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Creating a JavaScript function that filters out duplicate in-memory objects?

Okay, so I am trying to create a function that allows you to input an array of Objects and it will return an array that removed any duplicate objects that reference the same object in memory. There can be objects with the same properties, but they must be different in-memory objects. I know that objects are stored by reference in JS and this is what I have so far:
const unique = array => {
let set = new Set();
return array.map((v, index) => {
if(set.has(v.id)) {
return false
} else {
set.add(v.id);
return index;
}
}).filter(e=>e).map(e=>array[e]);
}
Any advice is appreciated, I am trying to make this with a very efficient Big-O. Cheers!
EDIT: So many awesome responses. Right now when I run the script with arbitrary object properties (similar to the answers) and I get an empty array. I am still trying to wrap my head around filtering everything out but on for objects that are referenced in memory. I am not positive how JS handles objects with the same exact key/values. Thanks again!

Simple Set will do the trick
let a = {'a':1}
let b = {'a': 1,'b': 2, }
let c = {'a':1}
let arr = [a,b,c,a,a,b,b,c];
function filterSameMemoryObject(input){
return new Set([...input])
}
console.log(...filterSameMemoryObject(arr))
I don't think you need so much of code as you're just comparing memory references you can use === --> equality and sameness .
let a = {'a':1}
console.log(a === a ) // return true for same reference
console.log( {} === {}) // return false for not same reference

I don't see a good reason to do this map-filter-map combination. You can use only filter right away:
const unique = array => {
const set = new Set();
return array.filter(v => {
if (set.has(v.id)) {
return false
} else {
set.add(v.id);
return true;
}
});
};
Also if your array contains the objects that you want to compare by reference, not by their .id, you don't even need to the filtering yourself. You could just write:
const unique = array => Array.from(new Set(array));

The idea of using a Set is nice, but a Map will work even better as then you can do it all in the constructor callback:
const unique = array => [...new Map(array.map(v => [v.id, v])).values()]
// Demo:
var data = [
{ id: 1, name: "obj1" },
{ id: 3, name: "obj3" },
{ id: 1, name: "obj1" }, // dupe
{ id: 2, name: "obj2" },
{ id: 3, name: "obj3" }, // another dupe
];
console.log(unique(data));
Addendum
You speak of items that reference the same object in memory. Such a thing does not happen when your array is initialised as a plain literal, but if you assign the same object to several array entries, then you get duplicate references, like so:
const obj = { id: 1, name: "" };
const data = [obj, obj];
This is not the same thing as:
const data = [{ id: 1, name: "" }, { id: 1, name: "" }];
In the second version you have two different references in your array.
I have assumed that you want to "catch" such duplicates as well. If you only consider duplicate what is presented in the first version (shared references), then this was asked before.

Optimal way to convert an Array of Objects into an Array of Arrays containing Objects

Take for example this extremely simplified Array of Objects:
[
{
createID: '1'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '1'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '1'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '37'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '37'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '2'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '2'
// Many other properties...
},
{
createID: '14'
// Many other properties...
},
];
Given this Array I then use the objects createID property to create an Array of Arrays containing Objects [[{..},{..}], [{..}], ..n]. This final format is required by the current front end framework I am using (Angular v6).
To accomplish this task I use the following code, where tempArr is an array like the example array provided above.
let currentGroup: string = tempArr[0].createID;
let tempGrouped: any[] = [];
let childGroup: any[] = [];
tempArr.forEach(item => {
if (item.createID !== currentGroup) {
tempGrouped.push(childGroup);
childGroup = [];
currentGroup = item.createID;
}
childGroup.push(item);
});
tempGrouped.push(childGroup);
This code works fine. However, I can't help but believe there must be a more efficient and elegant way given the data to convert an Array of objects into an Array of Arrays containing objects.
UpdateIt is important to note that the createID's are only id's that signify which objects should be grouped together. Therefore, they do not need to be numerically ordered by createID. In addition, the objects do come from the server "grouped" with their sibling objects (same createID) as you can see in the given example array provided.

Your example has all identical IDs adjacent to each other. If that is guaranteed to always be the case, looping though and pushing to a new array is all you need. However if this isn't the case, your solution will fail to group items properly. In that case using a hash table will allow you to still group by ID with same asymptotic complexity.
You can group your objects into a hash table object with keys created from createdID. This will let you group everything efficiently. Then just take the objects from the hash table:
let arr = [{createID: '1'},{createID: '1'},{createID: '1'},{createID: '37'},{createID: '37'},{createID: '2'},{createID: '2'},{createID: '14'},];
let o = arr.reduce((a, c) => {
(a[c.createID] || (a[c.createID] = [])).push(c)
return a
}, {} )
// o is a an object with createID keys pointing to arrays of grouped objects
// just take the values
console.log(Object.values(o))
Edit based on question edit
Since the objects will already be grouped, there's not a better way than looping through. If you want an option that doesn't add the temp arrays, you can still use reduce(), which is essentially the same as your current solution, but maybe a little more self contained:
let tempArr = [{createID: '1'},{createID: '1'},{createID: '1'},{createID: '37'},{createID: '37'},{createID: '2'},{createID: '2'},{createID: '14'},];
let r = tempArr.reduce((a, c, i, self) => {
if (i === 0 || self[i-1].createID !== c.createID)
a.push([])
a[a.length - 1].push(c)
return a
}, [])
console.log(r)

