Question

I am trying to update multiple elements at once in a multidimensional array/object and having errors with .push and other options I have tried.

 var FEtypes= {
    textTemplate: {
       type :"Text",
       size : 50,
       required : "no",
       FEadd : '<input>', 
       label : 'Label',
       top : 0, 
       left : 0
    }, 
    textareaTemplate: {
       type : "Textarea",
       cols : 30,
       rows : 5,
       FEadd :'<textarea>' 
    }
 }

This works, but trying to do in one line.

 FEtypes[1].left = someVariable1;
 FEtypes[1].top = someVariable2;

I have been unsuccessful with:

 FEtypes[1].push( {left:someVariable1, top:someVariable2} );

I keep getting an error that this is not a function or it does nothing.

Answer 1

FEtypes is an object, not an array. Push is only available on arrays.

If you want to store this structure in an array, it would look something like:

var FEtypes= [
      {type :"Text", size : 50,  required : "no", FEadd  :'<input>', label : 'Label', top : 0, left : 0}, 
      {type : "Textarea", cols : 30,  rows : 5,FEadd :'<textarea>' }
];

Then

FEtypes[1].left = someVariable1;
FEtypes[1].top = someVariable2;

If you want to modify multiple properties at once, the jQuery extend function will get you what you want:

$.extend(FEtypes[1], {left:someVariable1, top:someVariable2});

But I think your original structure is more suitable. Just ditch arrays, and do this:

FEtypes.textareaTemplate.left = someVariable1;
FEtypes.textareaTemplate.top = someVariable2;

Or, again, with just one line with jQuery:

$.extend(FEtypes.textareaTemplate, {left:someVariable1, top:someVariable2});