javascript objects and multidimensional arrays

[azz]

Hey all!

OK, here's an interesting question.

I have been using an array of javacript object to control various things on my site from image placements to include files. Here's a quick sample so you know what I'm talking about:

function showId() { Response.Write(this.id); }
function showId() { Response.Write(this.id); }
function showInclude() { Response.Write(this.include); }
function showText(){ Response.Write(this.text); }

function PageObject(id, include, text)
{ this.id = id;
this.include = include;
this.text = text;

this.showId = showId;
this.showInclude = showInclude;
this.showText = showText; }

var PageArray = new Array();
PageArray[0] = new PageObject("flights","/uk/travel/_include/flightshop.asp","Flights");
PageArray[1] = new PageObject("tours","/uk/travel/_include/tourshop.asp","Tours");
PageArray[2] = new PageObject("coach","/uk/travel/_include/coachshop.asp","Coach Tickets");
PageArray[3] = new PageObject("hotels","/uk/travel/_include/hotelshop.asp","Hotels");
PageArray[4] = new PageObject("hostels","/uk/travel/_include/hostelshop.asp","Hostels");
PageArray[5] = new PageObject("insurance","/uk/travel/_include/insuranceshop.asp","Travel Insurance");
PageArray[6] = new PageObject("shipping","/uk/travel/_include/shippingshop.asp","Shipping");
PageArray[7] = new PageObject("calls","/uk/travel/_include/callshop.asp","Cheap Calls");
PageArray[8] = new PageObject("deals","/uk/travel/_include/dealshop.asp","Late Deals");
PageArray[9] = new PageObject("gifts","/uk/travel/_include/giftshop.asp","Gifts");
PageArray[10] = new PageObject("activities","/uk/travel/_include/leisureshop.asp","Leisure Activities");
PageArray[11] = new PageObject("visas","/uk/travel/_include/visainfo.asp","Visa Information");
PageArray[12] = new PageObject("guides","/uk/travel/countryguides/content_countryguides.inc","Country Guides");

Right. So far so good. Now onto my question. I want to write a script that will control the display of recruitment agencies. These agency objects will have properties like link, imageURL, displayText etc. However, each agency wil have a industryCategory property, but each agency deals with more than one industry sector. Is there any way I can define an array of categories for each potential object and use that array as a property. ie something like this:

AgentArray[0] = new AgentObject("text","link","image",...,"category[0]");
AgentArray[1] = new AgentObject("text","link","image",...,"category[1]");

etc

The only problem with this is that I'm not at all sure how I would define the object. All very well saying:

function AgencyObject(text, link, image, category)
{ this.text = text;
this.link = link;
this.image = image;
this.category = category; }

but how do I modify the category property definition so that the object knows that it's expecting an array? Any hints on how I would iterate through this other array using the object would be great too!

any ideas, oh developer.com gurus?

cheers, people

azz

[Gollum]

function AgencyObject(text, link, image, category)
{ this.text = text;
this.link = link;
this.image = image;
this.category = category; }


but how do I modify the category property definition so that the object knows that it's expecting an array?

Well, I think, the answer is: you don't need to. The code above will handle the category no matter what type it is - array, object, string boolean, etc.

Using this.category goes like this...

// number of elt in array
var n = this.category.length;

// itterate through array
for ( var i = 0; i < n; i++ ) alert('found category' + this.category[i].type); // or whatever field of Category that makes sense.

[azz]

groovy, buddy.

That kinda makes sense re the data types, I guess. would fit into the OO model idea anyway.

will give it a go. thanks for that

azz