Assigning nested values in (partially) undefined objects - javascript

Say I want to assign a value like this:
x.label1.label2.label3 = someValue;
// or equivalently:
x['label1']['label2']['label3'] = someValue;
This works as long as x.label1.label2 is defined but runs into reference errors otherwise. Which makes sense of course. But is there an easy way to assign this anyway where it simply creates the necessary nested objects?
So for example, if x equals { label1: {}, otherLabel: 'otherValue' } I want to update x to become { label1: { label2: { label3: someValue } }, otherLabel: otherValue }
I think I might be able to write a function myself, but is there a language feature or standard library function that does this?

is there a language feature or standard library function that does this
No. You have to write your own function or use a library that provides such functionality.
Related: How to set object property (of object property of..) given its string name in JavaScript?

This is partially possible using the Proxy class. You can wrap your object in a Proxy and override the get trap to create another copy of the same proxy when you access a nonexistent property. This lets you recursively create "deep" properties. An example:
let traps = {
get: function (target, name) {
if (!(name in target))
target[name] = new Proxy({}, traps);
return target[name];
}
};
let x = new Proxy({}, traps);
Then you would use x like any object, except it has this special behavior:
x.label1.label2.label3 = 'foo';
which creates a nested hierarchy of objects. However, note that this will create an object even if you access a nonexistent property. Thus, you will have to use the in keyword to check if it really contains a given property.

I think you should indeed use a custom function such as:
function assignByPath(obj, path, value) {
var field = path.split('>'),
last = field.pop();
field.reduce(
function(node, f) {
return node[f] = node[f] instanceof Object ? node[f] : {};
}, obj
)[last] = value;
}
var myObj = {};
assignByPath(myObj, 'label1>label2>label3', 'someValue');
console.log(myObj);
Theoretically, you could also override Object.prototype, which would allow you to do:
myObj.assignByPath('label1>label2>label3', 'someValue');
But I would not recommend that.

You can use Array.prototype.shift(), Object.assign(), recursion
var x = {
label1: {},
otherLabel: "otherValue"
};
var nestprops = (props, value, obj, o, curr = props.shift()) => props.length
? nestprops(props, value, (Object.assign(obj, {[curr]: {}}) && obj[curr]), o)
: ((!value || value) && (obj[curr] = value) && o);
console.log(nestprops(["label1", "label2", "label3"], "someValue", x, x));

Check length of keys inside label1 object if its equal to 0 then modify it to your desired object.
Here is a snippet, hope it helps.
var obj = { label1: {}, otherLabel: 'otherValue' };
if(Object.keys(obj.label1).length == 0 ) {
obj.label1 = { label2: { label3: "value3" } };
}
console.log(obj);

Related

How to return an Object Value if you have a specific key in your Object? [duplicate]

