Develop Reference

javascript, how to know the original name of a variable (not possible?) [duplicate]

I've got a feeling this might not be possible, but I would like to determine the original variable name of a variable which has been passed to a function in javascript. I don't know how to explain it any better than that, so see if this example makes sense.
function getVariableName(unknownVariable){
return unknownVariable.originalName;
}
getVariableName(foo); //returns string "foo";
getVariableName(bar); //returns string "bar";
This is for a jquery plugin i'm working on, and i would like to be able to display the name of the variable which is passed to a "debug" function.

You're right, this is very much impossible in any sane way, since only the value gets passed into the function.

This is now somehow possible thanks to ES6:
function getVariableName(unknownVariableInAHash){
return Object.keys(unknownVariableInAHash)[0]
}
const foo = 42
const bar = 'baz'
console.log(getVariableName({foo})) //returns string "foo"
console.log(getVariableName({bar})) //returns string "bar"
The only (small) catch is that you have to wrap your unknown variable between {}, which is no big deal.

As you want debugging (show name of var and value of var),
I've been looking for it too, and just want to share my finding.
It is not by retrieving the name of the var from the var but the other way around : retrieve the value of the var from the name (as string) of the var.
It is possible to do it without eval, and with very simple code, at the condition you pass your var into the function with quotes around it, and you declare the variable globally :
foo = 'bar';
debug('foo');
function debug(Variable) {
var Value = this[Variable]; // in that occurrence, it is equivalent to
// this['foo'] which is the syntax to call the global variable foo
console.log(Variable + " is " + Value); // print "foo is bar"
}

Well, all the global variables are properties of global object (this or window), aren't they?
So when I wanted to find out the name of my variables, I made following function:
var getName = function(variable) {
for (var prop in window) {
if (variable === window[prop]) {
return prop;
}
}
}
var helloWorld = "Hello World!";
console.log(getName(helloWorld)); // "helloWorld"
Sometimes doesn't work, for example, if 2 strings are created without new operator and have the same value.

Global w/string method
Here is a technique that you can use to keep the name and the value of the variable.
// Set up a global variable called g
var g = {};
// All other variables should be defined as properties of this global object
g.foo = 'hello';
g.bar = 'world';
// Setup function
function doStuff(str) {
if (str in g) {
var name = str;
var value = g[str];
// Do stuff with the variable name and the variable value here
// For this example, simply print to console
console.log(name, value);
} else {
console.error('Oh snap! That variable does not exist!');
}
}
// Call the function
doStuff('foo'); // log: foo hello
doStuff('bar'); // log: bar world
doStuff('fakeVariable'); // error: Oh snap! That variable does not exist!
This is effectively creating a dictionary that maps variable names to their value. This probably won't work for your existing code without refactoring every variable. But using this style, you can achieve a solution for this type of problem.
ES6 object method
In ES6/ES2015, you are able to initialize an object with name and value which can almost achieve what you are trying to do.
function getVariableName(unknownVariable) {
return Object.keys(unknownVariable)[0];
}
var foo = 'hello';
var output = getVariableName({ foo }); // Note the curly brackets
console.log(output);
This works because you created a new object with key foo and value the same as the variable foo, in this case hello. Then our helper method gets the first key as a string.
Credit goes to this tweet.

Converting a set of unique variable into one JSON object for which I wrote this function
function makeJSON(){ //Pass the variable names as string parameters [not by reference]
ret={};
for(i=0; i<arguments.length; i++){
eval("ret."+arguments[i]+"="+arguments[i]);
}
return ret;
}
Example:
a=b=c=3;
console.log(makeJSON('a','b','c'));
Perhaps this is the reason for this query

I think you can use
getVariableName({foo});

Use a 2D reference array with .filter()
Note: I now feel that #Offermo's answer above is the best one to use. Leaving up my answer for reference, though I mostly wouldn't recommend using it.
Here is what I came up with independently, which requires explicit declaration of variable names and only works with unique values. (But will work if those two conditions are met.)
// Initialize some variables
let var1 = "stick"
let var2 = "goo"
let var3 = "hello"
let var4 = "asdf"
// Create a 2D array of variable names
const varNames = [
[var1, "var1"],
[var2, "var2"],
[var3, "var3"]
]
// Return either name of variable or `undefined` if no match
const getName = v => varNames.filter(name => name[0] === v).length
? varNames.filter(name => name[0] === v)[0][1]
: undefined
// Use `getName` with OP's original function
function getVariableName(unknownVariable){
return getName(unknownVariable)
}

