some helpful helper functions regarding object manipulation, arrays and so on

js_object_to_dot_notation

// convert plain object to dot notation
// For example the following object:
/*
	const obj = {
		app: {
			lang: {
				menu: {
					welcome: "welcome",
					label: "label"
				},
				sensor: "sensor",
				sensors: {
					headline: "headline",
					text: "text"
				}
			}
		}
	}
*/
// converts to:
/*
[
	"app.lang.menu.welcome",
 	"app.lang.menu.label",
 	"app.lang.menu.sensor",
 	"app.lang.menu.sensors.headline",
 	"app.lang.menu.sensors.text"
]
*/

// IE11 compatiple version

function ObjectToDotNotation(obj, dots, dot) {
  if(typeof obj === 'string') return obj;
  if(!dots) dots = [];
  if(!dot) dot = "";
  for(var key in obj) {
    var val = obj[key];
    var isObject = val != null && typeof val === 'object' && Array.isArray(val) === false;
    if (isObject) {
    	dot += dot ? '.' + key : key;
      ObjectToDotNotation(val, dots, dot);
    } else if (typeof val === 'string') {
      dots.push(dot + '.' + key);
    }
  }
  return dots;
}

// ES6 version, not compatible with older browsers

function ObjectToDotNotation(obj, dots = [], dot = "") {
  if (typeof obj === 'string') {
    return obj;
  }
  Object.keys(obj).forEach((key) => {
   	let val = obj[key];
    if (val != null && typeof val === 'object' && Array.isArray(val) === false) {
    	dot += dot ? `.${key}` : key
      ObjectToDotNotation(val, dots, dot);
    } else if (typeof val === 'string') {
      dots.push(`${dot}.${key}`);
    }
  });   
  return dots;
}