How do I check if an object has a specific property in JavaScript?
Consider:
x = {'key': 1};
if ( x.hasOwnProperty('key') ) {
//Do this
}
Is that the best way to do it?
2022 UPDATE
Object.hasOwn()
Object.hasOwn() is recommended over Object.hasOwnProperty() because it works for objects created using Object.create(null) and with objects that have overridden the inherited hasOwnProperty() method. While it is possible to workaround these problems by calling Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty() on an external object, Object.hasOwn() is more intuitive.
Example
const object1 = {
prop: 'exists'
};
console.log(Object.hasOwn(object1, 'prop'));
// expected output: true
Original answer
I'm really confused by the answers that have been given - most of them are just outright incorrect. Of course you can have object properties that have undefined, null, or false values. So simply reducing the property check to typeof this[property] or, even worse, x.key will give you completely misleading results.
It depends on what you're looking for. If you want to know if an object physically contains a property (and it is not coming from somewhere up on the prototype chain) then object.hasOwnProperty is the way to go. All modern browsers support it. (It was missing in older versions of Safari - 2.0.1 and older - but those versions of the browser are rarely used any more.)
If what you're looking for is if an object has a property on it that is iterable (when you iterate over the properties of the object, it will appear) then doing: prop in object will give you your desired effect.
Since using hasOwnProperty is probably what you want, and considering that you may want a fallback method, I present to you the following solution:
var obj = {
a: undefined,
b: null,
c: false
};
// a, b, c all found
for ( var prop in obj ) {
document.writeln( "Object1: " + prop );
}
function Class(){
this.a = undefined;
this.b = null;
this.c = false;
}
Class.prototype = {
a: undefined,
b: true,
c: true,
d: true,
e: true
};
var obj2 = new Class();
// a, b, c, d, e found
for ( var prop in obj2 ) {
document.writeln( "Object2: " + prop );
}
function hasOwnProperty(obj, prop) {
var proto = obj.__proto__ || obj.constructor.prototype;
return (prop in obj) &&
(!(prop in proto) || proto[prop] !== obj[prop]);
}
if ( Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty ) {
var hasOwnProperty = function(obj, prop) {
return obj.hasOwnProperty(prop);
}
}
// a, b, c found in modern browsers
// b, c found in Safari 2.0.1 and older
for ( var prop in obj2 ) {
if ( hasOwnProperty(obj2, prop) ) {
document.writeln( "Object2 w/ hasOwn: " + prop );
}
}
The above is a working, cross-browser, solution to hasOwnProperty(), with one caveat: It is unable to distinguish between cases where an identical property is on the prototype and on the instance - it just assumes that it's coming from the prototype. You could shift it to be more lenient or strict, based upon your situation, but at the very least this should be more helpful.
With Underscore.js or (even better) Lodash:
_.has(x, 'key');
Which calls Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty, but (a) is shorter to type, and (b) uses "a safe reference to hasOwnProperty" (i.e. it works even if hasOwnProperty is overwritten).
In particular, Lodash defines _.has as:
function has(object, key) {
return object ? hasOwnProperty.call(object, key) : false;
}
// hasOwnProperty = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty
You can use this (but read the warning below):
var x = {
'key': 1
};
if ('key' in x) {
console.log('has');
}
But be warned: 'constructor' in x will return true even if x is an empty object - same for 'toString' in x, and many others. It's better to use Object.hasOwn(x, 'key').
Note: the following is nowadays largely obsolete thanks to strict mode, and hasOwnProperty. The correct solution is to use strict mode and to check for the presence of a property using obj.hasOwnProperty. This answer predates both these things, at least as widely implemented (yes, it is that old). Take the following as a historical note.
Bear in mind that undefined is (unfortunately) not a reserved word in JavaScript if you’re not using strict mode. Therefore, someone (someone else, obviously) could have the grand idea of redefining it, breaking your code.
A more robust method is therefore the following:
if (typeof(x.attribute) !== 'undefined')
On the flip side, this method is much more verbose and also slower. :-/
A common alternative is to ensure that undefined is actually undefined, e.g. by putting the code into a function which accepts an additional parameter, called undefined, that isn’t passed a value. To ensure that it’s not passed a value, you could just call it yourself immediately, e.g.:
