Related
Is there a way to set the default attribute of a Javascript object such that:
let emptyObj = {};
// do some magic
emptyObj.nonExistingAttribute // => defaultValue
Since I asked the question several years ago things have progressed nicely.
Proxies are part of ES6. The following example works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge:
let handler = {
get: function(target, name) {
return target.hasOwnProperty(name) ? target[name] : 42;
}
};
let emptyObj = {};
let p = new Proxy(emptyObj, handler);
p.answerToTheUltimateQuestionOfLife; //=> 42
Read more in Mozilla's documentation on Proxies.
Use destructuring (new in ES6)
There is great documentation by Mozila as well as a fantastic blog post that explains the syntax better than I can.
To Answer Your Question
var emptyObj = {};
const { nonExistingAttribute = defaultValue } = emptyObj;
console.log(nonExistingAttribute); // defaultValue
Going Further
Can I rename this variable? Sure!
const { nonExistingAttribute: coolerName = 15} = emptyObj;
console.log(coolerName); // 15
What about nested data? Bring it on!
var nestedData = {
name: 'Awesome Programmer',
languages: [
{
name: 'javascript',
proficiency: 4,
}
],
country: 'Canada',
};
var {name: realName, languages: [{name: languageName}]} = nestedData ;
console.log(realName); // Awesome Programmer
console.log(languageName); // javascript
There isn't a way to set this in Javascript - returning undefined for non-existent properties is a part of the core Javascript spec. See the discussion for this similar question. As I suggested there, one approach (though I can't really recommend it) would be to define a global getProperty function:
function getProperty(o, prop) {
if (o[prop] !== undefined) return o[prop];
else return "my default";
}
var o = {
foo: 1
};
getProperty(o, 'foo'); // 1
getProperty(o, 'bar'); // "my default"
But this would lead to a bunch of non-standard code that would be difficult for others to read, and it might have unintended consequences in areas where you'd expect or want an undefined value. Better to just check as you go:
var someVar = o.someVar || "my default";
my code is:
function(s){
s = {
top: s.top || 100, // default value or s.top
left: s.left || 300, // default value or s.left
}
alert(s.top)
}
The way I achieve this is with the object.assign function
const defaultProperties = { 'foo': 'bar', 'bar': 'foo' };
const overwriteProperties = { 'foo': 'foo' };
const newObj = Object.assign({}, defaultProperties, overwriteProperties);
console.log(defaultProperties); // {"foo": "bar", "bar": "foo"}
console.log(overwriteProperties); // { "foo": "foo" };
console.log(newObj); // { "foo": "foo", "bar": "foo" }
This seems to me the most simple and readable way of doing so:
let options = {name:"James"}
const default_options = {name:"John", surname:"Doe"}
options = Object.assign({}, default_options, options)
Object.assign() reference
This sure sounds like the typical use of protoype-based objects:
// define a new type of object
var foo = function() {};
// define a default attribute and value that all objects of this type will have
foo.prototype.attribute1 = "defaultValue1";
// create a new object of my type
var emptyObj = new foo();
console.log(emptyObj.attribute1); // outputs defaultValue1
I think the simplest approach is using Object.assign.
If you have this Class:
class MyHelper {
constructor(options) {
this.options = Object.assign({
name: "John",
surname: "Doe",
birthDate: "1980-08-08"
}, options);
}
}
You can use it like this:
let helper = new MyHelper({ name: "Mark" });
console.log(helper.options.surname); // this will output "Doe"
Documentation (with polyfill):
https://developer.mozilla.org/it/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/assign
Or you can try this
dict = {
'somekey': 'somevalue'
};
val = dict['anotherkey'] || 'anotherval';
Simplest of all Solutions:
dict = {'first': 1,
'second': 2,
'third': 3}
Now,
dict['last'] || 'Excluded'
will return 'Excluded', which is the default value.
