| sitelink1 | http://blog.imaginea.com/deep-copy-in-javascript/ |
|---|---|
| sitelink4 | http://1 |
| extra_vars4 | ko |
| extra_vars6 | sitelink1 |
Some of you might have come across this issue. When you make a copy of an object and try to change the values of the new instance, it reflects in the original one too. Well I heard this not only applies to JavaScript, but also to most other object oriented languages; not sure though.
Here is a case:
//original object definition var oOriginal = { memNum: 1, // number memStr: "I am a string", // string memObj: { test1: "Old value" // we'll test }, memArr: [ // array with object members "a string", // simple string element { // an object test2: "Try changing me" // we'll test } ] }; //test 1 var oCopy = oOriginal; // normal copy oCopy.memObj.test1 = "New value"; // Problem // - will reflect in oOriginal alert(oOriginal.memObj.test1); // will show "New value" //test 2 oCopy.memArr[1].test2 = "I am changed"; // Problem // - will reflect in oOriginal alert(oOriginal.memArr[1].test2); // will show "I am changed"
Here the problem is, the objects are never copied, only their references are. So what’s the solution? Iterate through all members of the original object, create the same members for target object and then assign corresponding values. And while doing so, we can’t forget array of objects.
We’ll add this simple line at the very top to help us detect Array objects. It basically adds our own custom extension to the Array class.
<html>
<head>
<title>Deep Copy in JavaScript</title>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
Array.prototype.__isArray = true;
</script>
.
.
Now, here is the generic method that will help in iterating through all (type of) members of our original object and copy them one-by-one regardless of the depth of the object structure:
var ObjectHandler = {
//public method
getCloneOfObject: function(oldObject) {
var tempClone = {};
if (typeof(oldObject) == "object")
for (prop in oldObject)
// for array use private method getCloneOfArray
if ((typeof(oldObject[prop]) == "object") &&
(oldObject[prop]).__isArray)
tempClone[prop] = this.getCloneOfArray(oldObject[prop]);
// for object make recursive call to getCloneOfObject
else if (typeof(oldObject[prop]) == "object")
tempClone[prop] = this.getCloneOfObject(oldObject[prop]);
// normal (non-object type) members
else
tempClone[prop] = oldObject[prop];
return tempClone;
},
//private method (to copy array of objects) - getCloneOfObject will use this internally
getCloneOfArray: function(oldArray) {
var tempClone = [];
for (var arrIndex = 0; arrIndex <= oldArray.length; arrIndex++)
if (typeof(oldArray[arrIndex]) == "object")
tempClone.push(this.getCloneOfObject(oldArray[arrIndex]));
else
tempClone.push(oldArray[arrIndex]);
return tempClone;
}
};
Now we’ll perform the same two tests mentioned in the ‘Problem’ block using this new helper – ObjectHandler
//test 1 var oCopy = ObjectHandler.getCloneOfObject(oOriginal); oCopy.memObj.test1 = "New value"; alert(oOriginal.memObj.test1); // will show "Old value" //test 2 oCopy.memArr[1].test2 = "I am changed"; alert(oOriginal.memArr[1].test2); // will show "Try changing me"
In general, this solution is often referred to as "Deep Copy".