(function (undefined) {
… your code …
if (x.attribute !== undefined)
… mode code …
})();
if (x.key !== undefined)
Armin Ronacher seems to have already beat me to it, but:
Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty = function(property) {
return this[property] !== undefined;
};
x = {'key': 1};
if (x.hasOwnProperty('key')) {
alert('have key!');
}
if (!x.hasOwnProperty('bar')) {
alert('no bar!');
}
A safer, but slower solution, as pointed out by Konrad Rudolph and Armin Ronacher would be:
Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty = function(property) {
return typeof this[property] !== 'undefined';
};
Considering the following object in Javascript
const x = {key: 1};
You can use the in operator to check if the property exists on an object:
console.log("key" in x);
You can also loop through all the properties of the object using a for - in loop, and then check for the specific property:
for (const prop in x) {
if (prop === "key") {
//Do something
}
}
You must consider if this object property is enumerable or not, because non-enumerable properties will not show up in a for-in loop. Also, if the enumerable property is shadowing a non-enumerable property of the prototype, it will not show up in Internet Explorer 8 and earlier.
If you’d like a list of all instance properties, whether enumerable or not, you can use
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(x);
This will return an array of names of all properties that exist on an object.
Reflections provide methods that can be used to interact with Javascript objects. The static Reflect.has() method works like the in operator as a function.
console.log(Reflect.has(x, 'key'));
// expected output: true
console.log(Reflect.has(x, 'key2'));
// expected output: false
console.log(Reflect.has(object1, 'toString'));
// expected output: true
Finally, you can use the typeof operator to directly check the data type of the object property:
if (typeof x.key === "undefined") {
console.log("undefined");
}
If the property does not exist on the object, it will return the string undefined. Else it will return the appropriate property type. However, note that this is not always a valid way of checking if an object has a property or not, because you could have a property that is set to undefined, in which case, using typeof x.key would still return true (even though the key is still in the object).
Similarly, you can check if a property exists by comparing directly to the undefined Javascript property
if (x.key === undefined) {
console.log("undefined");
}
This should work unless key was specifically set to undefined on the x object
Let's cut through some confusion here. First, let's simplify by assuming hasOwnProperty already exists; this is true of the vast majority of current browsers in use.
hasOwnProperty returns true if the attribute name that is passed to it has been added to the object. It is entirely independent of the actual value assigned to it which may be exactly undefined.
Hence:
var o = {}
o.x = undefined
var a = o.hasOwnProperty('x') // a is true
var b = o.x === undefined // b is also true
However:
var o = {}
var a = o.hasOwnProperty('x') // a is now false
var b = o.x === undefined // b is still true
The problem is what happens when an object in the prototype chain has an attribute with the value of undefined? hasOwnProperty will be false for it, and so will !== undefined. Yet, for..in will still list it in the enumeration.
The bottom line is there is no cross-browser way (since Internet Explorer doesn't expose __prototype__) to determine that a specific identifier has not been attached to an object or anything in its prototype chain.
If you are searching for a property, then "no". You want:
if ('prop' in obj) { }
In general, you should not care whether or not the property comes from the prototype or the object.
However, because you used 'key' in your sample code, it looks like you are treating the object as a hash, in which case your answer would make sense. All of the hashes keys would be properties in the object, and you avoid the extra properties contributed by the prototype.
John Resig's answer was very comprehensive, but I thought it wasn't clear. Especially with when to use "'prop' in obj".
For testing simple objects, use:
if (obj[x] !== undefined)
If you don't know what object type it is, use:
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(x))
All other options are slower...
Details
A performance evaluation of 100,000,000 cycles under Node.js to the five options suggested by others here:
function hasKey1(k,o) { return (x in obj); }
