Is there any convenient way to replace the content of an array, AND keep a reference to it? I don't want to replace the array like this:
var arr1 = [1,2,3];
var referenceToArr1 = arr1;
var arr2 = [4,5,6];
arr1 = arr2;
// logs: [4,5,6] false
console.log(arr1, arr1===referenceToArr1);
// logs [1,2,3]
console.log(referenceToArr1);
This way arr1 has the content of arr2, but I loose the reference in referenceToArr1, because it still points to the original arr1.
With this way, I don't loose the reference:
var arr1 = [1,2,3];
var referenceToArr1 = arr1;
var arr2 = [4,5,6];
arr1.length = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < arr2.length; i++) {
arr1.push(arr2[i]);
}
// logs: [4,5,6] true
console.log(arr1, arr1===referenceToArr1);
// logs: [4,5,6]
console.log(referenceToArr1)
The drawback here is, that I have to empty arr1.length = 0, iterate over every element of arr2 and push it to arr1 by hand.
My questions are:
- Sure, I could write a helper for this, but what is the most efficient way?
- Is there a short, vanilla javascript way, to do this (maybe a one liner?)
- I'm also using underscore.js but haven't found a method for this kind of problem. Is there a way to do this with underscore.js?
Background:
I have an AngularJS app with a service. Inside this service, I have an array to keep all the elements loaded from the server. The data from the service get's bind to a controller and is used in a view. When the data from the service get's change (e.g. a refetch happens), I want to auto update my controllers vars and the view it is bind to.
Here is a Plunker: http://plnkr.co/edit/8yYahwDO6pAuwl6lcpAS?p=preview
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope, myService) {
$scope.name = 'World';
myService.fetchData().then(function(data) {
console.log(data)
$scope.data = data;
})
});
app.service('myService', function($timeout, $q) {
var arr;
var deferred;
var loadData = function() {
// here comes some data from the server
var serverData = [1,2,3];
arr = serverData;
deferred.resolve(arr);
// simulate a refetch of the data
$timeout(function() {
var newServerData = [4,5,6];
// this won't work, because MainCtrl looses it's reference
// arr = newServerData;
}, 1000);
$timeout(function() {
var newServerData = [7,8,9];
arr.length = 0;
[].push.apply(arr, newServerData);
}, 2000);
$timeout(function() {
var newServerData = [10,11,12];
[].splice.apply(arr, [0, arr.length].concat(newServerData));
}, 3000);
}
return {
fetchData: function() {
deferred = $q.defer();
loadData();
return deferred.promise;
}
}
})
And the view:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="plunker">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<script>document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />
<script data-require="angular.js@1.2.x" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.2.16/angular.js" data-semver="1.2.16"></script>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<ul>
<li ng-repeat="d in data">{{d}}</li>
</ul>
3 refetches every second
</body>
</html>
See Question&Answers more detail:
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