If you only have an object that is a single level deep (nested object properties will not merge as expected since it directly destructures from the first level), you can use the following destructuring syntax:
const options = {
somevar: 1234,
admin: true
};
const defaults = {
test: false,
admin: false,
};
var mergedOptions = {...defaults, ...options};
Of which the output would be:
console.log(options);
// { somevar: 1234, admin: true }
console.log(mergedOptions);
// { test: false, admin: true, somevar: 1234 }
Or even formatted as a single statement (this is slightly unreadable though):
const options = {...{
// Defaults
test: false,
admin: false,
}, ...{
// Overrides
somevar: 1234,
admin: true
}};
I saw an article yesterday that mentions an Object.__noSuchMethod__ property: JavascriptTips I've not had a chance to play around with it, so I don't know about browser support, but maybe you could use that in some way?
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned ternary operator yet.
var emptyObj = {a:'123', b:'234', c:0};
var defaultValue = 'defaultValue';
var attr = 'someNonExistAttribute';
emptyObj.hasOwnProperty(attr) ? emptyObj[attr] : defaultValue;//=> 'defaultValue'
attr = 'c'; // => 'c'
emptyObj.hasOwnProperty(attr) ? emptyObj[attr] : defaultValue; // => 0
In this way, even if the value of 'c' is 0, it will still get the correct value.
var obj = {
a: 2,
b: 4
};
console.log(obj);
--> {a: 2, b: 4}
function applyDefaults(obj) {
obj.a ||= 10;
obj.b ||= 10;
obj.c ||= 10;
}
// do some magic
applyDefaults(obj);
console.log(obj);
--> {a: 2, b: 4, c: 10}
This works because
undefined || "1111111" --> "1111111"
"0000000" || "1111111" --> "0000000"
as null, undefined, NaN, 0, "" (Empty String), false itself, are all considered to be equivalent to false (falsy). Anything else is true (truthy).
Note that this is not uniformly supported across browsers and nodejs versions (confirm for yourself).
So two troublesome cases are the empty String "" and 0 (zero). If it is important not to override those, you might need to rewrite this as:
if (typeof obj.d == "undefined") obj.d = "default"
This will be better supported across browsers also.
Alternatively you could write this as:
obj.d ??= "default"
This is the nullish assignment which applies only to values that are null or undefined (nullish) - of which the empty string is not part. However, this has again a diminished cross-browser support.
See also on the official Mozilla Website - Assigning a default value to a variable.
This is actually possible to do with Object.create. It will not work for "non defined" properties. But for the ones that has been given a default value.
var defaults = {
a: 'test1',
b: 'test2'
};
Then when you create your properties object you do it with Object.create
properties = Object.create(defaults);
Now you will have two object where the first object is empty, but the prototype points to the defaults object. To test:
console.log('Unchanged', properties);
properties.a = 'updated';
console.log('Updated', properties);
console.log('Defaults', Object.getPrototypeOf(properties));
Object.withDefault = (defaultValue,o={}) => {
return new Proxy(o, {
get: (o, k) => (k in o) ? o[k] : defaultValue
});
}
o = Object.withDefault(42);
o.x //=> 42
o.x = 10
o.x //=> 10
o.xx //=> 42
One approach would be to take a defaults object and merge it with the target object. The target object would override values in the defaults object.
jQuery has the .extend() method that does this. jQuery is not needed however as there are vanilla JS implementations such as can be found here:
http://gomakethings.com/vanilla-javascript-version-of-jquery-extend/
With the addition of the Logical nullish assignment operator, you can now do something like this
const obj = {}
obj.a ??= "default";
In the case where you have an empty list as the default value and want to push to it, you could do
const obj = {}
(obj.a ??= []).push("some value")
I came here looking for a solution because the header matched my problem description but it isn't what i was looking for but i got a solution to my problem(I wanted to have a default value for an attribute which would be dynamic something like date).
let Blog = {
title : String,
image : String,
body : String,
created: {type: Date, default: Date.now}
}
The above code was the solution for which i finally settled.
Is there a way to set the default attribute of a Javascript object such that:
let emptyObj = {};
// do some magic
emptyObj.nonExistingAttribute // => defaultValue
Since I asked the question several years ago things have progressed nicely.
