AS3 dynamic object properties inside another object

Question

I want to create an object with nested objects inside of it whose objects has objects inside of those, like this simple structure:

var obj:Object = {
  exercise : {
    question0 : {}
    question1 : {}
    question2 : {}
    question3 : {}
  }
};

Then assigning those objects their properties dynamically with the contents of an XML like this:

for (var i:uint=0; i<4; i++) {
                    
  obj.exercise["question"+i].original = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].original.@text;
  obj.exercise["question"+i].example = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].example.@text;
  obj.exercise["question"+i].answer = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].answer.@text;
}

This code works well; that's the way I know. However the number of question objects is dynamic and I'm not able to find a way to define the structure of the main object. So I don't want to have question0, question1, question2, question3, question4, etc declared from the beginning (without that I get an error).

Just doing this: var objSenTense:Object = {}; doesn't help either. How can I do this?

Can't you just have exercise be an array instead of an object? — Kodiak
– Kodiak, Commented May 7, 2013 at 15:46
This example is just a simplified way of what I really need to do, so I need them to be objects in my complete code. Thanks — Metafaniel
– Metafaniel, Commented May 7, 2013 at 15:48
You could just have { exercise : { data: ..., otherdata: ..., questions: []} } — Kodiak
– Kodiak, Commented May 7, 2013 at 16:02

Kodiak · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 15:53:49Z

1

You can force the creation of the object before editing it:

if (!obj.exercise.hasOwnProperty("question"+i))
{
   obj.exercise["question"+i] = {};
}
obj.exercise["question"+i].original = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].original.@text;
obj.exercise["question"+i].example = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].example.@text;
obj.exercise["question"+i].answer = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].answer.@text;

answered May 7, 2013 at 15:53

Kodiak

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2 Comments

Metafaniel Over a year ago

Seems interesting but I don't get it, can you please explain some more? Thanks

Kodiak Over a year ago

You can leave your exercise object empty, the code tests if the object question? (where ? is the index) exists in exercise and if not it creates it, you won't get any error with that.

Barış Uşaklı · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 15:47:12Z

1

Why not use an array of questions?

var obj:Object = {
  exercise : {
    questions:[]
  }
};

for (var i:uint=0; i<4; i++) {

    var question:Object = {};
    question.original = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].original.@text;
    question.example = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].example.@text;
    question.answer = varXML.texts.exercise.question[i].answer.@text;
    obj.exercise.questions.push(question);
}

answered May 7, 2013 at 15:47

Barış Uşaklı

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1 Comment

Metafaniel Over a year ago

Surely this works, however the structure of my real code is more complex, so my example was just a representative minimal example. I really need them to be objects. Thanks for your answer

package · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 15:48:40Z

1

To get number of questions from xml, use this code:

var length = varXml.texts.exercise.question.length();

for (var i:uint = 0; i < length; i++) { ...

Inside the loop you can define as many question objects as you want like this:

obj.exercise["question"+i] = {};

Therefore the initial structure of your obj could be as simple as this:

var obj = {exercise: {}};

Although it would make more sense to use array for questions, not object.

answered May 7, 2013 at 15:48

package

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1 Comment

Metafaniel Over a year ago

Thanks I already know it, is a much better way, I have it like that in my real code. However my problem is with the question0, question1, question2, question3..... part. Thanks for your help though

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