This is my take for logging the name of an input and its value at the same time:
function logVariableAndName(unknownVariable) {
const variableName = Object.keys(unknownVariable)[0];
const value = unknownVariable[variableName];
console.log(variableName);
console.log(value);
}
Then you can use it like logVariableAndName({ someVariable })

Javascript reserved word and object

I'm making a dictionary of words, so there are 1,000,000+ words.
The problem comes when I need to store the word constructor. I know this is a reserved word in javascript, but I need to add it to the dictionary.
var dictionary = {}
console.log(dictionary ['word_1'])
//undefined, this is good
console.log(dictionary ['word_2'])
//undefined, this is good
console.log(dictionary ['constructor'])
//[Function: Object]
// this cause initialization code to break
How can I fix this? I could muck with the it like key=key+"_" but that seems bad. Is there anything else I can do?

Instead of using a JS object, you could use the built-in Map type which uses strings/symbols as keys and does not conflict with any existing properties.
Replace
var dictionary = {} with var dictionary = new Map()

Override the constructor key as undefined
According to the MDN Object.prototype page, the only thing that isn't hidden by the __fieldname__ schema is the "constructor field". Thus, you could just initialize your objects via { 'constructor': undefined }.
However, you would have to make sure that in your for .. in statements would filter out all keys with undefined as their value, as it would pick up constructor as a "valid" key (even though it wouldn't before you specifically set it to undefined). I.E.
for(var key in obj) if(obj[key] !== undefined) { /* do things */ }
Check for types when getting/setting
Otherwise, you could just check the type when you 'fetch' or 'store' it. I.E.
function get(obj, key) {
if(typeof obj[key] !== 'function') // optionally, `&& typeof obj[key] !== 'object')`
return obj[key];
else
return undefined;
}

I think you should store all words and translation of them in an array. When you need to translate a word, you can use find method of Array.
For example:
var dict = [
{ word: "abc", translated: "xyz" },
...
];
Then:
var searching_word = "abc";
var translation = dict.find(function (item) {
return item.word == searching_word;
});
console.log(translation.translated);
// --> xyz

To achieve expected result , use below option of using index to get value of any key value
var dictionary = {};
var dictionary1 = {
constructor: "test"
};
//simple function to get key value using index
function getVal(obj, val) {
var keys = Object.keys(obj);
var index = keys.indexOf(val);//get index of key, in our case -contructor
return obj[keys[index]]; // return value using indec of that key
}
console.log(getVal(dictionary, "constructor"));//undefined as expected
console.log(getVal(dictionary1, "constructor"));//test
console.log(dictionary["word_1"]);
//undefined, this is good
console.log(dictionary["word_2"]);
//undefined, this is good
codepen - https://codepen.io/nagasai/pen/LOEGxM
For testing , I gave one object with key-constructor and other object without constructor.
Basically I am getting the index of key first and getting value using index

Update a javascript object using non undefined properties

I've got a function to update an object:
_.each(user, function(value, key, obj) {
if (user[key] !== undefined) {
self.user[key] = user[key];
}
});
It lets me update users like this:
let user = new User();
user.verified = true;
self.sessionService.updateSession(user);
I only need to specify properties that are going to be updated by checking for undefined, can this be simplified or written more efficient?

You could do something like this using underscore:
_.assign(self.user, _.omit(user, _.isUndefined))
This works by creating an object where all the keys with undefined values are omitted using omit and the isUndefined predicate.
This object is then used with assign to update the self.user object.

I'm not sure if this is the answer you need, but you can set a variable to new value if it's undefined/null/"" like this:
myVar = myVar || newValue;
If myVar is defined, the old value will be kept. If not, it will be assigned to newValue.

