Javascript: Dictionary 'key' value becomes null outside for loop - javascript

I have a function which takes a list of dictionaries [{}] as an argument. It manipulates this list of dicts by adding a new key: value pair to it where value is again a list of dictionaries. This is what the function looks like, I've added comments to explain it.
function addFilesToProjects(nonUniqueArray, lists) {
var fileList = [{}]; //this will contain the list of dictionaries that I want to add as a key to the array 'nonUniqueArray'
var filesArray = []; //this was just for testing purposes because I want to access the modified version of nonUniqueArray outside the function, which I'm not able to (it shows undefined for the new key:value pair)
for (var i = 0; i < nonUniqueArray.length; i++) {
lists.forEach(function (list) {
fileNameString = JSON.stringify(list['name']).slice(2, -2);
if (fileNameString.indexOf(nonUniqueArray[i]['title']) !== -1 && fileNameString !== nonUniqueArray[i]['title']) {
fileList.push({
'name': fileNameString
});
}
});
nonUniqueArray[i]['files'] = fileList;
//this logs out the right key:value pair to the console
console.log(nonUniqueArray[i]);
filesArray.push(nonUniqueArray[i]);
while (fileList.length > 0) {
fileList.pop();
}
}
//however, now I get everything as before except the new 'files' key has empty list [] as its value :(
console.log(nonUniqueArray);
return filesArray;
}
I have no clue why is this happening, can someone help?

You seem to think that you are adding a copy of fileList into each dictionary, but in fact are adding the same fileList into each (that is, each is a reference to the same object) so that, as #vlaz points out, when you empty out the original, you are in fact emptying out what appears in each dictionary.

Related

I have an issue with removing an object key with a for in loop

I'm using a for x in loop to check if a value is == to [] and if so remove the property using remove but it just does not seem to work.
const whosOnline = (a) => {
var obj = { online:[],
offline:[],
away:[] };
for(let i = 0; i < a.length; i++){
if(a[i].lastActivity > 10 && a[i].status == 'online'){obj.away.push(a[i].username)}
else if(a[i].status == 'offline'){obj.offline.push(a[i].username)}
else{obj.online.push(a[i].username)}
}
for(let x in obj){
console.log(obj[x])
if(obj[x] === []){delete obj[x]}}
return obj
}
you were close, however you also need to reference the array index for each object key value. Comments explaining this in the code below.
var obj = { online:[],
offline:[],
away:[] };
for(var x in obj){
if(!obj[x][0]){ // The 0 is the index inside the online array, next loop it will be the offline array and then the away array.
console.log('The array is empty');
// Do what you want to do now that it is empty
// This will continue to loop through and check the value of all the keys in the object.
}
}
console.log('done');
Good luck -
Mitch from
https://spangle.com.au
Using some debugging (simply testing if a console.log gets printed for instance) you find that your if-condition is never true.
This is because you test if an array equals a newly created empty array. This can never be the case, because objects are compared by object reference instead of value.
Instead you want to probably test to see if your array is empty by doing ‘if(obj[x].length===0)’ (or shorter: ‘if(!obj[x].length)’)

Variable assigned to array not updating when array does (JS)

