name":"John","age":30}]';
const json3 = DataFormatConverter.autoToJson(jsonString);

API Reference

jsonToCsv(data, options)

Convert JSON to CSV format.

Parameters:

• data (Array|Object): JSON data to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • fields (Array): Field names to include (auto-detected if not provided)

Returns: CSV string

csvToJson(csvString, options)

Convert CSV to JSON format.

Parameters:

• csvString (String): CSV string to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • delimiter (String): Delimiter character (auto-detected if not provided)

Returns: Array of objects

jsonToTxt(data, options)

Convert JSON to delimited text format.

Parameters:

• data (Array|Object): JSON data to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • delimiter (String): Delimiter character (default: tab \t)
  • includeHeaders (Boolean): Include headers (default: true)

Returns: Delimited text string

txtToJson(txtString, options)

Convert delimited text to JSON format.

Parameters:

• txtString (String): Delimited text string to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • delimiter (String): Delimiter character (auto-detected if not provided)

Returns: Array of objects

txtToCsv(txtString, options)

Convert delimited text to CSV format.

Parameters:

• txtString (String): Delimited text string to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • inputDelimiter (String): Input delimiter (auto-detected if not provided)
  • outputDelimiter (String): Output delimiter (default: comma ,)

Returns: CSV string

csvToTxt(csvString, options)

Convert CSV to delimited text format.

Parameters:

• csvString (String): CSV string to convert
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • inputDelimiter (String): Input delimiter (auto-detected if not provided)
  • outputDelimiter (String): Output delimiter (default: tab \t)

Returns: Delimited text string

autoToJson(data, options)

Auto-detect format and convert to JSON.

Parameters:

• data (String): Input data string
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • delimiter (String): Delimiter character (auto-detected if not provided)

Returns: Array of objects

xlsxToCsv(xlsxData, options)

Convert XLSX file to CSV format.

Parameters:

• xlsxData (String|Buffer): Path to XLSX file or Buffer containing XLSX data
• options (Object): Optional configuration
  • sheetName (String): Sheet name to convert (default: first sheet)
  • sheetIndex (Number): Sheet index to convert (default: 0)

Returns: CSV string

Advanced Options

Custom Delimiters

// Use semicolon as delimiter
const csv = DataFormatConverter.jsonToCsv(data, { delimiter: ';' });

// Convert pipe-delimited to JSON
const json = DataFormatConverter.txtToJson(txtString, { delimiter: '|' });

Specify Fields

// Only include specific fields
const csv = DataFormatConverter.jsonToCsv(data, { 
  fields: ['name', 'age'] 
});

Without Headers

// Generate text without headers
const txt = DataFormatConverter.jsonToTxt(data, { 
  includeHeaders: false 
});

Error Handling

try {
  const json = DataFormatConverter.csvToJson(csvString);
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Conversion failed:', error.message);
}

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

For issues and questions, please open an issue on GitHub.