JSON to TOON Converter

A TypeScript library for converting between JSON and TOON formats. The TOON format is a structured, human-readable representation of JSON data that presents information in a tabular and hierarchical format.

Installation

npm install json-to-toon

Usage

Converting JSON to TOON

import { toToon } from 'json-to-toon';

const json = {
  metadata: { version: 1, author: "test" },
  items: [
    { id: 1, name: "Item1" },
    { id: 2, name: "Item2" }
  ],
  tags: ["alpha", "beta", "gamma"]
};

const toon = toToon(json);
console.log(toon);
// Output:
// metadata:
//   version: 1
//   author: test
// items:
//   [2,]{id,name}:
//     1,Item1
//     2,Item2
// tags:
//   [3]: alpha,beta,gamma

Converting TOON back to JSON

import { fromToon } from 'json-to-toon';

const toon = `metadata:
  version: 1
  author: test
tags:
  [3]: alpha,beta,gamma`;

const json = fromToon(toon);
console.log(json);
// Output: 
// {
//   metadata: { version: 1, author: 'test' },
//   tags: ['alpha', 'beta', 'gamma']
// }

API

toToon(json: JsonValue): string

Converts a JSON value to its TOON string representation.

fromToon(toon: string): JsonValue

Converts a TOON string back to its original JSON value.

JsonToToonConverter

A class containing the core conversion methods:

• static toToon(json: JsonValue): string
• static fromToon(toon: string): JsonValue

TOON Format Specification

The TOON format is a structured representation of JSON data with the following rules:

Basic Types

• null → null
• true → true
• false → false
• Numbers → Plain numbers (e.g., 42, 3.14)
• Strings → Plain strings (e.g., hello)

Arrays

• Simple arrays → [count]: value1,value2,value3
• Object arrays with consistent structure → [count,]{key1,key2}: value1,value2

Objects

• Simple objects → Key-value pairs with indentation
• Nested objects → Hierarchical structure with proper indentation

Examples

Simple object:
name: John
age: 30

Nested object:
user:
  name: John
  age: 30

Array of primitives:
tags: [3]: alpha,beta,gamma

Array of objects:
items: [2,]{id,name}:
  1,Item1
  2,Item2

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch

License

MIT