function hasKey2(k,o) { return (obj[x]); }
function hasKey3(k,o) { return (obj[x] !== undefined); }
function hasKey4(k,o) { return (typeof(obj[x]) !== 'undefined'); }
function hasKey5(k,o) { return (obj.hasOwnProperty(x)); }
The evaluation tells us that unless we specifically want to check the object's prototype chain as well as the object itself, we should not use the common form:
if (X in Obj)...
It is between 2 to 6 times slower depending on the use case
hasKey1 execution time: 4.51 s
hasKey2 execution time: 0.90 s
hasKey3 execution time: 0.76 s
hasKey4 execution time: 0.93 s
hasKey5 execution time: 2.15 s
Bottom line, if your Obj is not necessarily a simple object and you wish to avoid checking the object's prototype chain and to ensure x is owned by Obj directly, use if (obj.hasOwnProperty(x))....
Otherwise, when using a simple object and not being worried about the object's prototype chain, using if (typeof(obj[x]) !== 'undefined')... is the safest and fastest way.
If you use a simple object as a hash table and never do anything kinky, I would use if (obj[x])... as I find it much more readable.
Yes it is :) I think you can also do Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(x, 'key') which should also work if x has a property called hasOwnProperty :)
But that tests for own properties. If you want to check if it has an property that may also be inhered you can use typeof x.foo != 'undefined'.
if(x.hasOwnProperty("key")){
// …
}
because
if(x.key){
// …
}
fails if x.key is falsy (for example, x.key === "").
You can also use the ES6 Reflect object:
x = {'key': 1};
Reflect.has( x, 'key'); // returns true
Documentation on MDN for Reflect.has can be found here.
The static Reflect.has() method works like the in operator as a function.
Do not do this object.hasOwnProperty(key)). It's really bad because these methods may be shadowed by properties on the object in question - consider { hasOwnProperty: false } - or, the object may be a null object (Object.create(null)).
The best way is to do Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(object, key) or:
const has = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty; // Cache the lookup once, in module scope.
console.log(has.call(object, key));
/* Or */
import has from 'has'; // https://www.npmjs.com/package/has
console.log(has(object, key));
OK, it looks like I had the right answer unless if you don't want inherited properties:
if (x.hasOwnProperty('key'))
Here are some other options to include inherited properties:
if (x.key) // Quick and dirty, but it does the same thing as below.
if (x.key !== undefined)
Another relatively simple way is using Object.keys. This returns an array which means you get all of the features of an array.
var noInfo = {};
var info = {something: 'data'};
Object.keys(noInfo).length //returns 0 or false
Object.keys(info).length //returns 1 or true
Although we are in a world with great browser support. Because this question is so old I thought I'd add this:
This is safe to use as of JavaScript v1.8.5.
JavaScript is now evolving and growing as it now has good and even efficient ways to check it.
Here are some easy ways to check if object has a particular property:
Using hasOwnProperty()
const hero = {
name: 'Batman'
};
hero.hasOwnProperty('name'); // => true
hero.hasOwnProperty('realName'); // => false
Using keyword/operator in
const hero = {
name: 'Batman'
};
'name' in hero; // => true
'realName' in hero; // => false
Comparing with undefined keyword
const hero = {
name: 'Batman'
};
hero.name; // => 'Batman'
hero.realName; // => undefined
// So consider this
hero.realName == undefined // => true (which means property does not exists in object)
hero.name == undefined // => false (which means that property exists in object)
For more information, check here.
hasOwnProperty "can be used to determine whether an object has the specified property as a direct property of that object; unlike the in operator, this method does not check down the object's prototype chain."
So most probably, for what seems by your question, you don't want to use hasOwnProperty, which determines if the property exists as attached directly to the object itself,.
If you want to determine if the property exists in the prototype chain, you may want to use it like:
if (prop in object) { // Do something }
You can use the following approaches-
var obj = {a:1}
console.log('a' in obj) // 1
console.log(obj.hasOwnProperty('a')) // 2
console.log(Boolean(obj.a)) // 3
The difference between the following approaches are as follows-
In the first and third approach we are not just searching in object but its prototypal chain too. If the object does not have the property, but the property is present in its prototype chain it is going to give true.