I am assigning a variable, proxies, equal to an array. I am trying to add items to that array at a later point in time and then access that array in other files.
The problem is, the proxyHelper.proxies value is not updating to reflect the value of proxies variable.
After modifying the array, console.log(proxies) returns the modified array, but console.log(proxyHelper.proxies) returns a blank. I need to access the proxyHelper.proxies value in other files, so you can see why this is a problem.
I use similar code elsewhere and it works fine - what am I not seeing?
var proxies = [];
proxyHelper.proxies = proxies;
proxyHelper.tester = function(win) {
electron.ipcMain.on('saveProxies', function(event, data) {
// Clear the previous proxies from list
proxies = [];
// Split proxies based on line breaks
if (data != '') {
let proxiesList = data.split('\n');
// i<= because we want to run a check to see if all proxies are added
for (let i = 0; i <= proxiesList.length; i++) {
// if the for loop hasn't ran through all proxies
if (i + 1 <= proxiesList.length) {
proxies.push(proxiesList[i]);
}
// Once it's loop through all proxies
else {
//Returns nothing
console.log(proxyHelper.proxies);
//Returns array with added items
console.log(proxies);
win.webContents.send('goodProxies', 'Saved!');
}
}
} else {
win.webContents.send('emptyProxies', 'Empty.');
}
})
}
proxies = [];
You just assigned a new array to this variable.
proxyHelper.proxies still points to the previous value, and is not affected.
You should always use a single variable, or mutate it instead of re-assigning it.
Here is what is going on in your code:
var proxies = []; // This new variable ("proxies") contains a reference to an empty array.
proxyHelper.proxies = proxies; // You assign the same reference to a property
// (named "proxies") of the "proxyHelper"
// object. The "proxies" property points
// to the same empty array as the variable above.
proxyHelper.tester = function(win) {
electron.ipcMain.on('saveProxies', function(event, data) {
proxies = []; // You assign a new reference to the global variable
// "proxies", which points to a new empty array.
// At this point the reference assigned to
// "proxyHelper.proxies" is still the original
// empty array from line 1
// ...
}
// ...
}
So when you access "proxyHelper.proxies", you are always accessing the original empty array the has never been modified...
What you should do is:
proxyHelper.proxies = []; // resets the object's property to a new empty array
Don't need proxy variable, as its changes aren't reflected to proxyHelper.proxies
Just use proxyHelper.proxies itself
Also i've cleaned up your code a little bit
There are plenty of Array methods you can use, instead of for loop
proxyHelper.proxies = []
proxyHelper.tester = function(win) {
electron.ipcMain.on('saveProxies', function(event, data) {
//Split proxies based on line breaks
if (data != '') {
let proxiesList = data.split('\n');
proxiesList.forEach(function(proxy) {
proxyHelper.proxies.push(proxy)
})
win.webContents.send('goodProxies', 'Saved!');
} else {
win.webContents.send('emptyProxies', 'Empty.');
}
})
}

Unwrap objects in array

I have an array of objects:
var Props = [booleanPoint, buttonPoint, checkboxPoint, datePoint, dialPoint, gaugePoint,
groupboxPoint, htmlPoint, imagePoint, livetextPoint, livetrendsPoint, permissionsPoint,
rangePoint, selectPoint, spectrumPoint];
Console log shows:
Edited:
I want to extract the properties inside each object. How do I do it?
To be clear I just want the first property in the array, so that I can do Props.booleanPoint, Props.buttonPoint etc.
You question is not very clear, but I guess you're trying to extract the first (and only) property from each object in the list, whose name you don't know.
If yes, consider this:
extracted = Props.map(function(obj) {
for(var p in obj)
return obj[p];
});
If you want to combine all properties into one big object, try this:
allProps = Object.assign.apply(null, Props)
I'm not sure exactly what result you're after, but the best solution is probably either a forEach or a map.
var properties = {};
Props.forEach(function(object) {
// update properties somehow based on object
});
or
var properties = Props.map(function(object) {
return [some property of object];
});
The first just runs some code on each entry in the array; the second returns a new array with the results of that code.
Otherwise, the classic for loop works too:
var properties = {};
for (var i = 0; i < Props.length; i++ {
// update properties somehow based on Props[i]
}

