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up vote 3 down vote favorite

I have written this function but I am not so proud on it. I could use some help refactoring it.

Would recursion improve my code?

Data sample.

{  
  "Name":"test2",
  "DepartmentUnitId":"test",
  "ParentDepartmentUnitId":"test",
  "NestedDepartments":[  
    {  
      "Name":"test2",
      "DepartmentUnitId":"test",
      "ParentDepartmentUnitId":"test",
      "NestedDepartments":[]
    },
    {  
      "Name":"test2",
      "DepartmentUnitId":"test",
      "ParentDepartmentUnitId":"test",
      "NestedDepartments":[]
    }
  ]
}

JS:

function indentDepartments(departments, model) {
    var indentedDepartments = [];

    _.each(departments, function (department) {
        indentedDepartments.push(buildDepartment(department, 0));
        _.each(department.NestedDepartments, function (lv1Department) {
            indentedDepartments.push(buildDepartment(lv1Department, 1));
            _.each(lv1Department.NestedDepartments, function (lv2Department) {
                indentedDepartments.push(buildDepartment(lv2Department, 2));
            });
        });
    });

    function buildDepartment(data, level) {
        department = _.pick(data, 'DepartmentUnitId', 'ParentDepartmentUnitId');
        name = _.times(level, function () { return '-'; }).join('') + data.Name;

        _.extend(department, { Name: name });
        return department;
    }
    model.parentDepartments(indentedDepartments);
}

Edit: Nested array can go 2 levels deep, but I wouldn't mind making this function more scalable.

share|improve this question
    
Please show a sample of the data structure you are iterating. Also, is there a limit to how deep you want to iterate or do you just want to keep going as long as there are NestedDepartments? –  jfriend00 Aug 28 at 17:27
    
@jfriend00 I have edited OP, data is structured to go 2 levels deep with nested arrays. –  jasenkoh Aug 28 at 17:35
    
Could you explain what your function is meant to do (in a bit more detail, your title is slightly vague) or provide a test case? –  A Red Herring Aug 28 at 17:37
    
@DanPantry sorry for confusion I thought I explained it good :) Function is accepting array and each item of the array potentially can have nested array. I want to flatten those arrays but to specify on which level of hierarchy the element is added. –  jasenkoh Aug 28 at 17:39

1 Answer 1

up vote 1 down vote

You could indeed create a recursive function to collect each level of departments, keeping going as long as there are nested departments:

function indentDepartments(departments, model) {

    model.parentDepartments(doIndentDepartments(departments, 0));

    // called recursively to indent each level of department
    function doIndentDepartments(departments, level) {
        // indent departments at current level
        var departments = _.map(departments, function(department) {
            return buildDepartment(department, level);
        });

        // indent nested departments
        if (typeof departments.NestedDepartments != 'undefined') {
            departments.push.apply(departments, doIndentDepartments(departments.NestedDepartments, level +1));
        }

        return departments;
    }

    function buildDepartment(data, level) {
        department = _.pick(data, 'DepartmentUnitId', 'ParentDepartmentUnitId');
        name = _.times(level, function () { return '-'; }).join('') + data.Name;

        _.extend(department, { Name: name });
        return department;
    }
}
share|improve this answer

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