var obj = {
a: 2,
__proto__ : {b: 2}
}
console.log('b' in obj)
console.log(Boolean(obj.b))
The second approach will check only for its own properties. Example -
var obj = {
a: 2,
__proto__ : {b: 2}
}
console.log(obj.hasOwnProperty('b'))
The difference between the first and the third is if there is a property which has value undefined the third approach is going to give false while first will give true.
var obj = {
b : undefined
}
console.log(Boolean(obj.b))
console.log('b' in obj);
Given myObject object and “myKey” as key name:
Object.keys(myObject).includes('myKey')
or
myObject.hasOwnProperty('myKey')
or
typeof myObject.myKey !== 'undefined'
The last was widely used, but (as pointed out in other answers and comments) it could also match on keys deriving from Object prototype.
Performance
Today 2020.12.17 I perform tests on MacOs HighSierra 10.13.6 on Chrome v87, Safari v13.1.2 and Firefox v83 for chosen solutions.
Results
I compare only solutions A-F because they give valid result for all cased used in snippet in details section. For all browsers
solution based on in (A) is fast or fastest
solution (E) is fastest for chrome for big objects and fastest for firefox for small arrays if key not exists
solution (F) is fastest (~ >10x than other solutions) for small arrays
solutions (D,E) are quite fast
solution based on losash has (B) is slowest
Details
I perform 4 tests cases:
when object has 10 fields and searched key exists - you can run it HERE
when object has 10 fields and searched key not exists - you can run it HERE
when object has 10000 fields and searched key exists - you can run it HERE
when object has 10000 fields and searched key exists - you can run it HERE
Below snippet presents differences between solutions
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
// SO https://stackoverflow.com/q/135448/860099
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/14664748/860099
function A(x) {
return 'key' in x
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11315692/860099
function B(x) {
return _.has(x, 'key')
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/40266120/860099
function C(x) {
return Reflect.has( x, 'key')
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/q/135448/860099
function D(x) {
return x.hasOwnProperty('key')
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11315692/860099
function E(x) {
return Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(x, 'key')
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/136411/860099
function F(x) {
function hasOwnProperty(obj, prop) {
var proto = obj.__proto__ || obj.constructor.prototype;
return (prop in obj) &&
(!(prop in proto) || proto[prop] !== obj[prop]);
}
return hasOwnProperty(x,'key')
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/135568/860099
function G(x) {
return typeof(x.key) !== 'undefined'
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22740939/860099
function H(x) {
return x.key !== undefined
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/38332171/860099
function I(x) {
return !!x.key
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41184688/860099
function J(x) {
return !!x['key']
}
// src: https://stackoverflow.com/a/54196605/860099
function K(x) {
return Boolean(x.key)
}
// --------------------
// TEST
// --------------------
let x1 = {'key': 1};
let x2 = {'key': "1"};
let x3 = {'key': true};
let x4 = {'key': []};
let x5 = {'key': {}};
let x6 = {'key': ()=>{}};
let x7 = {'key': ''};
let x8 = {'key': 0};
let x9 = {'key': false};
let x10= {'key': undefined};
let x11= {'nokey': 1};
let b= x=> x ? 1:0;
console.log(' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11');
[A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K ].map(f=> {
console.log(
`${f.name} ${b(f(x1))} ${b(f(x2))} ${b(f(x3))} ${b(f(x4))} ${b(f(x5))} ${b(f(x6))} ${b(f(x7))} ${b(f(x8))} ${b(f(x9))} ${b(f(x10))} ${b(f(x11))} `
)})
console.log('\nLegend: Columns (cases)');
console.log('1. key = 1 ');
console.log('2. key = "1" ');
console.log('3. key = true ');
console.log('4. key = [] ');
console.log('5. key = {} ');
console.log('6. key = ()=>{} ');
console.log('7. key = "" ');
console.log('8. key = 0 ');
console.log('9. key = false ');
console.log('10. key = undefined ');
console.log('11. no-key ');
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.20/lodash.min.js" integrity="sha512-90vH1Z83AJY9DmlWa8WkjkV79yfS2n2Oxhsi2dZbIv0nC4E6m5AbH8Nh156kkM7JePmqD6tcZsfad1ueoaovww==" crossorigin="anonymous"> </script>
This shippet only presents functions used in performance tests - it not perform tests itself!
And here are example results for chrome
