create object using variables for property name [duplicate] - javascript

This question already has answers here:
How to use a variable for a key in a JavaScript object literal?
(16 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
Is it at all possible to use variable names in object literal properties for object creation?
Example
function createJSON (propertyName){
return { propertyName : "Value"};
}
var myObject = createJSON("myProperty");
console.log(myObject.propertyName); // Prints "value"
console.log(myObject.myProperty); // This property does not exist

If you want to use a variable for a property name, you can use Computed Property Names. Place the variable name between square brackets:
var foo = "bar";
var ob = { [foo]: "something" }; // ob.bar === "something"
If you want Internet Explorer support you will need to use the ES5 approach (which you could get by writing modern syntax (as above) and then applying Babel):
Create the object first, and then add the property using square bracket notation.
var foo = "bar";
var ob = {};
ob[foo] = "something"; // === ob.bar = "something"
If you wanted to programatically create JSON, you would have to serialize the object to a string conforming to the JSON format. e.g. with the JSON.stringify method.

ES6 introduces computed property names, which allow you to do
function CreateJSON (propertyName){
var myObject = { [propertyName] : "Value"};
}
Note browser support is currently negligible.

You can sort of do this:
var myObject = {};
CreateProp("myProperty","MyValue");
function CreateProp(propertyName, propertyValue)
{
myObject[propertyName] = propertyValue;
alert(myObject[propertyName]); // prints "MyValue"
};
I much perfer this syntax myself though:
function jsonObject()
{
};
var myNoteObject = new jsonObject();
function SaveJsonObject()
{
myNoteObject.Control = new jsonObject();
myNoteObject.Control.Field1= "Fred";
myNoteObject.Control.Field2= "Wilma";
myNoteObject.Control.Field3= "Flintstone";
myNoteObject.Control.Id= "1234";
myNoteObject.Other= new jsonObject();
myNoteObject.Other.One="myone";
};
Then you can use the following:
SaveJsonObject();
var myNoteJSON = JSON.stringify(myNoteObject);
NOTE: This makes use of the json2.js from here:http://www.json.org/js.html

One thing that may be suitable (now that JSON functionality is common to newer browsers, and json2.js is a perfectly valid fallback), is to construct a JSON string and then parse it.
function func(prop, val) {
var jsonStr = '{"'+prop+'":'+val+'}';
return JSON.parse(jsonStr);
}
var testa = func("init", 1);
console.log(testa.init);//1
Just keep in mind, JSON property names need to be enclosed in double quotes.

Related

Defining an object with a dynamic key in node js (javascript) [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How To Set A JS object property name from a variable
(8 answers)
Closed 4 years ago.
I need to do this :
let obj = {}
obj.obj1 = {'obj11':5}
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11)
//5
but I need to define the last key of the last object dynamically for example, something like this:
let obj = {}
key = 'obj11'
obj.obj1 = { key :5}
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11)
// undefined
Try
obj.obj1[key] = 5;
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11);
The object notation syntax does not support variables as keys directly, but java-script dictionaries do.
To evaluate the variable in the object notation syntax, use a bracket like so
obj.obj1 = {[key]: 5};
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11);
To define computed properties in javascript objects use [].
Try the following:
let obj = {}
key = 'obj11'
obj.obj1 = { [key] :5}
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11)
For reference : Reference
You'll have to use bracket notation for this like
let obj = {}
key = 'obj11'
obj.obj1 = { [key] :5}
console.log(obj.obj1.obj11)
Yes, you can do this:
console.log(obj.obj1[key]);
Every object in JavaScript is basically a dictionary so you can access it via the dictionary syntax.

How to define object key using other object property value?

