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marcot0005
marcot0005
February 15, 2022
Question

Map with variable key

  • February 15, 2022
  • 11 replies
  • 0 views

Is it somehow possible to create a map or dictionary using variables for the keys? For example, is there some way for me to do something like a!map(localvar1:local!var2) to make a user generated map? Or maybe use a foreach loop over a 2d array to convert it to a map? 

11 replies

csteward
csteward
February 15, 2022

AFAIK there isn't any way to define the key within a!map() dynamically like this.  This sounds like a situation I would utilize the database to maintain dynamically defined key-value pairs, where the user can enter both and you can reference them where you need via a!queryEntity().

What is the use case?

marcot0005
marcot0005Author
February 15, 2022

I was wanting to use a!setGroupAttributes to make an interface that sets attributes on groups. The function requires a dictionary of attributes to set them and ideally I'd like the interface to allow one to set both the attribute names and values.

andrewh0007
andrewh0007
February 15, 2022

Hi Marco,

The only way I've found of doing this is utilising JSON. Is below sort of what you're looking for?

a!localVariables(
  local!keys: {
    "keyOne",
    "keyTwo",
    "keyThree"
  },
  local!values: {
    117,
    "Appian",
    now()
  },
  local!keysAsJson: concat(
    "{",
    a!forEach(
      items: local!keys,
      expression: concat(
        char(34),
        fv!item,
        char(34),
        ":",
        char(34),
        char(34),
        if(
          fv!isLast,
          {},
          ","
        )
      )
    ),
    "}"
  ),
  local!keysAsDictionary: a!fromJson(local!keysAsJson),
  reduce(
    a!update,
    local!keysAsDictionary,
    merge(
      local!keys,
      local!values
    )
  )
)

    marcot0005
    marcot0005Author
    February 15, 2022

    That at least LOOKS like what I need. Gonna have to try it out to know for sure!

    andrewh0007
    andrewh0007
    February 15, 2022

    Let me know how you go. But I would agree with Mike above. The solution I've proposed is only needed if the keys are unknown and attributes of groups is a known thing. Unless I'm misunderstanding your use case I don't believe my solution is required.

    alexandru.boerescu
    alexandru.boerescu
    September 28, 2023

    Hi, I know it's late, but I thought it'd be good to capture the response here.

    You could use reduce with merge to achieve the desired outcome - not sure if all functions were available at the time you asked.

    a!localVariables(
Â%A0 local!keys: { "keyOne", "keyTwo", "keyThree" },
Â%A0 local!values: { 117, "Appian", now() },
Â%A0 reduce(
Â%A0 Â%A0 a!update,
Â%A0 Â%A0 a!map(),
Â%A0 Â%A0 merge(local!keys, local!values)
Â%A0 )
)

    Kudos to [mention:cef46f3735da42da9f3d7cb6d61d5347:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] for the coming up with the solution!

      C
      chamindaf6731
      February 8, 2024

      Hi,

      I know its late ... This also works ,

      a!localVariables(
      local!keys: { "keyOne", "keyTwo", "keyThree" },
      local!values: { 117, "Appian", now() },

      a!update(
      data: a!map(),
      index: local!keys,
      value: local!values
      )

      )

      output :

      • Map
          • keyOne117(Number (Integer))
              • keyTwo"Appian"(Text)
                  • keyThree2/8/2024 2:46 AM GMT+00:00(Date and Time)
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