Question

I’m trying to dynamically build a javascript array where _tags is a globally defined array and then send it to php via ajax request. Basically I need the uid as a key and x,y as a sub array. in php it would look something like

$arr[$uid] = array('x'=>$x,'y'=>$y); 

but im having trouble figuring out an array like this in javascript, heres what i have

function add_tag_queue(uid,x,y){

    var arr = new Array(3);
    arr[0] = uid;
    arr[1] = x;
    arr[2] = y;

    _tags.push(arr);
}

Answer 1

This works ok as long as their is only
one entry being added to the array,
I’m adding multiple values, in other
words the function will run a few
times and then i want to send that
entire array, but this seems to just
be adding everything with a comma
delimeter.

Im not sure what youre saying exactly here. The second example i previously gave assumes there is a single x,y pair for each uid but places no limits on how many uids are in _tags. Thats why var _tags = {}; is ourside of the function – so its a global variable.

The following modifications would allow you to have multiple x,y pairs for each uid:

function add_tag_queue(uid,x,y){

   /* 
    * detect if _tags[uid] already exists with one or more values 
    * we assume if its not undefined then the value is an array... 
    * this is similar to doing isset($_tags[$uid]) in php
    */
   if(typeof _tags[uid] == 'undefined'){
     /* 
      * use an array literal by enclosing the value in [], 
      * this makes _tags[uid] and array with eah element of 
      * that array being a hash with an x and y value
      */
     _tags[uid] = [{'x':x,'y':y}]; 
   } else {
     // if _tags[uid] is already defined push the new x,y onto it
     _tags[uid].push({'x':x, 'y':y});
   }
}

---

This should work:

function add_tag_queue(uid,x,y){

    _tags.push([uid, x,y]);
}

if you want the uid as the key then you need to use an object/hash not an array

var _tags = {}; // tags is an object
function add_tag_queue(uid,x,y){

        _tags[uid] = {'x':x,'y':y};
    }