Javascript array with for loop, returns only last element

Question

I have a for loop, that adds data into an array. but when I console.log the array, it is full of the last item of the for loop!

Here is my code :

var materialsData = results[1].data, // results[1].data is a http.get return
ln = Object.size(materialsData),
materials = [],
material = {};
material['Product'] = {};
for (var i = 0; i < ln; i++) {
 material.Product['Name'] = materialsData[i].Product.Name;
 material.Product['Id'] = materialsData[i].Product.Id;
 material.StartingDate = materialsData[i].StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-');
 material.Device = materialsData[i].Device;
 materials.push(material);
}

• Satpal: Where and how have you defined variable material?
• Rajesh Dixit: Objects are passed by reference. So every iteration, you are overriding same variable

Answer 1

Define material in the for block. As Objects are passed by reference same object is updated and pushed to the array.

for (var i = 0; i < ln; i++) {
 var material = {
 Product : {
 Name : materialsData[i].Product.Name,
 Id : materialsData[i].Product.Id,
 },
 StartingDate : materialsData[i].StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-'),
 Device : materialsData[i].Device
 };
 materials.push(material);
}

Additionally, You can use Array.map()

var materials = materialsData.map(function(m){
 return {
 Product : {
 Name : m.Product.Name,
 Id : m.Product.Id,
 },
 StartingDate : m.StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-'),
 Device : m.Device
 };
})

Answer 2

You are updating and pushing the same object reference again and again so the object holds the last element values. Instead, initialize the object holding variable inside the for loop beginning.

for(var i=0; i<ln; i++){
 // initialize the object
 var material = { Product : {}, Id : {}};
 material.Product['Name'] = materialsData[i].Product.Name;
 material.Product['Id'] = materialsData[i].Product.Id;
 material.StartingDate = materialsData[i].StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-');
 material.Device = materialsData[i].Device;
 materials.push(material);
}

---

Or directly define the object as the argument of push method without holding it to any variable.

for (var i = 0; i < ln; i++) {
 materials.push({
 Product: {
 Name: materialsData[i].Product.Name,
 Id: materialsData[i].Product.Id,
 },
 StartingDate: materialsData[i].StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-'),
 Device: materialsData[i].Device
 })
}

Answer 3

You are indeed referencing the same object. For me the trick was to wrap the object in question around JSON.stringify() and then within the loop I call JSON.parse() on the resulting string to turn it back

var materialsDataString = JSON.stringify(results[1].data), // results[1].data is a http.get return
ln = Object.size(materialsData),
materials = [],
material = {};
material['Product'] = {};
for (var i = 0; i < ln; i++) {
 var materialsData = JSON.parse(materialsDataString)
 material.Product['Name'] = materialsData[i].Product.Name;
 material.Product['Id'] = materialsData[i].Product.Id;
 material.StartingDate = materialsData[i].StartingDate.replace("T00:00:00", "").split('-').reverse().join('-');
 material.Device = materialsData[i].Device;
 materials.push(material);
}

.