synonomous

synonomous

Transform strings into synonyms for list decoration

Get some synonyms

To just get a list of synonyms for a given string using the default selection of "transformer" functions (verbatim and toCamelCase):

var Synonomous = require('synonomous');
var synonomous = new Synonomous;
synonomous.getSynonyms('background-color');

Returns:

[
    'background-color',
    'backgroundColor'
]

Decorate an array with synonyms

This is the real utility of the synonomous module:

var synonomous = new Synonomous(['verbatim', 'toAllCaps', 'toCamelCase']);
var list = ['borderLeft', 'background-color'];
synonomous.decorateList(list);

This call decorates and returns list which would then look like this:

{
    0: 'borderLeft', // 1st array element
    1: 'background-color', // 2nd array element
    'borderLeft': list[0], // verbatim (camelCase duplicates this result)
    'BORDER_LEFT': list[0], // all caps
    'background-color': list[1], // verbatim
    'BACKGROUND_COLOR': list[1], // all caps
    'backgroundColor': list[1] // camelCase
 }

Spcifically, the array now has properties that point to elements whose keys are transformations of each element. This lets the array double as a dictionary to its own elements.

Note that this is not an enumeration; the property values are not integer indexes but rather references to the elements themselves.

The above also demonstrates overriding the default selection of "transformer" functions with a different selection by defining a new list in synonomous.transfomations, which is exactly what the constructor did with the supplied parameter containing such a list.

Decorating with synonyms of a single element

When you just want to decorate your list with synonyms of a single element of the list, you can specify the index of such an element with the overload decorateList(index: number, list: (string|object)[]):

var synonomous = new Synonomous;
var list = ['borderLeft', 'background-color'];
synonomous.decorateList(1, list); // just decorate with synonyms for 2nd element

list now looks like this:

{
    0: 'borderLeft', // 1st array element
    1: 'background-color', // 2nd array element
    'background-color': list[1], // verbatim
    'backgroundColor': list[1] // camelCase
 }

Decorating with synonyms of a specified property of each element

When elements are objects rather than string primitives, you can specify which property of such objects to make synonyms of with the overload decorateList(list: (string|object)[], propName: string = 'name'):

var synonomous = new Synonomous;
var list = [
    { style: 'borderLeft', value: '8px' },
    { style: 'background-color', value: 'pink' }
];
synonomous.decorateList(list, 'style'); // decorate with synonyms of `style` property of elements

list now looks like this:

{
    0: { style: 'borderLeft', value: '8px' }, // 1st array element
    1: { style: 'background-color', value: 'pink' }, // 2nd array element
    'borderLeft': list[0], // verbatim (camelCase duplicates this result)
    'background-color': list[1], // verbatim
    'backgroundColor': list[1] // camelCase
 }

Note that propName defaults to 'name' when not given and the list element is an object rather than a string primitive.

Decorating with synonyms of a property of a single element

You can of course combine these two features with the overload decorateList(index: number, list: object[], propName: string = 'name'):

synonomous.decorateList(1, list, 'style');

Results same as above but only synonyms of the 2nd element are added to list (no borderLeft property in this case).

Using synonyms in code

Note that the toCamelCase and toAllCaps transformers prepend a $ to any results that start with a digit. This creates an identifier that can be used to the right of JavaScript's dot (.) dereferencing operator. (JavaScript identifiers may not start with a digit but may contain a $.) When decorating an array, this also avoids possible conflicts with an array's element indexes.

The verbatim transformer does not prepend $. Any results that are integers that would overwrite existing array indexes are not added as properties.

Revision History

• 1.0.1 — Added toTitle transformer.
• 1.0.0 — Initial release.