Mongoose update on a string variable not working? [duplicate]

It's difficult to explain the case by words, let me give an example:
var myObj = {
'name': 'Umut',
'age' : 34
};
var prop = 'name';
var value = 'Onur';
myObj[name] = value; // This does not work
eval('myObj.' + name) = value; //Bad coding ;)
How can I set a variable property with variable value in a JavaScript object?

myObj[prop] = value;
That should work. You mixed up the name of the variable and its value. But indexing an object with strings to get at its properties works fine in JavaScript.

myObj.name=value
or
myObj['name']=value (Quotes are required)
Both of these are interchangeable.
Edit: I'm guessing you meant myObj[prop] = value, instead of myObj[name] = value. Second syntax works fine: http://jsfiddle.net/waitinforatrain/dNjvb/1/

You can get the property the same way as you set it.
foo = {
bar: "value"
}
You set the value
foo["bar"] = "baz";
To get the value
foo["bar"]
will return "baz".

You could also create something that would be similar to a value object (vo);
SomeModelClassNameVO.js;
function SomeModelClassNameVO(name,id) {
this.name = name;
this.id = id;
}
Than you can just do;
var someModelClassNameVO = new someModelClassNameVO('name',1);
console.log(someModelClassNameVO.name);

simple as this
myObj.name = value;

When you create an object myObj as you have, think of it more like a dictionary. In this case, it has two keys, name, and age.
You can access these dictionaries in two ways:
Like an array (e.g. myObj[name]); or
Like a property (e.g. myObj.name); do note that some properties are reserved, so the first method is preferred.
You should be able to access it as a property without any problems. However, to access it as an array, you'll need to treat the key like a string.
myObj["name"]
Otherwise, javascript will assume that name is a variable, and since you haven't created a variable called name, it won't be able to access the key you're expecting.

You could do the following:
var currentObj = {
name: 'Umut',
age : 34
};
var newValues = {
name: 'Onur',
}
Option 1:
currentObj = Object.assign(currentObj, newValues);
Option 2:
currentObj = {...currentObj, ...newValues};
Option 3:
Object.keys(newValues).forEach(key => {
currentObj[key] = newValues[key];
});

Javascript setter and getter with key for object

I have an object in a variable var o={};
I want to do something like what .push() method doing in array for my object.
JS code:
// Array:
var ar=[];
ar.push('omid');
ar.push('F');
var got=ar[1];
// above code is standard but not what I'm looking for !
/*-------------------------------------*/
// Object:
var obj={};
/* obj.push('key','value'); // I want do something like this
var got2=obj.getVal('key'); // And this
*/
Is this possible at all ?

var obj = {}
// use this if you are hardcoding the key names
obj.key = 'value'
obj.key // => 'value'
// use this if you have strings with the key names in them
obj['key2'] = 'value'
obj['key2'] // => 'value'
// also use the second method if you have keys with odd names
obj.! = 'value' // => SyntaxError
obj['!'] = 'value' // => OK

Since Object-Literals use a Key->Value model, there is no JS method to "push" a value.
You can either use Dot Notation:
var Obj = {};
Obj.foo = "bar";
console.log(Obj);
Or Bracket Notation:
var Obj = {},
foo = "foo";
Obj[foo] = "bar";
Obj["bar"] = "foo";
console.log(Obj);
Consider reading https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Working_with_Objects, as arming yourself with this knowledge will be invaluable in the future.

Here is some javascript magic that makes it work.
Take a look.
var obj = {};
Object.defineProperty(obj,'push',{
value:function(x,y){
this[x]=y;
}
});
obj.push('name','whattttt'); <<<this works!!!
obj;
//{name:'whattttt'}
obj.name or obj['name']..
//whattttt
The reason i defined .push function using Object.defineProperty because i didn't want it to show up as a property of object. So if you have 3 items in object this would have always been the 4th one. And mess up the loops always. However, using this method. You can make properties hidden but accessible.
Though i don't know why you would use this method when there is already a easy way to do it.
to assign a value do this
obj.variable = 'value';
if value key is number or weird do this...
obj[1] = 'yes';
to access number or weird name you also do that
obj[1];
and finally to assign random keys or key that has been generated in code, not hard coded, than use this form too.
var person= 'him';
obj[him]='hello';