Find index of object in array by key

I have an array of objects like so
myobj= [{"item1" : info in here},{"item2" : info in here}, {"item3" : info in here}]
I'm trying to modify one, but I only know its key. I need to pinpoint the item1 object so I can change its value (the values are random and I don't know them, so I can't rely upon them).
If I could just get the index of the item it would be pretty easy: myobj[index].value = "newvalue".
Maybe using the index isn't the best way, so if it isn't, I'm open to other ideas.
I was thinking I could try something like
myobj.objectVar
Where objectVar is the key I'm being passed (item1, for example), however this does not work, possibly because it's a variable? Is it possible to use a variable like this maybe?
If it helps, I'm using underscore.js as well.
Your guess at a solution doesn't work because you're not accessing the individual objects, you're accessing an array of objects, each of which has a single property.
To use the data in the format you've got now, you need to iterate over the outer array until you find the object that contains the key you're after, and then modify its value.
myobj= [{"item1" : info in here},{"item2" : info in here}, {"item3" : info in here}]
function setByKey(key, value) {
myObj.forEach(function (obj) {
// only works if your object's values are truthy
if (obj[key]) {
obj[key] = value;
}
});
}
setByKey('item1', 'new value');
Of course, the far better solution is to stop using an array of single-property objects, and just use one object with multiple properties:
myobj= {"item1" : info in here, "item2" : info in here, "item3" : info in here};
Now, you can simply use myObject.item1 = "some new value" and it will work fine.
You can write a function like,
function getElementsHavingKey(key) {
var objectsHavingGivenKey = [];
//loop through all the objects in the array 'myobj'
myobj.forEach(function(individualObject) {
//you can use 'hasOwnProperty' method to find whether the provided key
// is present in the object or not
if(individualObject.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
// if the key is present, store the object having the key
// into the array (many objects may have same key in it)
objectsHavingGivenKey.push(individualObject);
}
});
// return the array containing the objects having the keys
return objectsHavingGivenKey;
}
If you only want to get the index of elements having the given key
You can do something like this,
function getIndexesOfElementsHavingKey(key) {
var objectsHavingGivenKey = [];
//loop through all the objects in the array 'myobj'
myobj.forEach(function(individualObject, index) {
//you can use 'hasOwnProperty' method to find whether the provided key
// is present in the object or not
if(individualObject.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
//push index of element which has the key
objectsHavingGivenKey.push(index);
}
});
// returns the array of element indexes which has the key
return objectsHavingGivenKey;
}
Try this code:
function changeObj( obj, key, newval )
{
for( var i=0, l=obj.length; i<j; i++)
{
if( key in obj[i] )
{
obj[i] = newval;
return;
}
}
}
var myObjArray= [{"item1" : "info in here"},{"item2" : "info in here"}, {"item3" : "info in here"}]
To find and add new value to the object inside an array:
myObjArray.forEach(function(obj) {
for(var key in obj) {
// in case you're matching key & value
if(key === "item1") {
obj[key] = "update value";
// you can even set new property as well
obj.newkey = "New value";
}
}
});
You can access objects the same using their index, even the object inside the original object.
Is this kind of what your looking for:
var otherObj = [{"oitem":"oValue"}];
var myobj= [{"item1" : otherObj},{"item2" : "2"}, {"item3" : "tesT"}];
myobj[0].item1[0].oitem = "newvalue";
alert(myobj[0].item1[0].oitem);

