stringify, request supporting 'dot' as option for arrayFormat

[msg558]

parse can successfully convert 'a.0.name=test&a.0.number=5&a.1.name=test2&a.1.number=6' to:

{ a: [ { name: 'test', number: '5'}, { name: 'test2', number: '6' }] }

so it would be great if there were a stringify option that could convert the object back into the original dot notation.

[ljharb]

There is allowDots:

qs.stringify({ a: [ { name: 'test', number: '5'}, { name: 'test2', number: '6' }] }, { encodeValuesOnly: true, allowDots: true  })
// 'a[0].name=test&a[0].number=5&a[1].name=test2&a[1].number=6'

which is pretty close! other than just being able to round trip (which is important), can you explain why it's important to be able to use dots for the numbers?

[msg558]

I am using URL parameters to inform my web-app to perform a stack of commands:

?c.0.id='command1'&c.0.value=5&c.1.id='command2'&c.1.value=test

do command 1 with some value of 5, then do command using some value of 'test'...etc

For this context, using a dot instead of square brackets does a couple things for me:

• doesn't get encoded, so it's more readable by the user or for debugging
• reduces the number of characters in the URL, which allows for potentially more commands

As previously stated, the parsing of this format already works, but I am interested in a UI to help users generate these 'macros' and being able to round-trip would be really helpful for that.

[ljharb]

Seems like we need a stringify option allowDotsForNumbers, that throws if allowDots is present and not set to true.