How do you observe JavaScript hashtables in Knockout? - javascript

In my Knockout viewmodel, I've got some properties where I'm trying to make a hash observable. So instead of my pre-Knockout code of
self.MyHash = {};
I am now using:
self.MyHash = ko.observable({});
In other parts of my code, I am manipulating the hash with statements like these:
// add an entry
self.MyHash()["test"] = "My Value";
// remove an entry
delete self.MyHash()["test"];
The code works, in that the entries are added and removed properly. However, the changes to the hashtable don't seem to be detected by areas of the code that are observing it. For example, this computed observable never runs when I am changing the hashtable:
self.Querystring = ko.computed(function ()
{
var f = [];
$.each(self.MyHash(), function (k, v)
{
f.push(encodeURIComponent(k) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(v));
});
return (f.length > 0) ? f.join("&") : "";
});
I am going to guess that this is because Knockout observables are required to be simple variables (or observableArrays), and that it's not detecting the underlying changes to my hashtable.
If so, are there other options? Why isn't there an observableHash type in Knockout?
For what it's worth, my workaround is to have an observableArray of keys, and a regular JavaScript hashtable to lookup the values. Then I changed my computed method to observe the array of keys rather than the other hashtable variable I had before. I just want to make sure I'm not missing "The Right Way" to do it in Knockout.
self.MyHashKeys = ko.observableArray();
self.MyHash = {};
self.Querystring = ko.computed(function ()
{
var f = [];
$.each(self.MyHashKeys(), function (index, value)
{
f.push(encodeURIComponent(value) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(self.MyHash[value]));
});
return (f.length > 0) ? f.join("&") : "";
});

See the second example on the observable array page. Just make an array of key/value pairs:
// This observable array initially contains three objects
var anotherObservableArray = ko.observableArray([
{ name: "Bungle", type: "Bear" },
{ name: "George", type: "Hippo" },
{ name: "Zippy", type: "Unknown" }
]);
In your examples you are only iterating (except for deletion), so there is no real need to use an actual dictionary. It would be easy enough to just search for the key. I think the use of map is kind of a premature optimization to some extent. Its also not entirely in line with the ability of query strings to support the same key multiple times.
Edit: if you want to observe the key or value changing in this example, you would also have to make those properties observable:
var anotherObservableArray = ko.observableArray([
{ name: ko.observable("Bungle"), type: ko.observable("Bear") }
]);

Related

How to convert arrays to objects in javascript?

