jquery - Variable name getting added instead of its value, javascript - Stack Overflow

I have a problem while adding values to a JavaScript object: the value to add is a key,value pair. Here is sample:

//JavaScript object

var cart=new Object();

function add()
{
  var rating="1"
  var category="somecat";
  var user="user1";

   if(cart[user]==null)

        cart[user]={category:rating};

   else

         cart[user][category]=rating;
 }

What I was expecting is that if user exists in cart object then value for his particular should get replaced, and if user doesn't exist then new user and category should be added.

The code is working fine when user already exists. Problem is, when I am adding a new element with cart[user]={category:rating} then its adding the variable name as key i.e. category , not the value inside it ("somecat").

Is there any way to do this using json, jquery or javascript itself?

Is there any way to assign value inside the variable?

I have a problem while adding values to a JavaScript object: the value to add is a key,value pair. Here is sample:

//JavaScript object

var cart=new Object();

function add()
{
  var rating="1"
  var category="somecat";
  var user="user1";

   if(cart[user]==null)

        cart[user]={category:rating};

   else

         cart[user][category]=rating;
 }

What I was expecting is that if user exists in cart object then value for his particular should get replaced, and if user doesn't exist then new user and category should be added.

The code is working fine when user already exists. Problem is, when I am adding a new element with cart[user]={category:rating} then its adding the variable name as key i.e. category , not the value inside it ("somecat").

Is there any way to do this using json, jquery or javascript itself?

Is there any way to assign value inside the variable?

• javascript
• jquery
• json

Share Improve this question Follow edited Sep 12, 2012 at 10:54 mornaner 2,42422 gold badges2828 silver badges3939 bronze badges asked Sep 12, 2012 at 10:42 Nikhil RupanawarNikhil Rupanawar 4,2111111 gold badges3636 silver badges5151 bronze badges 0

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 7

There is no way to use a variable to define a property name inside object literal notation. It accepts identifiers or strings, but both identify property names, not variables.

You have to create the object then add the property:

if(!cart[user]) { 
   cart[user] = {};
}
cart[user][category] = rating;

You will need to replace

{category:rating}

with

var obj = {};
obj[category] = rating;

When creating an object literal the key must be a string, so in your code it will be "category". If instead you do:

  var rating="1"
  var category="somecat";
  var user="user1";

   if( !cart[user] ) {     
        cart[user]={};  
   }

   cart[user][category]=rating;

That will initialise a non existing user to an empty object and then add the category.