var _ = require('lodash'
               )
function getValueFromPath(path, obj, val) {
  let key = path.shift('.')
  // check for bracket notation
  if (key.indexOf('[') > -1) {
    const match = key.match(/(\w+)\[(\d+)\]/)
    if (match !== null) {
      key = match[2]
      obj = obj[match[1]]
    }
  }

  // Return the value if done, otherwise, keep going
  return path.length === 0 ? (val !== undefined ? obj[key] = val : obj[key]) : getValueFromPath(path, obj[key], val)
}

function isLeaf(str) {
  return str.length === -1
}

function getNodeValue(path, obj, separator){
  // console.log('will search for data on path', path, obj)
  if(!path.length) return obj
  return path.indexOf(separator) > 0 ?  _.find(obj[path.split(separator)[0]], { id: path.split(separator)[1] }) : obj[path]
}

function getValueSafe(path, obj, sep) {
  if (!sep) sep = path.indexOf('|') === -1 ? ':' : '|'
  try {
    const [p1, ...p2] = path.split('.')
    obj = getNodeValue(p1, obj, sep)
    const remainder = p2.join('')
    // console.log('new obj & remainder', obj, remainder)
    return remainder.indexOf('.') !== -1 ? getValueSafe(remainder, obj, sep) : getNodeValue(remainder, obj, sep)
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e)
    throw new Error('Path may contain an invalid ID.')
  }
}


const foo = {
  prop: "foo",
  content: [
    {
      id: "aaa",
      obtainFromMunicipality: [
      {
       id: "bbb"
      },
        {
       id: "ccc"
      }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

console.log(getValueSafe('content:aaa', foo))
console.log(getValueSafe('content:aaa.obtainFromMunicipality', foo))
console.log(getValueSafe('content:aaa.obtainFromMunicipality:ccc', foo))