Now with ECMAScript22 we can use hasOwn instead of hasOwnProperty (Because this feature has pitfalls )
Object.hasOwn(obj, propKey)
Here is another option for a specific case. :)
If you want to test for a member on an object and want to know if it has been set to something other than:
''
false
null
undefined
0
...
then you can use:
var foo = {};
foo.bar = "Yes, this is a proper value!";
if (!!foo.bar) {
// member is set, do something
}
some easier and short options depending on the specific use case:
to check if the property exists, regardless of value, use the in operator ("a" in b)
to check a property value from a variable, use bracket notation (obj[v])
to check a property value as truthy, use optional
chaining (?.)
to check a property value boolean, use double-not / bang-bang / (!!)
to set a default value for null / undefined check, use nullish coalescing operator (??)
to set a default value for falsey value check, use short-circuit logical OR operator (||)
run the code snippet to see results:
let obj1 = {prop:undefined};
console.log(1,"prop" in obj1);
console.log(1,obj1?.prop);
let obj2 = undefined;
//console.log(2,"prop" in obj2); would throw because obj2 undefined
console.log(2,"prop" in (obj2 ?? {}))
console.log(2,obj2?.prop);
let obj3 = {prop:false};
console.log(3,"prop" in obj3);
console.log(3,!!obj3?.prop);
let obj4 = {prop:null};
let look = "prop"
console.log(4,"prop" in obj4);
console.log(4,obj4?.[look]);
let obj5 = {prop:true};
console.log(5,"prop" in obj5);
console.log(5,obj5?.prop === true);
let obj6 = {otherProp:true};
look = "otherProp"
console.log(6,"prop" in obj6);
console.log(6,obj6.look); //should have used bracket notation
let obj7 = {prop:""};
console.log(7,"prop" in obj7);
console.log(7,obj7?.prop || "empty");
I see very few instances where hasOwn is used properly, especially given its inheritance issues
There is a method, "hasOwnProperty", that exists on an object, but it's not recommended to call this method directly, because it might be sometimes that the object is null or some property exist on the object like: { hasOwnProperty: false }
So a better way would be:
// Good
var obj = {"bar": "here bar desc"}
console.log(Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj, "bar"));
// Best
const has = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty; // Cache the lookup once, in module scope.
console.log(has.call(obj, "bar"));
An ECMAScript 6 solution with reflection. Create a wrapper like:
/**
Gets an argument from array or object.
The possible outcome:
- If the key exists the value is returned.
- If no key exists the default value is returned.
- If no default value is specified an empty string is returned.
#param obj The object or array to be searched.
#param key The name of the property or key.
#param defVal Optional default version of the command-line parameter [default ""]
#return The default value in case of an error else the found parameter.
*/
function getSafeReflectArg( obj, key, defVal) {
"use strict";
var retVal = (typeof defVal === 'undefined' ? "" : defVal);
if ( Reflect.has( obj, key) ) {
return Reflect.get( obj, key);
}
return retVal;
} // getSafeReflectArg
Showing how to use this answer
const object= {key1: 'data', key2: 'data2'};
Object.keys(object).includes('key1') //returns true
We can use indexOf as well, I prefer includes
You need to use the method object.hasOwnProperty(property). It returns true if the object has the property and false if the object doesn't.
The hasOwnProperty() method returns a boolean indicating whether the object has the specified property as its own property (as opposed to inheriting it).
const object1 = {};
object1.property1 = 42;
console.log(object1.hasOwnProperty('property1'));
// expected output: true
console.log(object1.hasOwnProperty('toString'));
// expected output: false
console.log(object1.hasOwnProperty('hasOwnProperty'));
// expected output: false
Know more
Don't over-complicate things when you can do:
var isProperty = (objectname.keyname || "") ? true : false;
It Is simple and clear for most cases...
A Better approach for iterating on object's own properties:
If you want to iterate on object's properties without using hasOwnProperty() check,
use for(let key of Object.keys(stud)){} method:
for(let key of Object.keys(stud)){
console.log(key); // will only log object's Own properties
}
full Example and comparison with for-in with hasOwnProperty()
function Student() {
this.name = "nitin";
}
Student.prototype = {
grade: 'A'
}
let stud = new Student();
// for-in approach
for(let key in stud){
if(stud.hasOwnProperty(key)){
console.log(key); // only outputs "name"
}
}
//Object.keys() approach
for(let key of Object.keys(stud)){
console.log(key);
}