Proxies are part of ES6. The following example works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge:
let handler = {
get: function(target, name) {
return target.hasOwnProperty(name) ? target[name] : 42;
}
};
let emptyObj = {};
let p = new Proxy(emptyObj, handler);
p.answerToTheUltimateQuestionOfLife; //=> 42
Read more in Mozilla's documentation on Proxies.
Use destructuring (new in ES6)
There is great documentation by Mozila as well as a fantastic blog post that explains the syntax better than I can.
To Answer Your Question
var emptyObj = {};
const { nonExistingAttribute = defaultValue } = emptyObj;
console.log(nonExistingAttribute); // defaultValue
Going Further
Can I rename this variable? Sure!
const { nonExistingAttribute: coolerName = 15} = emptyObj;
console.log(coolerName); // 15
What about nested data? Bring it on!
var nestedData = {
name: 'Awesome Programmer',
languages: [
{
name: 'javascript',
proficiency: 4,
}
],
country: 'Canada',
};
var {name: realName, languages: [{name: languageName}]} = nestedData ;
console.log(realName); // Awesome Programmer
console.log(languageName); // javascript
There isn't a way to set this in Javascript - returning undefined for non-existent properties is a part of the core Javascript spec. See the discussion for this similar question. As I suggested there, one approach (though I can't really recommend it) would be to define a global getProperty function:
function getProperty(o, prop) {
if (o[prop] !== undefined) return o[prop];
else return "my default";
}
var o = {
foo: 1
};
getProperty(o, 'foo'); // 1
getProperty(o, 'bar'); // "my default"
But this would lead to a bunch of non-standard code that would be difficult for others to read, and it might have unintended consequences in areas where you'd expect or want an undefined value. Better to just check as you go:
var someVar = o.someVar || "my default";
my code is:
function(s){
s = {
top: s.top || 100, // default value or s.top
left: s.left || 300, // default value or s.left
}
alert(s.top)
}
The way I achieve this is with the object.assign function
const defaultProperties = { 'foo': 'bar', 'bar': 'foo' };
const overwriteProperties = { 'foo': 'foo' };
const newObj = Object.assign({}, defaultProperties, overwriteProperties);
console.log(defaultProperties); // {"foo": "bar", "bar": "foo"}
console.log(overwriteProperties); // { "foo": "foo" };
console.log(newObj); // { "foo": "foo", "bar": "foo" }
This seems to me the most simple and readable way of doing so:
let options = {name:"James"}
const default_options = {name:"John", surname:"Doe"}
options = Object.assign({}, default_options, options)
Object.assign() reference
This sure sounds like the typical use of protoype-based objects:
// define a new type of object
var foo = function() {};
// define a default attribute and value that all objects of this type will have
foo.prototype.attribute1 = "defaultValue1";
// create a new object of my type
var emptyObj = new foo();
console.log(emptyObj.attribute1); // outputs defaultValue1
I think the simplest approach is using Object.assign.
If you have this Class:
class MyHelper {
constructor(options) {
this.options = Object.assign({
name: "John",
surname: "Doe",
birthDate: "1980-08-08"
}, options);
}
}
You can use it like this:
let helper = new MyHelper({ name: "Mark" });
console.log(helper.options.surname); // this will output "Doe"
Documentation (with polyfill):
https://developer.mozilla.org/it/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/assign
Or you can try this
dict = {
'somekey': 'somevalue'
};
val = dict['anotherkey'] || 'anotherval';
Simplest of all Solutions:
dict = {'first': 1,
'second': 2,
'third': 3}
Now,
dict['last'] || 'Excluded'
will return 'Excluded', which is the default value.
If you only have an object that is a single level deep (nested object properties will not merge as expected since it directly destructures from the first level), you can use the following destructuring syntax:
const options = {
somevar: 1234,
admin: true
};
const defaults = {
test: false,
admin: false,
};
var mergedOptions = {...defaults, ...options};
Of which the output would be:
console.log(options);
// { somevar: 1234, admin: true }
console.log(mergedOptions);
// { test: false, admin: true, somevar: 1234 }
Or even formatted as a single statement (this is slightly unreadable though):
const options = {...{
// Defaults
test: false,
admin: false,
}, ...{
// Overrides
somevar: 1234,
admin: true
}};
I saw an article yesterday that mentions an Object.__noSuchMethod__ property: JavascriptTips I've not had a chance to play around with it, so I don't know about browser support, but maybe you could use that in some way?
