jQuery getting value of array by index

Question

using jQuery, I'm trying to get values of fileTypes by using an index. I'm not sure how to do go about doing this but so far I've tried settings.fileTypes[0] which does not work. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

    var defaults = {
        fileTypes : { 
            windows: 'Setup_File.exe',
            mac: 'Setup_File.dmg',
            linux: 'Setup_File.tar.gz',
            iphone: 'iPhone App'
        }
    },
        settings = $.extend({}, defaults, options);

Answer 1

fileTypes is an Object, and as such, its properties can not be access via index number.

Objects do not guarantee any defined order, so if you need to maintain items in an indexed order, you would need to use an Array instead.

To get the first item given your example, you would do so by name:

settings.fileTypes.windows;  // will return 'Setup_File.exe'

---

To store as an Array whose items you can retrieve by index, try this:

var defaults = {
        fileTypes : [
            'Setup_File.exe',
            'Setup_File.dmg',
            'Setup_File.tar.gz',
            'iPhone App'
        ]
    },

settings.fileTypes[0];  // will return 'Setup_File.exe'

Or you could do an Array of Objects, though I don't think that's what you're after:

var defaults = {
        fileTypes : [ 
            {type: 'Setup_File.exe'},
            {type: 'Setup_File.dmg'},
            {type: 'Setup_File.tar.gz'},
            {type: 'iPhone App'}
        ]
    },

settings.fileTypes[0].type;  // will return 'Setup_File.exe'