JSON to Relational CSV Converter

Overview

Working with deeply nested JSON in relational tools can be a headache. This project is a command-line utility designed to solve that by decomposing JSON structures into a set of normalized CSV tables. It doesn't just flatten the data; it infers a schema, assigns unique IDs, and maintains relationships through foreign keys.

Technical Implementation

• Compiler Toolchain: Built using Flex for lexical analysis and Bison for context-free grammar parsing. This ensures strict adherence to JSON standards while providing precise error reporting (line/column numbers).
• Relational Mapping: Developed a custom algorithm to traverse the Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) and identify repeating patterns.
• Objects: Grouped into tables based on key-set similarity.
• Nested Arrays: Decomposed into child tables with a
  <parent>_id

  Copy
  reference.
• Scalar Arrays: Converted into junction tables to handle many-to-one relationships without duplicating parent data.

Key Features

• Schema Inference: Automatically detects table structures based on JSON object keys.
• Relational Integrity: Every row is assigned a primary key, and nested elements are automatically linked via foreign keys.
• Robust CSV Formatting: Handles edge cases like null values, nested quotes, and multi-line strings according to standard CSV RFCs.
• AST Visualization: Includes a debug mode to print the Abstract Syntax Tree, useful for verifying the parsing logic of complex files.

Technical Stack

| Category | Tool / Library | | --- | --- | | Language | C (C99 Standard) | | Lexer | Flex | | Parser | Bison | | Data Structures | GLib-2.0 | | Build System | GNU Make |

Repo Link

Repo : here