How could I rewrite this code to object javascript. Since Array usage is prohibed, I can only use objects here. Insted of pushing values to array, I would like to push this values into objects.
var container = [];
document.addEventListener("submit", function(e){
e.preventDefault();
});
window.addEventListener("load",function(){
var submit = document.getElementsByClassName("btn-primary");
submit[0].addEventListener("click",add,false);
document.getElementById("pobrisi").addEventListener("click",deleteAll,false);
var dateElement = document.getElementById('datum');
dateElement.valueAsDate = new Date();
var today = new Date();
var dd = today.getDate();
var mm = today.getMonth()+1;
var yyyy = today.getFullYear();
if(dd<10){
dd='0'+dd
}
if(mm<10){
mm='0'+mm
}
today = yyyy+'-'+mm+'-'+dd;
dateElement.setAttribute("min",today);
});
function add() {
var title = document.getElementById("title").value;
var type = document.getElementById("type").value;
var datum = document.getElementById("datum").value.split("-");
datum = datum[2]+". "+datum[1]+". "+datum[0];
var data = new Book(title,type,datum);
container.push(data.add());
display();
}
function display(data) {
var destination = document.getElementById("list");
var html = "";
for(var i =0;i <container.length; i++) {
html +="<li>"+container[i]+"</li>";
}
destination.innerHTML = html;
}
function deleteAll(){
container=[];
document.getElementById("list").innerHTML="";
}
Wondering if is possible to write this code whitout any array usage.
initial remarks
The problem here, in my estimation, is that you haven't learned the fundamentals of data abstraction yet. If you don't know how to implement an array, you probably shouldn't be depending on one quite yet. Objects and Arrays are so widespread because they're so commonly useful. However, if you don't know what a specific data type is affording you (ie, what convenience does it provide?), then it's probable you will be misusing the type
If you take the code here but techniques like this weren't covered in your class, it will be obvious that you received help from an outside source. Assuming the teacher has a curriculum organized in a sane fashion, you should be able to solve problems based on the material you've already covered.
Based on your code, it's evident you really have tried much, but why do you think that people here will come up with an answer that your teacher will accept? How are we supposed to know what you can use?
a fun exercise nonetheless
OK, so (we think) we need an Array, but let's pretend Arrays don't exist. If we could get this code working below, we might not exactly have an Array, but we'd have something that works like an array.
Most importantly, if we could get this code working below, we'd know what it takes to make a data type that can hold a dynamic number of values. Only then can we begin to truly appreciate what Array is doing for us.
// make a list
let l = list(1) // (1)
// push an item on the end
l = push(l, 2) // (1 2)
// push another item on the end
l = push(l, 3) // (1 2 3)
// display each item of the list
listeach(l, function (x) {
console.log(x)
})
// should output
// 1
// 2
// 3
runnable demo
All we have to do is make that bit of code (above) work without using any arrays. I'll restrict myself even further and only use functions, if/else, and equality test ===. I see these things in your code, so I'm assuming it's OK for me to use them too.
But am I supposed to believe your teacher would let you write code like this? It works, of course, but I don't think it brings you any closer to your answer
var empty = function () {}
function isEmpty (x) {
return x === empty
}
function pair (x,y) {
return function (p) {
return p(x,y)
}
}
function head (p) {
return p(function (x,y) {
return x
})
}
function tail (p) {
return p(function (x,y) {
return y
})
}
function push (l, x) {
if (isEmpty(l))
return list(x)
else
return pair(head(l), push(tail(l), x))
}
function list (x) {
return pair(x, empty)
}
function listeach (l, f) {
if (isEmpty(l))
return null
else
(f(head(l)), listeach(tail(l), f))
}
// make a list
let l = list(1) // (1)
// push an item on the end
l = push(l, 2) // (1 2)
// push another item on the end
l = push(l, 3) // (1 2 3)
// display each item of the list
listeach(l, function (x) {
console.log(x)
})
closing remarks
It appears as tho you can use an Object in lieu of an Array. The accepted answer (at this time) shows a very narrow understanding of how an object could be used to solve your problem. After this contrived demonstration, are you confident that you are using Objects properly and effectively?
Do you know how to implement an object? Could you fulfill this contract (below)? What I mean by that, is could you write the functions object, set, and get such that the following expressions evaluated to their expected result?
In case it's not obvious, you're not allowed to use Object to make it happen. The whole point of the exercise is to make a new data type that you don't already have access to
m = object() // m
set(m, key, x) // m
get(m, key) // x
set(m, key2, y) // m
get(m, key2) // y
set(m, key3, set(object(), key4, z)) // m
get(get(m, key3), key4) // z
I'll leave this as an exercise for you and I strongly encourage you to do it. I think you will learn a lot in the process and develop a deep understanding and appreciation for what higher-level data types like Array or Object give to you
Since this is a homework I feel like I shouldn't solve it for you, but rather help you in the right direction.
Like Slasher mentioned you can use objects
With JavaScript object one book would look something like
const book = {
title: 'my awesome title',
type: 'novel'
};
book is the object
title is a property with a value 'my awesome title'
type is a property with a value 'novel'
But objects can also have other objects as values. Something like
const BookShelf= {
Book1: {
Title: 'my awesome title',
Type: 'novel'
},
Book2: {
Title: 'my horrible title',
Type: 'sci-fi'
}
};
You can reference the books in the bookshelf in two ways
const book1 = BookShelf.Book1 // Returns the book1 object
const title1 = Book1.Title; // Get the title
const sametitle = BookShelf.Book1.Title // Returns title for book1, same as above.
You can also use brackets:
const book1 = BookShelf['Book1'];
const title1 = BookShelf['Book1']['Title];
You can even make new properties on a object like this:
const Book3 = {
Title: 'running out of ideas'
Type: 'memoir'
};
BookShelf['Book3'] = Book3;
Now the BookShelf has a Book3 property. So your BookShelf object looks like
const BookShelf= {
Book1: {
Title: 'my awesome title',
Type: 'novel'
},
Book2: {
Title: 'my horrible title',
Type: 'sci-fi'
},
Book3 = {
Title: 'running out of ideas'
Type: 'memoir'
};
};
That should get you started :)
JavaScript Objects is a good way to go
1- define a new object:
var myVar = {};
or
var myVar = new Object();
2- usage
// insert a new value, it doesn't matter if the value is a string or int or even another object
// set a new value
myVar.myFirstValue="this is my first value";
// get existing value and do what ever you want with it
var value = myVar.myFirstValue