Assuming that your array of data is stored into a variable called data:
const result = data.reduce((acc, current) => {
if (!acc.dictionary[current.createID]) {
const createIdArray = [];
acc.dictionary[current.createID] = createIdArray;
acc.array.push(createIdArray);
}
acc.dictionary[current.createID].push(current);
return acc;
}, {array: [], dictionary: {}}).array;
This way, you'll loop only once on data, and it's efficient as we don't use filter or find (which would go through the whole array again and again).
Here's the output:
[
[
{
createID: '1',
},
{
createID: '1',
},
{
createID: '1',
},
],
[
{
createID: '37',
},
{
createID: '37',
},
],
[
{
createID: '2',
},
{
createID: '2',
},
],
[
{
createID: '14',
},
],
];
Here's a running demo: https://stackblitz.com/edit/typescript-phbzug
Summary:
The dictionary is self contained within the reduce function which means that as soon as the reduce is done, it'll be garbage collected
Not relying on any external variables, easier to reason about and IMO a better practice
This solution is more robust (the array doesn't need to be sorted) for ~ the same number of lines as OP's answer
Clean: With the dictionary you know directly what you're accessing and it's really fast

you want to group by createID?
let grouped=tempArray
//first get uniq values
.filter((s,index)=>tempArray.findIndex(f=>f.createID==s.createID)==index)
//then, with the uniq values make a map
.map(seg=>{ //with each uniq value, create an object with two properties
return {
createID:seg.createID, //the key
items:tempArray.filter(s=>s.createID==seg.createID) //An array with the values
}
})

Looping through an array of objects in typescript and get a specific fails using Es6 syntax

I have several objects and i would like to get one and check a specific property
so i have
data: [{is_guest: true},{permission:'is_allowed_ip'}]
Now when i check the console.log(route.data) am getting
0:{is_guest:true},
1:{permission:'is_allowed_ip' }
and typeof route.data is an object
now i would like to get the object with is_guest:true
So i have tried
const data = Object.keys(route.data).map((index) => {
if (route.data[index].is_guest) {
return route.data[index]
}
});
console.log("route data is",data) //this still returns all the items
But the above fails returning all the objects.
How do i loop through all the objects and retrieve just only one with the is_guest key and value true

Sounds like you want Object.values, not Object.keys, and filter:
const data = Object.values(route.data).filter(e => e.is_guest);
Object.values is fairly new, but present on up-to-date Node, and entirely polyfillable.
Example:
const route = {
data: [
{is_guest: true},
{permission:'is_allowed_ip'}
]
};
const data = Object.values(route.data).filter(e => e.is_guest);
console.log(data);

Using E6:
data.filter(o => o.is_guest)

You can use the filter method.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/filter
I added some ids into your array just to make easier to understand.
// added ids to exemplify
const data = [
{id: 1, is_guest: true},
{id: 2, permission:'is_allowed_ip'},
{id: 3, is_guest: true},
{id: 4, is_guest: false},
]
// filter results
const filtered = data.filter(item => item.is_guest)
// just to show the result
document.querySelector('.debug').innerHTML = JSON.stringify(filtered, null, 2);
<pre><code class="debug"></code></pre>

How to update only one specific property of nested object in associative array

I have associative array.
It's a key(number) and value(object).
I need to keep state of this array same as it is I just need to update one object property.
Example of array:
5678: {OrderId: 1, Title: "Example 1", Users: [{UserId: 1}, {UserId: 2}, {UserId: 3}]}
5679: {OrderId: 2, Title: "Example 2", Users: [{UserId: 1}, {UserId: 2}, {UserId: 3}]}
I need to update Users array property.
I tried this but it doesn't work:
ordersAssociativeArray: {
...state.ordersAssociativeArray,
[action.key]: {
...state.ordersAssociativeArray[action.key],
Users: action.updatedUsers
}
}
This is data inside reducer.
What I did wrong how to fix this?
Something that might help.
When I inspect values in chrome I check previous value and value after execution of my code above:
Before:
ordersAssociativeArray:Array(22) > 5678: Order {OrderId: ...}
After:
ordersAssociativeArray: > 5678: {OrderId: ...}
Solution (code in my reducer)
let temp = Object.assign([], state.ordersAssociativeArray);
temp[action.key].Users = action.updatedUsers;
return {
...state,
ordersAssociativeArray: temp
}
So this code is working fine.
But I still don't understand why? So I have solution but would like if someone can explain me why this way is working and first not?
If it could help here how I put objects in this associative array initialy:
ordersAssociativeArray[someID] = someObject // this object is created by 'new Order(par1, par2 etc.)'