javascript Object - access child property using dot notation

I created an object that requires a dictionary object be passed to initialize, and has attributes (like length). I'd like to be able to simply access the dictionary's key : value pair by passing something like:
myNewObj['a'] or myNewObj.a
and not having to instead pass myNewObj.dictionary['a'], but can't figure out how to do so.
Is there a way to set a dynamic attribute that, if no other attribute or method exits, will instead look into the dictionary and find the associated key?
var newObject = function(dictionary) {
this.dictionary = dictionary;
this.length = dictionary[[Object.keys(dictionary)[0]]].length;
this.get = function (column) {
return this.dictionary[[column]];
}
};
var myNewObj = new newObject({
a : [1,2,3],
b : [4,5,6]
});
console.log(myNewObj.get('a'));
I've updated this to show a .get() method that works, but it's still not exactly what I'm looking for.
jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/2uMjv/571/
Although this might not exactly fit your use case of dynamic attributes, the closest thing I can think of is extending the prototype. At least by using Object.setPrototypeOf* you can avoid defining each method individually and have a base set of functions to apply to each one of these newObject's.
var newObject = function(dictionary) {
this.dictionary = dictionary;
this.length = dictionary[[Object.keys(dictionary)[0]]].length;
this.get = function(column) {
return this.dictionary[[column]];
}
};
// Essentially a wrapper constructor.
var createNewObject = function(dictionary) {
Object.setPrototypeOf(dictionary, new newObject(dictionary));
return dictionary;
}
var myNewObj = createNewObject({
a : [1,2,3],
b : [4,5,6]
});
console.log(myNewObj['a']);
console.log(myNewObj.get('b'));
*You may want to look at the potential drawbacks in using this.
Why don't you just set properties? :
class Dictionary {
constructor(dictionary) {
Object.assign(this, dictionary);
}
get length() {
return Object.keys(this).length;
}
get(column) {
return this[column];
}
}
var dict = new Dictionary({
a : [1,2,3],
b : [4,5,6]
});
console.log(dict.a, dict["a"], dict.get("a"));

What is the Javascript equivalent of Python's get method for dictionaries

Python's get method for dictionaries lets me specify what should be returned if a key doesn't exist. For my current case I want a dictionary returned. How do I do this in Javascript?
There is no javascript equivalent of the python dictionary get method. If you would write it yourself, as a function, it would look like this:
function get(object, key, default_value) {
var result = object[key];
return (typeof result !== "undefined") ? result : default_value;
}
Use it like:
var obj = {"a": 1};
get(obj, "a", 2); // -> 1
get(obj, "b", 2); // -> 2
Note that the requested key will also be found in a prototype of obj.
If you really want a method rather than a function (obj.get("a", 2)), you need to extend the prototype of Object. This is generally considered a bad idea though, see Extending Object.prototype JavaScript
With modern javascript you can use the nullish coalescing operator ??
const result = obj[key] ?? default;
This will return the default value if key doesn't exist in obj. It will also return the default in cases like {myKey: undefined} or {myKey: null}, which may or may not be the desired behavior.
JavaScript has no helper feature to do that. You need to test explicitly.
if ("myProperty" in myObject) {
return { another: "object" };
} else {
return myObject.myProperty;
}
You can use a ternary operator to do the same thing with less code.
return ("myProperty" in myObject) ? myObject.myProperty : { another: "object" };
I prefer to use the logical OR like this:
foo.bar || 'default'
If checks is foo.bar is falsy, so it returns 'default' if bar is undefined.
You just need to care, that foo is an object. Otherwise a ReferenceError is thrown.
You could use a proxy for this (really new ):
var handler = {
get: function(target, name){
return name in target?
target[name] :
"Default";
}
};
var dictionary={"hi":true};
var dict = new Proxy(dictionary, handler);
dict.a = 1;
dict.b = undefined;
console.log(dict.a, dict.b,dict.hi); // 1, undefined,true
console.log(dict.new); //"Default"
//the proxied object gets changed:
console.log(dictionary.a, dictionary.b,dictionary.hi); // 1, undefined,true
console.log(dictionary.new); //undefined
A proxy is an object that reflects all changes and requests trough an handler. In this case we can write/access propertys of dictionary normally, but if we access values that do not exist it'll return "Default"
this works for me
let obj = {"a": 1};
let default = 100
obj["a"] || default; // -> 1
obj["b"] || default; // -> 100
But! there are some limitation, if !!obj["a"] === false we always get default value... so it's better to just check if key in obj, to be completely sure.