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned ternary operator yet.
var emptyObj = {a:'123', b:'234', c:0};
var defaultValue = 'defaultValue';
var attr = 'someNonExistAttribute';
emptyObj.hasOwnProperty(attr) ? emptyObj[attr] : defaultValue;//=> 'defaultValue'
attr = 'c'; // => 'c'
emptyObj.hasOwnProperty(attr) ? emptyObj[attr] : defaultValue; // => 0
In this way, even if the value of 'c' is 0, it will still get the correct value.
var obj = {
a: 2,
b: 4
};
console.log(obj);
--> {a: 2, b: 4}
function applyDefaults(obj) {
obj.a ||= 10;
obj.b ||= 10;
obj.c ||= 10;
}
// do some magic
applyDefaults(obj);
console.log(obj);
--> {a: 2, b: 4, c: 10}
This works because
undefined || "1111111" --> "1111111"
"0000000" || "1111111" --> "0000000"
as null, undefined, NaN, 0, "" (Empty String), false itself, are all considered to be equivalent to false (falsy). Anything else is true (truthy).
Note that this is not uniformly supported across browsers and nodejs versions (confirm for yourself).
So two troublesome cases are the empty String "" and 0 (zero). If it is important not to override those, you might need to rewrite this as:
if (typeof obj.d == "undefined") obj.d = "default"
This will be better supported across browsers also.
Alternatively you could write this as:
obj.d ??= "default"
This is the nullish assignment which applies only to values that are null or undefined (nullish) - of which the empty string is not part. However, this has again a diminished cross-browser support.
See also on the official Mozilla Website - Assigning a default value to a variable.
This is actually possible to do with Object.create. It will not work for "non defined" properties. But for the ones that has been given a default value.
var defaults = {
a: 'test1',
b: 'test2'
};
Then when you create your properties object you do it with Object.create
properties = Object.create(defaults);
Now you will have two object where the first object is empty, but the prototype points to the defaults object. To test:
console.log('Unchanged', properties);
properties.a = 'updated';
console.log('Updated', properties);
console.log('Defaults', Object.getPrototypeOf(properties));
Object.withDefault = (defaultValue,o={}) => {
return new Proxy(o, {
get: (o, k) => (k in o) ? o[k] : defaultValue
});
}
o = Object.withDefault(42);
o.x //=> 42
o.x = 10
o.x //=> 10
o.xx //=> 42
One approach would be to take a defaults object and merge it with the target object. The target object would override values in the defaults object.
jQuery has the .extend() method that does this. jQuery is not needed however as there are vanilla JS implementations such as can be found here:
http://gomakethings.com/vanilla-javascript-version-of-jquery-extend/
With the addition of the Logical nullish assignment operator, you can now do something like this
const obj = {}
obj.a ??= "default";
In the case where you have an empty list as the default value and want to push to it, you could do
const obj = {}
(obj.a ??= []).push("some value")
I came here looking for a solution because the header matched my problem description but it isn't what i was looking for but i got a solution to my problem(I wanted to have a default value for an attribute which would be dynamic something like date).
let Blog = {
title : String,
image : String,
body : String,
created: {type: Date, default: Date.now}
}
The above code was the solution for which i finally settled.
The object structure is as follows.
object = {
obj1: {
obj2: {
name: 'MY name'
}
}
}
This structure is dynamic and sometimes there wont be an obj1.
So, In react you will be writing the code like..
object && obj1 && obj2 && obj2.name
so that only if object, obj1, and obj2 are present then obj2.name will be displayed.
In this case there wont be any undefined error since the presence of each object is checked prior to going inside the function.
Is there alternate way to the above code so that it displays the name when all the objects are present.
If not, it should not throw an error.