Knockout JS [Object object] pulling properties

I have an object in my JS sliced from an array:
self.deploysToDevId = ko.computed(function() {
var deployToDev = ko.utils.arrayFilter(self.builds(), function(build) {
return build.buildType() == 'Deploy to Development';
}, self);
var deployToDevID = deployToDev.slice(0,1).id
return deployToDevID;
});
This object is originally from an array called builds and is a build object. However, I am trying to get a property, the "id" of the build which is a property of build, and I want to be able to store this and return this as an object, however when I do the data-bind prints the text [Object object]
self.getIdOfMostRecentDeploy = ko.computed(function() {
var idOfMostRecentDeploy = (self.deploysToDevId().id);
return idOfMostRecentDeploy;
});
This should store the id of the object as "idOfMostRecentDeploy" but it is not doing so.
self.deploysToDevId = ko.computed(function() {
var deployToDev = ko.utils.arrayFilter(self.builds(), function(build) {
return build.buildType() == 'Deploy to Development';
},
self);
var deployToDevID = deployToDev[0];
return deployToDevID;
});
This is another way I have tried, this time trying to take the first object in the array and assign its id to a variable. although, I still just get [Object object]
when you do this:
self.deploysToDevId = ko.computed(function() {
var deployToDev = ko.utils.arrayFilter(self.builds(), function(build) {
return build.buildType() == 'Deploy to Development';
}, self);
var deployToDevID = deployToDev.slice(0,1).id
return deployToDevID;
});
you are creating a computed that will contain just the id of the deployToDev object, which I presume is an observable (that is, a javascript function you need to eval to get the value)
Then, when you try to access it using:
(self.deploysToDevId().id)
this is returning basically nothing, because the "id" you are looking for is in the computed itself, self.deploysToDevId(), not in any inner id property
EDIT:
I have created this fiddle that may help you:
https://jsfiddle.net/r88zkn11/
in you case the only difference is that the object instead if having id and buildType as string objects, they are functions, so if you have to use them you have to evaluate them (use buildType() instead of buildType)
When you do this:
var deployToDevID = deployToDev.slice(0,1).id;
You are saying: give me an array one element long, and take the id property of that array. The array doesn't have an id property. Instead, you should be indexing the first element:
var deployToDevID = deployToDev[0].id;
Then, as JulioCT notes, the computed will return the id. It doesn't have an id member, it's just the id.
In your last example, you take the first element but don't take its id property, so naming it deployToDevID is misleading. Take the id of it as I suggest above, and then use deployToDevID anywhere you want to use that id.

