How to access subobjects in dataProvider

Question

When I have a data grid with a dataprovider, how do I access a subobject for a specific column? I am using Adobe Flash Builder 4.6.

My data sample (in JSON for simplicity purposes):

{
   "Result":[
      {
         "Id":3644,
         "Amount":50,
         "SomeTimeFrom":null,
         "SomeTimeTo":null,
         "Interval":{
            "DateTimeFrom":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "DateTimeTo":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
         }
      },
      {
         "Id":3645,
         "Amount":50,
         "SomeTimeFrom":null,
         "SomeTimeTo":null,
         "Interval":{
            "DateTimeFrom":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "DateTimeTo":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
         }
      }
   ]
}

My view:

    <mx:DataGrid id="dgvMain" width="100%" height="100%" editable="false" dataProvider="{_data}">
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_ID" dataField="Id"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_TIME_FROM" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatTimeFromUtc" dataField="SomeTimeFrom"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_TIME_TO" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatTimeFromUtc" dataField="SomeTimeTo"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_DATETIME_FROM" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatDateFromUtc" dataField="Interval.DateTimeFrom"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_DATETIME_TO" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatDateFromUtc" dataField="Interval.DateTimeTo"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_AMOUNT" dataField="Amount"/>
        </mx:columns>
    </mx:DataGrid>

Essentially, all my columns render properly except the "DateTimeFrom" and "DateTimeTo" (under Interval). Am I incorrectly accessing them or?

Answer 1

I managed to figure it out myself. I created a new label function a

protected function formatDateFromUtcObject(data:Object, column:Object):String //convert from utc to user date
{               
    if (data != null)
    {
        // Check if it's a complex object with properties
        var columns:Array = column.dataField.split('.');

        var date:String = "";
        if (columns.length > 1)
        {
            date = data[columns[0]][columns[1]]; // I specifically know that my object has a subobject [0] with properties [1])
        }
        else
        {
            date = data[column.dataField]; // Else, access the direct property, since I am not trying to access a subobject
        }
        
        if (date != null && date != "")
        {
            var parsedDate:Date = DateTimeFromUtc(Util.invariantFormatter.parseDate(date)); // My case was date that I tried to parse, so that covers the format
            if (parsedDate == null)
                return "";
            else
                return Util.formatDate(parsedDate)
        } 
        else
        {
            return "";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        return "";
    }
}

Afterwards, I called the label function in my template code:

<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_DATETIME_FROM" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatDateFromUtcObject" dataField="Interval.DateTimeFrom"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="L_DATETIME_TO" textAlign="center" labelFunction="formatDateFromUtcObject" dataField="Interval.DateTimeTo"/>