Use hasOwnProperty to check if obj1 is present or not
object = {
obj1: {
obj2: {
name: 'MY name'
}
}
}
if(object.hasOwnProperty('obj1'))
console.log(object.obj1.obj2.name)
else
console.log(object.obj2.name)
Try
object = {
obj1: {
obj2: {
name: 'MY name'
}
}
}
var name = (object.hasOwnProperty('obj1')) ? object.obj1.obj2.name : object.obj2.name;
console.log(name);
You need to check every property before reading a nested one:
const name = object && object.obj1 && object.obj1.obj2 && object.obj1.obj2.name;
This is laborious and verbose as you have to repeat the same thing over and over to access deeply nested properties.
I suggest to use a safeEval function that wraps your potentialy dangerous property access code with a try/catch and returns undefined if an error occurs.
This is much shorter than manually checking every property:
const name = safeEval(() => obj.obj1.obj2.name);
Here is an example:
const obj = { obj1: { obj2: { name: 'Hello' } } }
function safeEval(fn) {
try { return fn(); }
catch { return undefined; }
}
const a = obj && obj.obj1 && obj.obj1.obj2 && obj.obj1.obj2.name;
const b = safeEval(() => obj.obj1.obj2.name);
const c = safeEval(() => obj.obj1.obj2.obj3.obj4.name);
console.log(a, b, c);
I would recommend writing a recursive function that inspects the object and recurses down its children if a name is found. I see others suggested catching the error- I would advise against abusing exception handling for runtime errors like this.
I have an object like this:
The thing I want to do is to rename the services.XXX value but keep his child properties.
For example I want to rename object.services.cadvisor with object.services.new-name
How can I do that ?
You can do the following
object.services.newName = object.services.cadvisor;
delete object.services.cadvisor
Copy the object to the new property and delete the old one
let myObj = {
services: {
cadvisor : {
name: 'Cadivsor',
length: 50,
nestedObject : {
name: 'Nested'
}
},
other : {}
}
};
myObj.services['newName'] = myObj.services.cadvisor;
delete myObj.services.cadvisor;
console.log(myObj);
I'm trying to quickly pull out ‘value’ property from some objects using destructuring.. is there a simple way to get it from this? I think it might be possible with some complicated destructuring thing i haven’t quite grocked.
I know I could use loops and such, but I'd like to make it a bit more elegant. I'm looking for a non-repetitive, ideally 1-2 line solution. I wanted to use a map, but that only works on an array...
formData = {
name: {val: 'myName', key: 'value', etc: 'more data'}
province: {val: 'myProvince', key: 'value', etc: 'more data'}
dateOfBirth: {val: 'myBDAY!', key: 'value', etc: 'more data'}
}
//desired outcome:
{
name: 'myName',
province: 'myProvince',
dateOfBirth: 'myBDAY!'
}
//attempt 1
let customer = { name, province, dateOfBirth} = formData; //hrm doesn't get me there
Destructuring is used to assign multiple variables from different elements of an array or object, that's not what you're doing. You can just do:
let customer = {
name: formData.name.val,
province: formData.province.val,
dateOfBirth: formData.dateOfBirth.val
}
If you don't want to list all the properties explicitly, just use a loop.
let customer = {};
for (var k of Object.keys(formData)) {
customer[k] = formData[k].val;
}
A hard to read one-liner would be:
let customer = Object.keys(formData).reduce(
(acc, key) => Object.assign(acc, {[key]: formData[key].val}), {});
to grab .val off every value in the object, and return a new object with the same keys.
That's basically the equivalent of:
let customers = {};
for (const key of Object.keys(formData)) customers[key] = formData[key].val;
Since you didn't like Barmar's answer, you can use a combination of Object.keys and the resulting array's reduce method:
let customer = Object.keys(formData).reduce(function(acc, key) {
acc[key] = formData[key].val;
return acc;
}, {});
You said you wanted to use destructuring… so let's do that:
let customer = {};
for (let k in formData) ({[k]: {val: customer[k]}} = formData);
But really, avoid that, and use clear and readable property assignment instead :-)