From c4e864afa5c0b118a245c66daa104d1270be04fb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dan Jones <danjones@goodevilgenius.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:13:39 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?=E2=9C=A8=20Add=20support=20for=20nested=20fiel?=
 =?UTF-8?q?ds=20in=20log=20entries=20and=20JSON=20marshalling?=
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This commit introduces the ability to handle nested fields within log entries.
The  file has been updated with a  function
that transforms flat keys with a : delimiter (e.g., obj:foo) into nested
JSON objects (e.g., ).

The  file includes new test cases to verify that:
- Nested fields are correctly unmarshalled from string representations.
- Nested fields are correctly marshalled into JSON objects.

This enhancement allows for more structured and organized metadata within log entries.
---
 models/entry_test.go | 10 ++++++++++
 models/metas.go      | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 34 insertions(+)

diff --git a/models/entry_test.go b/models/entry_test.go
index 89223eb..852277b 100644
--- a/models/entry_test.go
+++ b/models/entry_test.go
@@ -125,6 +125,14 @@ func TestEntryUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
 			[]Meta{{"me", json.RawMessage(`{"name":"Dan","coder":true}`)}},
 			nil,
 		},
+		{
+			"nested-field",
+			"@begin " + whens + " - A Title\n@me:name Dan\n@me:coder true @end",
+			"A Title",
+			when,
+			[]Meta{{"me:name", "Dan"}, {"me:coder", true}},
+			nil,
+		},
 		{
 			"json-field",
 			"@begin " + whens + " - Some Guy\n" + `@json {"name":"Dan","coder":true} @end`,
@@ -209,6 +217,8 @@ func TestEntryJsonMarshal(t *testing.T) {
 		{"obj-field", "A Title", when, []Meta{{"obj", json.RawMessage(`{"foo":"bar","title":"Sub-title"}`)}}, `{"title":"A Title","date":"` + whens + `","obj":{"foo":"bar","title":"Sub-title"}}`, nil},
 		{"date-field", "A Title", when, []Meta{{"when", when.Add(time.Hour)}}, `{"title":"A Title","date":"` + whens + `","when":"` + when.Add(time.Hour).Format(time.RFC3339) + `"}`, nil},
 		{"json-field", "A Title", when, []Meta{{"json", json.RawMessage(`{"age": 41, "cool": true, "name": "Jim"}`)}}, `{"title":"A Title","date":"` + whens + `","age":41,"cool": true, "name": "Jim"}`, nil},
+		{"nested-field", "A Title", when, []Meta{{"obj:foo", "bar"}, {"obj:title", "Sub-title"}}, `{"title":"A Title","date":"` + whens + `","obj":{"foo":"bar","title":"Sub-title"}}`, nil},
+		{"double-nested-field", "A Title", when, []Meta{{"obj:foo", "bar"}, {"obj:me:name", "Dan"}, {"obj:me:age", 27}}, `{"title":"A Title","date":"` + whens + `","obj":{"foo":"bar","me":{"name":"Dan","age":27}}}`, nil},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
diff --git a/models/metas.go b/models/metas.go
index cf4c23e..5b68455 100644
--- a/models/metas.go
+++ b/models/metas.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package models
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
 
@@ -33,9 +34,32 @@ func (ms Metas) Map() map[string]any {
 			}
 		}
 	}
+
+	// Next we have to go through them again to find nested fields
+	parseNestedFields(out)
+
 	return out
 }
 
+func parseNestedFields(f map[string]any) {
+	for k, v := range f {
+		if strings.Contains(k, ":") {
+			idx := strings.Index(k, ":")
+			top := k[:idx]
+			bottom := k[(idx + 1):]
+
+			nest, ok := f[top].(map[string]any)
+			if !ok {
+				nest = map[string]any{}
+			}
+			nest[bottom] = v
+			parseNestedFields(nest)
+			f[top] = nest
+			delete(f, k)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // Implements json.Marshaler
 func (ms Metas) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
 	return json.Marshal(ms.Map())