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Associative Arrays

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DaZZleD

DaZZleD

Programmer
Oct 21, 2003
886
US
hi... is there any way to create an associative array in javascript with inline declaration (for normal arrays you would use var myArr = new Array("a", "b", "c");) ?


thank you very much

--------------------------
"two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do" - the unknown sage
 
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Hello DaZZleD,

Maybe you mean this kind of statements?
[tt]
var a={"a":1,"b":2,3:5);
alert(a["a"]+"\n"+a[3]);
[/tt]
regards - tsuji
 
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that would be what i need... but it doesn't work...
it says: Expected ')'

thank you

--------------------------
"two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do" - the unknown sage
 
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right...

and the problem is that
var a={"a":1,"b":2,3:5);
should be
var a={"a":1,"b":2,3:5};

thanks again!

--------------------------
"two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do" - the unknown sage
 
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Be careful! Associative arrays are NOT the same as objects - which is what you have been given.

Depending on your code, you may well end up with things not working as expected if you are assuming that these are the same as arrays.

Take the following test harness, for example. Both the array ('array1') and the object ('array2') return different things when they themselves are alerted, they return different constructor functions, and the toString method doesn't work on the object at all... So you may find things breaking if you assume the two are identical.

Personally, I would not be trying to emulate one with the other - rather "waste" a few lines of code than have code potentially not work at all.

Code: 
<html>
<head>
	<script type="text/javascript">

		var array1 = new Array();
		array1['a'] = 'The letter A';
		array1['z'] = 'The letter Z';

		var array2 = {'a':'The letter A', 'z':'The letter Z'};

		alert(array1);
		alert(array2);

		alert(array1.constructor);
		alert(array2.constructor);

		alert(array1).toString();
		alert(array2).toString();

	</script>
</head>
<body></body>
</html>

Hope this helps,
Dan
 
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The last two alerts, of course, should read:

Code: 
alert(array1.toString());
alert(array2.toString());

The JS error stops, but both still have a different outcome, however.

Dan
 
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DaZZleD,

Absolutely, that was what I had in mind. I failed to coordinate my brain and my hands... not the only time though. Sorry!

- tsuji
 
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