I have an object and I want to use object property value as key (simplified):
var App = function() {
this.settings = {
'tetris': {
title: 'Tetris'
},
'galaxian': {
title: 'Galaxian'
}
};
this.gameName = 'tetris';
this.request = {
this.settings[this.gameName].title: 'THIS KEY IS INVALID' // :(
}
};
I know I could assign it as:
this.request[ this.settings[this.gameName].title ] = 'Valid...';
But I wonder if I can define the property name using the object property value?
I am afraid, what you mean is not possible. You can not use a variable as a key in an object literal like this:
var key = "somekey";
var obj = {key: "value"}
The above code will result in an object that has the key key.
You can only use a variable to define an object element like this:
var key = "somekey";
var obj = {};
obj[key] = "value"
Then the object get's an element with the key somekey
EDIT: As stated in the comments, in ECMAScript 6 the support for computed properties in object literals got introduced. However the browser support for the computed properties in object literals is very slim (you can look it up here under syntax -> object literals). For example IE 11 has no support for it, neither has Chrome 43.
Computed property names will be introduced in ECMAScript edition 6, they're in the current draft, so you can do:
this.request = {
[this.settings[this.gameName].title]
}
They're reasonably well supported now, see MDN for more detail.
You can't define literal objects with computed property names; you have to assign them.
In other words, you can either define a literal object using {...} notation if the property name is well-known, or assign values into keys in a map using x[prop] = v notation if the property name is computed.
Think of your JS objects as being either objects or maps, but not both. If the JS object has well-known property names then it's acting as an object:
var obj = {
wellKnownPropertyName = 'value';
};
var value = obj.wellKnownPropertyName;
But if the property name is computed then it's not really a property of an object but more like a key in a map, and should be assigned (and read) as such:
var map = {};
var key = getUnknownKeyFromSomewhere();
map[key] = 'value';
var value = map[key];

Creating object with dynamic keys [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How to use a variable for a key in a JavaScript object literal?
(16 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
First off, I'm using Cheerio for some DOM access and parsing with Node.js. Good times.
Heres the situation:
I have a function that I need to create an object. That object uses variables for both its keys and values, and then return that single object. Example:
stuff = function (thing, callback) {
var inputs = $('div.quantity > input').map(function(){
var key = this.attr('name')
, value = this.attr('value');
return { key : value }
})
callback(null, inputs);
}
It outputs this:
[ { key: '1' }, { key: '1' } ]
(.map() returns an array of objects fyi)
I need key to actually be the string from this.attr('name').
Whats the best way to assign a string as a key in Javascript, considering what I'm trying to do?
In the new ES2015 standard for JavaScript (formerly called ES6), objects can be created with computed keys: Object Initializer spec.
The syntax is:
var obj = {
[myKey]: value,
}
If applied to the OP's scenario, it would turn into:
stuff = function (thing, callback) {
var inputs = $('div.quantity > input').map(function(){
return {
[this.attr('name')]: this.attr('value'),
};
})
callback(null, inputs);
}
Note: A transpiler is still required for browser compatiblity.
Using Babel or Google's traceur, it is possible to use this syntax today.
In earlier JavaScript specifications (ES5 and below), the key in an object literal is always interpreted literally, as a string.
To use a "dynamic" key, you have to use bracket notation:
var obj = {};
obj[myKey] = value;
In your case:
stuff = function (thing, callback) {
var inputs = $('div.quantity > input').map(function(){
var key = this.attr('name')
, value = this.attr('value')
, ret = {};
ret[key] = value;
return ret;
})
callback(null, inputs);
}
You can't define an object literal with a dynamic key. Do this :
var o = {};
o[key] = value;
return o;
There's no shortcut (edit: there's one now, with ES6, see the other answer).

What is function with brackets mean?