What you are doing is correct, as demonstrated by this fiddle. There may be problem somewhere else in your code.
Something that I would recommend for you is to separate your reducer into two functions, ordersReducer and orderReducer. This way you will avoid the excessive use of dots, which may be what caused you to doubt the correctness of your code.
For example, something like:
const ordersReducer = (state, action) => {
const order = state[action.key]
return {
...state,
[action.key]: orderReducer(order, action)
}
}
const orderReducer = (state, action) => {
return {
...state,
Users: action.updatedUsers
}
}
I hope you find your bug!
Update
In your solution you use let temp = Object.assign([], state.ordersAssociativeArray);. This is fine, but I thought you should know that it is sometimes preferable to use a {} even when you are indexing by numbers.
Arrays in javascript aren't great for representing normalized data, because if an id is missing the js array will still have an undefined entry at that index. For example,
const orders = []
array[5000] = 1 // now my array has 4999 undefined entries
If you use an object with integer keys, on the other hand, you get nice tightly packed entries.
const orders = {}
orders[5000] = 1 // { 5000: 1 } no undefined entries
Here is an article about normalizing state shape in redux. Notice how they migrate from using an array in the original example, to an object with keys like users1.

The problem can be that you're using array in the state but in the reducer you're putting as object. Try doing:
ordersAssociativeArray: [ //an array and not an object
...state.ordersAssociativeArray,
[action.key]: {
...state.ordersAssociativeArray[action.key],
Users: action.updatedUsers
}
]
It will put ordersAssociative array in your state and not an object.

find and modify deeply nested object in javascript array

I have an array of objects that can be of any length and any depth. I need to be able to find an object by its id and then modify that object within the array. Is there an efficient way to do this with either lodash or pure js?
I thought I could create an array of indexes that led to the object but constructing the expression to access the object with these indexes seems overly complex / unnecessary
edit1; thanks for all yours replies I will try and be more specific. i am currently finding the location of the object I am trying to modify like so. parents is an array of ids for each parent the target object has. ancestors might be a better name for this array. costCenters is the array of objects that contains the object I want to modify. this function recurses and returns an array of indexes that lead to the object I want to modify
var findAncestorsIdxs = function(parents, costCenters, startingIdx, parentsIdxs) {
var idx = startingIdx ? startingIdx : 0;
var pidx = parentsIdxs ? parentsIdxs : [];
_.each(costCenters, function(cc, ccIdx) {
if(cc.id === parents[idx]) {
console.log(pidx);
idx = idx + 1;
pidx.push(ccIdx);
console.log(pidx);
pidx = findAncestorsIdx(parents, costCenters[ccIdx].children, idx, pidx);
}
});
return pidx;
};
Now with this array of indexes how do I target and modify the exact object I want? I have tried this where ancestors is the array of indexes, costCenters is the array with the object to be modified and parent is the new value to be assigned to the target object
var setParentThroughAncestors = function(ancestors, costCenters, parent) {
var ccs = costCenters;
var depth = ancestors.length;
var ancestor = costCenters[ancestors[0]];
for(i = 1; i < depth; i++) {
ancestor = ancestor.children[ancestors[i]];
}
ancestor = parent;
console.log(ccs);
return ccs;
};
this is obviously just returning the unmodified costCenters array so the only other way I can see to target that object is to construct the expression like myObjects[idx1].children[2].grandchildren[3].ggranchildren[4].something = newValue. is that the only way? if so what is the best way to do that?

You can use JSON.stringify for this. It provides a callback for each visited key/value pair (at any depth), with the ability to skip or replace.
The function below returns a function which searches for objects with the specified ID and invokes the specified transform callback on them:
function scan(id, transform) {
return function(obj) {
return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj, function(key, value) {
if (typeof value === 'object' && value !== null && value.id === id) {
return transform(value);
} else {
return value;
}
}));
}
If as the problem is stated, you have an array of objects, and a parallel array of ids in each object whose containing objects are to be modified, and an array of transformation functions, then it's just a matter of wrapping the above as
for (i = 0; i < objects.length; i++) {
scan(ids[i], transforms[i])(objects[i]);
}
Due to restrictions on JSON.stringify, this approach will fail if there are circular references in the object, and omit functions, regexps, and symbol-keyed properties if you care.
See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_native_JSON#The_replacer_parameter for more info.

