Question

I need to perhaps write a function that just outputs the index of an object inside an array, obviously, using $.inArray returns this just fine in the example below.

array = ['one', 'two', 'three'];

$.inArray('one', array) // 0

With a more elaborate array, How can I find the index of the objects nested within?

array = [
    {
        name: 'One', // index??
        data: {
            title: 'Title One',
            content: 'Content One'
        }
    },
    {
        name: 'Two',
        data: {
            title: 'Title Two',
            content: 'Content Two'
        }
    },
    {
        name: 'Three',
        data: {
            title: 'Title Three',
            content: 'Content Three'
        }
    }
];

I’ve heard of the $.grep() method, indexOf() .. not sure which one to use to just return an integer of the index the object is in

Answer 1

You don’t need a pre-written function, just iterate over your array and compare the name property:

function findValue(array, nameWeAreLookingFor) {
    for(var i = 0; i<array.length; i++) {
        if(array[i].name === nameWeAreLookingFor) return i;
    }
    return -1;
}