Having both object.property and object.property.method() available in coffeescript - coffeescript

Question

[update]
My question may not be clear enough...
Further clarification of what I would like to accomplish :
I retrieve objects like this one:
p =
name:
first: 'alan'
last: 'smith'
and want to create a structure (one class, multiple classes ?) to be able to write things like this ultimately:
person.name # alan smith
person.name.toCap() #Alan Smith
person.name.first # alan
person.name.first.toCap() # Alan
person.name.last # smith
person.name.last.toCap() # Smith
...
so :
Is there a way to have both person.name and person.name.first ?
Is there a better way to extend object properties with methods rather than extending native types like String ?
[original]
Looking for the right way to do this in coffee :
console.log person.name.last #smith
console.log person.name.last.capitalize() # SMITH
console.log person.name.last.initial() # S
I have come up with the following solution, but would like to make sure this is the way to go...
String::toCap = (remainingToLower=false) ->
#[0].toUpperCase() + if remainingToLower then #[1..-1].toLowerCase()
else #[1..-1]
Number::random = (percent) ->
offset = # * percent / 100
parseInt(Math.floor(Math.random() * 2 * offset) + # - offset)
class Name
constructor: (#first, #last) ->
class Person
constructor: (#name, #age) ->
toString: () => "#{#name.first.toCap(true)} #{#name.last.toCap(true)}
(#{#age.random(25)})"
# GO --------------------------->
p = new Person(new Name, 18)
p.name.first = 'alaN'
p.name.last = 'smith'
console.log "#{p.toString()}"
Thanks for your feedback.
Plunk Here

Answer 1

Context
I have this raw data:
data =
name:
first: 'alan'
last: 'smith'
age: 18
address: [
{
name: 'work'
street: '1600 amphitheatre parkway'
city: 'mountain view'
zip: 'CA 94043'
},{
name: 'home'
street: '1 infinite loop'
city: 'cupertino'
zip: 'CA 95014'
}]
And want to create a structure to manipulate my data like this :
p = New Person(data)
console.log """
#{p} # alan smith (18), 2 address lines
#{p.name}, # alan smith
#{p.name.first}, # alan
#{p.address} # 2 address lines
#{p.address.work} # 1600 amphitheatre parkway, mountain view, CA 94043
#{p.address.work.street} # 1600 amphitheatre parkway
"""
Additionally, I want to be able to apply custom methods to any member.
For instance, assuming toCap() is a method that capitalises each word of a String :
console.log """
#{p.name.toCap()}, # Alan Smith
#{p.name.first.toCap()} # Alan
#{p.address.work.toCap()} # 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Moutain View, CA 94043
#{p.address.work.street.toCap()} # 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
"""
Solution (see this Plunk for the full code)
use nested classes
class Person
constructor: (data) ->
#name = new Name(data.name)
#address = new AddressList(data.address)
create members dynamically
class AddressList
constructor: (list) ->
#[addr.name] = new Address(addr) for addr in list
wrap your properties or use base classes rather than extending native objects
class StringProperty
constructor: (#_value) ->
toString: =>
#_value
toCap: (remainingToLower=false) =>
_words = #_value.split ' '
(#_toCap(w,remainingToLower) for w in _words).join ' '
_toCap : (s, r) ->
s[0].toUpperCase() + if r then s[1..-1].toLowerCase() else s[1..-1]
... and use them directly ...
class Name
constructor: (name) ->
#first = new StringProperty(name.first)
#last = new StringProperty(name.last)
toString: =>
"#{#first} #{#last}"
toCap: =>
"#{#first.toCap()} #{#last.toCap()}"
... or create members dynamically :
#[k] = new StringProperty(data[k]) for k of data when k in Address.fields
don't forget to override toString() as above