Checking for duplicate Javascript objects

TL;DR version: I want to avoid adding duplicate Javascript objects to an array of similar objects, some of which might be really big. What's the best approach?
I have an application where I'm loading large amounts of JSON data into a Javascript data structure. While it's a bit more complex than this, assume that I'm loading JSON into an array of Javascript objects from a server through a series of AJAX requests, something like:
var myObjects = [];
function processObject(o) {
myObjects.push(o);
}
for (var x=0; x<1000; x++) {
$.getJSON('/new_object.json', processObject);
}
To complicate matters, the JSON:
is in an unknown schema
is of arbitrary length (probably not enormous, but could be in the 100-200 kb range)
might contain duplicates across different requests
My initial thought is to have an additional object to store a hash of each object (via JSON.stringify?) and check against it on each load, like this:
var myHashMap = {};
function processObject(o) {
var hash = JSON.stringify(o);
// is it in the hashmap?
if (!(myHashMap[hash])) {
myObjects.push(o);
// set the hashmap key for future checks
myHashMap[hash] = true;
}
// else ignore this object
}
but I'm worried about having property names in myHashMap that might be 200 kb in length. So my questions are:
Is there a better approach for this problem than the hashmap idea?
If not, is there a better way to make a hash function for a JSON object of arbitrary length and schema than JSON.stringify?
What are the possible issues with super-long property names in an object?
I'd suggest you create an MD5 hash of the JSON.stringify(o) and store that in your hashmap with a reference to your stored object as the data for the hash. And to make sure that there are no object key order differences in the JSON.stringify(), you have to create a copy of the object that orders the keys.
Then, when each new object comes in, you check it against the hash map. If you find a match in the hash map, then you compare the incoming object with the actual object that you've stored to see if they are truly duplicates (since there can be MD5 hash collisions). That way, you have a manageable hash table (with only MD5 hashes in it).
Here's code to create a canonical string representation of an object (including nested objects or objects within arrays) that handles object keys that might be in a different order if you just called JSON.stringify().
// Code to do a canonical JSON.stringify() that puts object properties
// in a consistent order
// Does not allow circular references (child containing reference to parent)
JSON.stringifyCanonical = function(obj) {
// compatible with either browser or node.js
var Set = typeof window === "object" ? window.Set : global.Set;
// poor man's Set polyfill
if (typeof Set !== "function") {
Set = function(s) {
if (s) {
this.data = s.data.slice();
} else {
this.data = [];
}
};
Set.prototype = {
add: function(item) {
this.data.push(item);
},
has: function(item) {
return this.data.indexOf(item) !== -1;
}
};
}
function orderKeys(obj, parents) {
if (typeof obj !== "object") {
throw new Error("orderKeys() expects object type");
}
var set = new Set(parents);
if (set.has(obj)) {
throw new Error("circular object in stringifyCanonical()");
}
set.add(obj);
var tempObj, item, i;
if (Array.isArray(obj)) {
// no need to re-order an array
// but need to check it for embedded objects that need to be ordered
tempObj = [];
for (i = 0; i < obj.length; i++) {
item = obj[i];
if (typeof item === "object") {
tempObj[i] = orderKeys(item, set);
} else {
tempObj[i] = item;
}
}
} else {
tempObj = {};
// get keys, sort them and build new object
Object.keys(obj).sort().forEach(function(item) {
if (typeof obj[item] === "object") {
tempObj[item] = orderKeys(obj[item], set);
} else {
tempObj[item] = obj[item];
}
});
}
return tempObj;
}
return JSON.stringify(orderKeys(obj));
}
And, the algorithm
var myHashMap = {};
function processObject(o) {
var stringifiedCandidate = JSON.stringifyCanonical(o);
var hash = CreateMD5(stringifiedCandidate);
var list = [], found = false;
// is it in the hashmap?
if (!myHashMap[hash] {
// not in the hash table, so it's a unique object
myObjects.push(o);
list.push(myObjects.length - 1); // put a reference to the object with this hash value in the list
myHashMap[hash] = list; // store the list in the hash table for future comparisons
} else {
// the hash does exist in the hash table, check for an exact object match to see if it's really a duplicate
list = myHashMap[hash]; // get the list of other object indexes with this hash value
// loop through the list
for (var i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
if (stringifiedCandidate === JSON.stringifyCanonical(myObjects[list[i]])) {
found = true; // found an exact object match
break;
}
}
// if not found, it's not an exact duplicate, even though there was a hash match
if (!found) {
myObjects.push(o);
myHashMap[hash].push(myObjects.length - 1);
}
}
}
Test case for jsonStringifyCanonical() is here: https://jsfiddle.net/jfriend00/zfrtpqcL/
Maybe. For example if You know what kind object goes by You could write better indexing and searching system than JS objects' keys. But You could only do that with JavaScript and object keys are written in C...
Must Your hashing be lossless or not? If can than try to lose compression (MD5). I guessing You will lose some speed and gain some memory. By the way, do JSON.stringify(o) guarantees same key ordering. Because {foo: 1, bar: 2} and {bar: 2, foo: 1} is equal as objects, but not as strings.
Cost memory
One possible optimization:
Instead of using getJSON use $.get and pass "text" as dataType param. Than You can use result as Your hash and convert to object afterwards.
Actually by writing last sentence I though about another solution:
Collect all results with $.get into array
Sort it with buildin (c speed) Array.sort
Now You can easily spot and remove duplicates with one for
Again different JSON strings can make same JavaScript object.

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