Add [DataObject] to exsisting array with var key

Using Cordova, I am trying to get an Object to add to an array. I have this working on node JS using :
theData = {[varkey]:DataObject};
But I can't get this to work the same way within my javascript that cordova runs.
I need to do the following:
var TownName = 'Auckland', var townData = (JSON Data);
theArray = new Array();
theArray[TownName] = townData;
I need to be able to call it back as:
theArray['Auckland']
Which will return (JSON Data)
But it doesn't want to store the data with the key inside the array.
I have also tried:
theArray.TownName = townData;
theArray = [{TownName:townData}];
theArray = {[TownName]:townData}];
Nothing wants to store the data.
Any suggestions?
::EDIT::
data.theData =
"Auckland"[
{
"username":"pndemoname1",
"number":"373456",
"www":"http://373456.pndemoname1",
"icon":"/imgs/pndemoname1.png"
},
{
"username":"pndemoname2",
"number":"373458",
"www":"http://373458.pndemoname2",
"icon":"/imgs/pndemoname2.png"
}
data.town = "Auckland";
townData = new Array();
alert(JSON.stringify(data.theData))//Alerts theData
townData[data.town] = data.theData
alert(townData[townName]) //Alerts undefined
::EDIT2::
Re-defining the array within the function that deals with all of the data, seems to make it work.
As per my answer, the issue was that I assumed javascript vars are global.
Use objects or an array of objects.
A data structure like this:
{
town1: town1Data,
town2: town2Data,
}
Or more common:
[
{
name: "Town 1",
data: {...}
},
{
name: "Town 2",
data: {...}
},
]
For reference:
http://andrewdupont.net/2006/05/18/javascript-associative-arrays-considered-harmful/
I got what you're trying to do, to add property names dynamically to your object is first, by making sure you are using an OBJECT instead of an array, so when you want to store something you will do the following:
var _obj = {}, _something = 'xyz';
_obj[ _something ] = { ... }; // json structure
The problem you're facing is that you want to assign a string value as a key inside your array, which will not work.
However, you can still use the array you defined and do the following:
var _array = new array();
_array.push( { .... } ); // insert json structure
Remember! By using the array you will have to loop through all values every time you want to access your key, just as the best practice to avoid getting into errors.
Good luck.
The issue was that I didn't define the array within the function of where I was trying to add the information to.
I assumed the var was global (Too much PHP)

Turn Observable Array into nested JSON

I'm having a problem getting an array of information stored properly as JSON.
I made a fiddle to illustrate the problem. Enter a set of tags and take a look at the console to see the output.
More explanation:
So I have an input that takes in a comma-separated list of tags, which I then format.
function createTagArray() {
// given an input value of 'tag1, tag2, tag3'
// returns array = ['tag1', 'tag2', 'tag3']
}
I thought what I needed to do next was the following:
loop over the array and create a 'tag' object for each item which also includes an id for the tag and the id of the contact the tag is associated with.
Each object is pushed to tags, an observable array.
function single_tag(id, contactId, tagLabel) {
var self = this;
self.id = id;
self.contactId = contactId;
self.tagLabel = tagLabel;
}
function createTags() {
var array = createTagArray();
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
self.tags().push(new single_tag(uuid.generate(), self.contactId, array[i]));
}
}
Then, I converted it into JSON
self.contactInformation = function() {
return ko.toJS({
"id": self.contactId,
"firstname": self.firstname(),
"lastname": self.lastname(),
... other fields ...
"tags": self.tags(),
})
}
But, when I inspect the console output of calling this function, tags is a collection of arrays, not a nice json object.
How do I get it formatted correctly?
I tried this suggestion, and the tag json is structured correctly, but it is stored with escaped quotes, so that seems wrong.
Thanks for all the help!
I would recommend you knockout.mapping plugin for KO, it allow map complicated JSON structure to view model, even without declarations.
From the documentation
Let’s say you have a JavaScript object that looks like this:
var data = {
name: 'Scot',
children: [
{ id : 1, name : 'Alicw' }
]
}
You can map this to a view model without any problems:
var viewModel = ko.mapping.fromJS(data);
Now, let’s say the data is updated to be without any typos:
var data = {
name: 'Scott',
children: [
{ id : 1, name : 'Alice' }
]
}
Two things have happened here: name was changed from Scot to Scott and children[0].name was changed from Alicw to the typo-free Alice. You can update viewModel based on this new data:
ko.mapping.fromJS(data, viewModel);
And name would have changed as expected. However, in the children array, the child (Alicw) would have been completely removed and a new one (Alice) added. This is not completely what you would have expected. Instead, you would have expected that only the name property of the child was updated from Alicw to Alice, not that the entire child was replaced!
...
To solve this, you can specify which key the mapping plugin should use to determine if an object is new or old. You would set it up like this:
var mapping = {
'children': {
key: function(data) {
return ko.utils.unwrapObservable(data.id);
}
}
}
var viewModel = ko.mapping.fromJS(data, mapping);
In the jsfiddle you were using Knockout 3.0 which doesn't have support for textInput. This was added in 3.2. To use version 3.2 you need to use a cdn such as this: http://cdnjs.com/libraries/knockout
There was typeo in your binding. sumbit should be submit.
There was a problem with your constructor for single_tag. id was not used so I removed it:
function single_tag(contactId, tagLabel) {
var self = this;
self.contactId = contactId;
self.tagLabel = tagLabel;
}
Currently also contactId is not set because the observable has not been set to a value.
To convert to JSON you need to use ko.toJSON instead of ko.toJS:
self.contactInformation = function() {
return ko.toJSON({
"firstname": self.firstname(),
"tags": self.tags(),
})
}
Now when the console writes out an array appears:
{
"firstname":"test",
"tags":[
{"tagLabel":"test1"},
{"tagLabel":"test2"},
{"tagLabel":"test3"}
]
}
JsFiddle
So my problem was more basic than I was realizing. I'm using JSON Server to serve up my data, and I was pulling information from two parts of the database (contacts & tags).
When I tried to update my tags, I was trying to apply them to a property that didn't exist on the contact JSON in my database. Posting the tags separately worked though.

