Add additional object to variable in javascript?

Question

I have a variable that may contain objects or may be undefined. I wish to add additional objects to this variable. How do I do that?

code example when applicable:

function(){ 
    var comments;
    if(fbposts[fbpost].comments.count){
        for(var comment in fbposts[fbpost].comments.data){
                comments = ({
                    name: fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.name,
                    link: "http://www.facebook.com/"+fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.id,
                    img: "http://www.facebook.com/"+fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.id+"/picture",
                    message: fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].message,
                    created: timeDifference(Date.parse(fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].created_time)),
                })
            }

    }
    return comments;}(),

nnnnnn · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-19 21:26:33Z

2

Test if it is undefined and if so assign it to an empty object:

if (typeof yourVar === "undefined")
    yourVar = {};

yourVar.additionalObject1 = { something : "test" };
yourVar.additionalObject2 = { something : "else" };

EDIT: OK, now that you've added code to your question, it seems like your comments variable should be an array, since you are adding to it in a loop. So I think you'd want to do something like this:

(function(){ 
    var comments = [];
    if(fbposts[fbpost].comments.count){
        for(var comment in fbposts[fbpost].comments.data){
                comments.push({
                    name: fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.name,
                    link: "http://www.facebook.com/"+fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.id,
                    img: "http://www.facebook.com/"+fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].from.id+"/picture",
                    message: fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].message,
                    created: timeDifference(Date.parse(fbposts[fbpost].comments.data[comment].created_time)),
                });
         }    
    }
    return comments;
})();

comments will thus contain one element for each comment in your source data. If there are no comments it will be an empty array. (If you want it to return undefined if there are no comments then leave the variable declaration where it is as var comments and add comments=[]; just inside the if statement.)

edited Jun 19, 2012 at 21:26

answered Jun 19, 2012 at 21:20

nnnnnn

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3 Comments

Himmators Over a year ago

I don't want to name the objects. Is that possible?

nnnnnn Over a year ago

I've updated my answer now that you've added code to your question. I think what you want is for comments to be an array.

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

Oh, comments is an Array, that makes sense now.

ShaneBlake · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-19 21:21:12Z

0

If you're using jQuery (and why wouldn't you be?), then you want to look at $.extend()

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.extend/

answered Jun 19, 2012 at 21:21

ShaneBlake

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2 Comments

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

@KristofferNolgren - If you want jQuery in the answers, you can tag jQuery in your question.

ShaneBlake Over a year ago

@Derek : just because a question is missing a tag, doesn't mean it might not be a valid part of the answer....

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