Get an object just by a property value

Let´s assume I have an object property which is passed into a function. In this case 'name' is filled with 'myObject.name' (which has the value 'Tom') - so basically 'Tom' gets passed into the function as the 'name'
function(name) {
do something //non-essential for my question
}
Is it possible to get the object, where 'Tom' is the property of, just by having the information 'Tom'? Basically I´m looking to get myObject.
Thanks :)
No, that's not possible.
All that the function knows is that one of its parameters was pointed to the string "Tom", not what else points to that string somewhere else in memory.
You can store objects within an array, filter the array to match property name of object to parameter passed to function using for..of loop, Object.entries(), which returns an array of property, values of an object.
const data = Array();
const setObjectPropertyName = _name => {
data.push({[_name]:_name});
return data
}
const getObjectByPropertyName = prop => {
let res = `${prop} property not found in data`;
for (let obj of data) {
for (let [key] of Object.entries(obj)) {
if(key === prop) return obj;
}
}
return res;
}
let s = setObjectPropertyName("Tom");
let g = getObjectByPropertyName("Tom");
let not = getObjectByPropertyName("Tome");
console.log(s,"\n", g, "\n", not);
Disclaimer: you absolutely should not do this. I'm only posting this because it is in fact possible (with some caveats), just really not advisable.
Going on the assumption that this is running in the browser and it's all running in the global scope (like in a script tag), you could technically iterate over the window object, check any objects in window for a name property and determine if their name property matches the name passed to your function.
var myObject = {
name: 'Tom',
thisIs: 'so awful',
imSorry: true,
};
function doSomethingWithName(name) {
for (var obj in window) {
var tmp = window[obj];
if (Object(tmp) === tmp && tmp.name === name) {
return tmp;
}
}
}
console.log(doSomethingWithName(myObject.name));

Object Prototype: Case Insensitive Getter On All Properties

I am trying to make an Object who, when I search for a property, performs a "look-up" of that property case-insensitively.
var x = new CaseInsensitiveObject();
x.firstProperty = "Hello!";
alert(x.firstproperty); //alerts Hello!
I've tried using Object.defineProperty() for this, yet it requires the string literal for the property as a parameter (Object.defineProperties() will have the same problem if you think about it).
Is there a way that I can generic set the getter for all object properties of an object without providing the key name? i.e:
Object.defineAllProperties(obj, {
get: function(prop)
{
if(!prop.toLowerCase && prop.toString)
prop = prop.toString();
if(prop.toLowerCase)
prop = prop.toLowerCase();
return this[prop];
}
});
If not all properties, how could I set even one property of an Object to be case insensitive?!
NOTE:
I understand that extending the Object.prototype is generally a bad thing to do, but I have my reasons. I need a quick fix due to some database changes. The eventual fix will take days to do, and I need running software for QA to test against until then. This prototype method will make everything work while I make all of the necessary changes, and this method WILL NOT be put into any production environment. So, if you plan on shooting me down and yelling at me for even thinking about doing this, I'm not listening.
Thanks everybody!
So, after following #apsillers comment, I did solve my problem (I only needed support for lower-case and camel-case. This is not what I would consider ideal and does not actually answer my question of making a case-insensitive Object property, but I should share:
function makeCaseInsensitiveObject(obj)
{
var keys;
function PropertyScope(iObj, key, val)
{
var value = val;
var _get = function()
{
return value;
};
var _set = function(v)
{
value = v;
};
Object.defineProperty(iObj, key, {
get: _get,
set: _set
});
Object.defineProperty(iObj, key.toLowerCase(), {
get: _get,
set: _set
});
};
if(Object.keys)
keys = Object.keys(obj);
else
keys = getObjectKeys(obj);
for(var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++)
{
if(typeof keys[i] === 'string')
{
PropertyScope(obj, keys[i], obj[keys[i]]);
}
}
return obj;
};
Be aware that the case-insensitivity here will only apply to existing object properties, not any new ones.
Thanks everybody!

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