Does anyone know what is test[name] mean?
function test(value){
copy(value||{},this);
}
test[name] = function(){
return "test"
}
This will be easiest to explain with an example:
var name = "foo";
test[name] = function(){
return "test"
};
This would add a property named "foo" to the object test, and the value of that property is a function. It doesn't matter in this case that the object test is actually a function, you can assign properties to functions just like any other object in JavaScript.
You could call this function using any of the following methods:
test[name]()
test["foo"]()
test.foo()
Note that test[name]() will not work if the name variable is assigned to something different, for example name = 'bar'.
Javascript has two sets of notation for accessing objects, dot notation (obj.property) and bracket notation (object[property]). More on that at MDN.
test[name] = function (){} assigns an anonymous function to the name property on the the test object (which itself is a function). In this case (as noted by the comments) the variable name is being used to access the property.
This may seem a little strange at first, but it's helpful to remember that in javascript, functions are objects.
All functions in Javascript are also objects. This adds a property to the test function object with a value which is an anonymous function.
For example:
function test(){
return "foo";
}
// test is a function, so it is also an object and
// it can have properties assigned to it
test.x = function(){
return "bar";
};
test(); // "foo"
test.x(); // "bar"
Of course just like with any object you can also use bracket notation:
var name = 'hello';
test[name] = function(){
return "HELLO!";
};
test.hello(); // "HELLO!"
In JavaScript, functions are objects. They have properties. test[name] sets a property (named whatever the name variable holds) to a function.
when you have a javascript object with defined properties you can access the property either with the dot notation obj.property or with the square brackets notation obj[property]
the property could also be a function so if you have an object:
var test = {
foo : function(arg){ console.log(arg) },
bar : 'hello'
};
you can call test.foo('bar') also by doing test['foo']('bar')
This is especially useful in iterations or when you dont know a priori what the name of the property is going to be. For example:
var fun = 'foo';
test[fun]('hello world');
Naturally it's up to you to do proper checks such as
if ('function'==typeof test['foo']){ test['foo']('bar'); }
Also note that you can do checks on the fly like so:
test[ fun || 'foo']('hello');
Taken from the Mozilla page
One can think of an object as an associative array (a.k.a. map, dictionary, hash, lookup table). The keys in this array are the names of object members
There are two ways to access object members: dot notation and bracket notation (a.k.a. subscript operator).
So
test[name] = function (
means: there are (if everything is ok) two objects: test and name (and we know that at least test is present, because you defined it one line before: function test(value))
take the test object (if there isn't a test object an error will happen). Then access the key/value pair with the key calculated from the name object and there put a function.
Now, how the key is calculated from the name object? The same page from before tells us:
Property names must be strings. This means that non-string objects cannot be used as keys in the object. Any non-string object, including a number, is typecasted into a string via the toString method.
Note that the description is a little wrong... test[null] == test["null"] and test[undefined] == test["undefined"], so perhaps the truth is that under the covers something like String(key).valueOf() is done (the String function will convert null to "null" and undefined to "undefined")
Some examples (where => means "is equivalent to, with this values")
var name = 'foo';
test[name] => test['foo']
var name = 123;
test[name] => test['123']
var name = 123.3;
test[name] => test['123.3']
var name = new Date();
test[name] => test['Wed Aug 14 2013 17:35:35 GMT+0200 (...)']
var name = null;
test[name] => test['null']
var name = undefined;
test[name] => test['undefined']
var name = [];
test[name] => test['']
var name = [1,2,3];
test[name] => test['1,2,3']
var name = {};
test[name] => test['object Object']
and so on...
The brackets are how you reference a property via a key into the hash that javascript objects are.

get/set for all available properties (JS)

Is it possible to create get/set function for undefined properties,
like in PHP __get() and __set() ?
You can access JavaScript object properties values using array access notation, you can also create a new property at any time using this notation or regular assignment notation.
var myObject = {};
myObject.Name = "Luis";
alert(myObject.Name);
alert(myObject["Name"]);
myObject["Name"] = "Dany";
alert(myObject.Name);
You can do
function ClassName(arg) {
var v = arg;
this.getter = function {
return v;
};
this.setter = function(val) {
v = val;
};
}
when you use it
var cn = new ClassName('a');
cn.setter('b');
alert(cn.getter()); /* alerts value 'b' */
Note that this uses the Constructor Invocation Pattern. By convention, you need to declare the function/class name with capital letter to indicate that this function/class need to be declared with the 'new' keyword.
Hope this helps

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