Accessing a javascript object in D3.js

A javascript data object (JSON notation) has been created with the following content:
"[
{"range":"Shape","values":[{"idx":0,"val":"Random"},{"idx":1,"val":"Line"},{"idx":2,"val":"Square"},{"idx":3,"val":"Circle"},{"idx":4,"val":"Oval"},{"idx":5,"val":"Egg"}]},
{"range":"Color","values":[{"idx":0,"val":"Red"},{"idx":1,"val":"Blue"},{"idx":2,"val":"Yellow"},{"idx":3,"val":"Green"},{"idx":4,"val":"Cyan"}]}
]"
In a next step the index of an ordinal value has to be found in this object. The function should find the index of the value 'Blue' in the range 'Color'.
So the function should have the meta scripting form
f("Color")("Blue")=1
What is the most elegant form to create such a function in the context of D3 and javascript?
Depending on your use case, it might make sense to convert the data structure to a different structure more suitable for direct access. E.g. you could convert your structure to
var data = {
Shape: ['Random', 'Line', ...],
// ...
};
and access it with
data['Shape'].indexOf('Line') // or data.Shape.indexOf('Line')
Or go even one step further and convert to
var data = {
Shape: {
Random: 0,
Line: 1,
// ...
},
// ...
};
and access it with
data['Shape']['Line'] // or data.Shape.Line
What the best solution is depends on the actual use case.
Converting the structure dynamically is pretty straight forward. Here is an example to convert it to the first suggestion:
var newData = {};
data.forEach(function(item) {
newData[item.range] =
item.values.map(function(value) { return value.val; });
});
This would also reduce redundancy (e.g. idx seems to correspond with the element index).
Would this work for you ?
var dataJson = '[ \
{"range":"Shape","values":[{"idx":0,"val":"Random"},{"idx":1,"val":"Line"},{"idx":2,"val":"Square"},{"idx":3,"val":"Circle"},{"idx":4,"val":"Oval"},{"idx":5,"val":"Egg"}]},\
{"range":"Color","values":[{"idx":0,"val":"Red"},{"idx":1,"val":"Blue"},{"idx":2,"val":"Yellow"},{"idx":3,"val":"Green"},{"idx":4,"val":"Cyan"}]}\
]';
var data = JSON.parse(dataJson);
for (each in data){
if ( (data[each].range) === 'Color'){
for (eachVal in data[each].values){
if (data[each].values[eachVal].val === 'Blue'){
alert(data[each].values[eachVal].idx);
}
}
} ;
}
And here is the JSFiddle for you too.

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