How to conditionally push an item in an observable array?

Question

I would like to push a new item onto an observableArray, but only if the item is not already present. Is there any "find" function or recommended pattern for achieving this in KnockoutJS?

I've noticed that the remove function on an observableArray can receive a function for passing in a condition. I almost want the same functionality, but to only push it if the condition passed in is or is not true.

Answer 1

An observableArray exposes an indexOf function (wrapper to ko.utils.arrayIndexOf). This allows you to do:

if (myObservableArray.indexOf(itemToAdd) < 0) {
  myObservableArray.push(itemToAdd);
}

If the two are not actually a reference to the same object and you want to run custom comparison logic, then you can use ko.utils.arrayFirst like:

var match = ko.utils.arrayFirst(myObservableArray(), function(item) {
    return itemToAdd.id === item.id;
});

if (!match) {
  myObservableArray.push(itemToAdd);
}

Answer 2

Thanks RP. Here's an example of using your suggestion to return the 'name' property via the object's 'id' property from within my view model.

    self.jobroles = ko.observableArray([]);

    self.jobroleName = function (id)
    {
        var match = ko.utils.arrayFirst(self.jobroles(), function (item)
        {
            return item.id() === id();  //note the ()
        });
        if (!match)
            return 'error';
        else
            return match.name;
    };

In HTML, i have the following ($parent is due to this being inside a table row loop):

<select data-bind="visible: editing, hasfocus: editing, options: $parent.jobroles, optionsText: 'name', optionsValue: 'id', value: jobroleId, optionsCaption: '-- Select --'">
                            </select>
<span data-bind="visible: !editing(), text: $parent.jobroleName(jobroleId), click: edit"></span></td>

Answer 3

search a object in a ko.observableArray

function data(id,val) 
{ var self = this;
self.id = ko.observable(id);
self.valuee = ko.observable(val);  }

var o1=new data(1,"kamran");
var o2=new data(2,"paul");
var o3=new data(3,"dave");
var mysel=ko.observable();
var combo = ko.observableArray();

combo.push(o1);
combo.push(o2);
combo.push(o3);
function find()
 { 
      var ide=document.getElementById("vid").value;    
      findandset(Number(ide),mysel);
 }

function indx()
{
    var x=document.getElementById("kam").selectedIndex;
    alert(x);
}

function getsel()
{ 
    alert(mysel().valuee());
}


function findandset(id,selected)
 {  
    var obj = ko.utils.arrayFirst(combo(), function(item) {
    return  id=== item.id();
});   
     selected(obj);
 }

findandset(1,mysel);
ko.applyBindings(combo);


<select id="kam" data-bind="options: combo,
                   optionsText: 'valuee', 
                   value: mysel, 
                   optionsCaption: 'select a value'">

                   </select>
<span data-bind="text: mysel().valuee"></span>
<button onclick="getsel()">Selected</button>
<button onclick="indx">Sel Index</button>
<input id="vid" />
<button onclick="find()">Set by id</button>

http://jsfiddle.net/rathore_gee/Y4wcJ/

Answer 4

I would add "valueWillMutate()" before changes and "valueHasMutated()" after them.

for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
    var needChange = false;
    var itemToAdd = data[i];
    var match = ko.utils.arrayFirst(MyArray(), function (item) {
        return (itemToAdd.Code === item.Code);
    });
    if (!match && !needChange) {
        MyArray.valueWillMutate();
        needChange = true;
    }
    if (!match) {
        MyArray.push(itemToAdd);
    }
}
if (needChange) {
    MyArray.valueHasMutated();
}