As Felix Kling said, you can iterate recursively over all objects.
// Overly-complex array
var myArray = {
keyOne: {},
keyTwo: {
myId: {a: '3'}
}
};
var searchId = 'myId', // Your search key
foundValue, // Populated with the searched object
found = false; // Internal flag for iterate()
// Recursive function searching through array
function iterate(haystack) {
if (typeof haystack !== 'object' || haystack === null) return; // type-safety
if (typeof haystack[searchId] !== 'undefined') {
found = true;
foundValue = haystack[searchId];
return;
} else {
for (var i in haystack) {
// avoid circular reference infinite loop & skip inherited properties
if (haystack===haystack[i] || !haystack.hasOwnProperty(i)) continue;
iterate(haystack[i]);
if (found === true) return;
}
}
}
// USAGE / RESULT
iterate(myArray);
console.log(foundValue); // {a: '3'}
foundValue.b = 4; // Updating foundValue also updates myArray
console.log(myArray.keyTwo.myId); // {a: '3', b: 4}
All JS object assignations are passed as reference in JS. See this for a complete tutorial on objects :)
Edit: Thanks #torazaburo for suggestions for a better code.

If each object has property with the same name that stores other nested objects, you can use: https://github.com/dominik791/obj-traverse
findAndModifyFirst() method should solve your problem. The first parameter is a root object, not array, so you should create it at first:
var rootObj = {
name: 'rootObject',
children: [
{
'name': 'child1',
children: [ ... ]
},
{
'name': 'child2',
children: [ ... ]
}
]
};
Then use findAndModifyFirst() method:
findAndModifyFirst(rootObj, 'children', { id: 1 }, replacementObject)
replacementObject is whatever object that should replace the object that has id equal to 1.
You can try it using demo app:
https://dominik791.github.io/obj-traverse-demo/

Here's an example that extensively uses lodash. It enables you to transform a deeply nested value based on its key or its value.
const _ = require("lodash")
const flattenKeys = (obj, path = []) => (!_.isObject(obj) ? { [path.join('.')]: obj } : _.reduce(obj, (cum, next, key) => _.merge(cum, flattenKeys(next, [...path, key])), {}));
const registrations = [{
key: "123",
responses:
{
category: 'first',
},
}]
function jsonTransform (json, conditionFn, modifyFn) {
// transform { responses: { category: 'first' } } to { 'responses.category': 'first' }
const flattenedKeys = Object.keys(flattenKeys(json));
// Easily iterate over the flat json
for(let i = 0; i < flattenedKeys.length; i++) {
const key = flattenedKeys[i];
const value = _.get(json, key)
// Did the condition match the one we passed?
if(conditionFn(key, value)) {
// Replace the value to the new one
_.set(json, key, modifyFn(key, value))
}
}
return json
}
// Let's transform all 'first' values to 'FIRST'
const modifiedCategory = jsonTransform(registrations, (key, value) => value === "first", (key, value) => value = value.toUpperCase())
console.log('modifiedCategory --', modifiedCategory)
// Outputs: modifiedCategory -- [ { key: '123', responses: { category: 'FIRST' } } ]

I needed to modify deeply nested objects too, and found no acceptable tool for that purpose. Then I've made this and pushed it to npm.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/find-and
This small [TypeScript-friendly] lib can help with modifying nested objects in a lodash manner. E.g.,
var findAnd = require("find-and");
const data = {
name: 'One',
description: 'Description',
children: [
{
id: 1,
name: 'Two',
},
{
id: 2,
name: 'Three',
},
],
};
findAnd.changeProps(data, { id: 2 }, { name: 'Foo' });
outputs
{
name: 'One',
description: 'Description',
children: [
{
id: 1,
name: 'Two',
},
{
id: 2,
name: 'Foo',
},
],
}
https://runkit.com/embed/bn2hpyfex60e
Hope this could help someone else.

I wrote this code recently to do exactly this, as my backend is rails and wants keys like:
first_name
and my front end is react, so keys are like:
firstName
And these keys are almost always deeply nested:
user: {
firstName: "Bob",
lastName: "Smith",
email: "bob#email.com"
}
Becomes:
user: {
first_name: "Bob",
last_name: "Smith",
email: "bob#email.com"
}
Here is the code
function snakeCase(camelCase) {
return camelCase.replace(/([A-Z])/g, "_$1").toLowerCase()
}
export function snakeCasedObj(obj) {
return Object.keys(obj).reduce(
(acc, key) => ({
...acc,
[snakeCase(key)]: typeof obj[key] === "object" ? snakeCasedObj(obj[key]) : obj[key],
}), {},
);
}
Feel free to change the transform to whatever makes sense for you!