jQuery inArray() function not working with dynamic generated array, why?

Question

I am just using inArray() function in jquery but its not working. Actually I want check value in an array. I got lots of solutions on stackoverflow but nothing working that's why I created new post.

There is an hours format 1-24 and user can select their time slot like 1-3, 5-9, etc..

here is my code

jQuery('.select_hours').click(function(){ 
            var favorite = new Array();
            jQuery.each(jQuery("input[name='hour_count']:checked"), function(){            
                favorite.push(jQuery(this).val());
            });

            console.log(favorite);

            var max_v = Math.max.apply(Math,favorite);
            var min_v = Math.min.apply(Math,favorite);

            // check the number sequence
            for(var i = min_v; i <= max_v; i++){

                if(jQuery.inArray(i,favorite) != -1){
                    alert('Hours in sequence!');
                }else{
                    alert('Please select hours in sequence!');
                }
            }

        });

Please help me in this..

Here is the HTML checkboxes and button:

<input type="checkbox" name="hour_count" id="hour_count_1" value="1"><input type="checkbox" name="hour_count" id="hour_count_2" value="2"><input type="checkbox" name="hour_count" id="hour_count_3" value="3"><button type="button" id="select_hours" class="select_hours">Select Hours</button>

tao · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-01 10:53:33Z

1

Running val() on a checkbox returns a string containing the set value of the checkbox. But your for loop requires numbers. That's why you need to push numbers, not strings into your array. Use

favorite.push(parseInt(jQuery(this).val()));

Working example: https://jsfiddle.net/websiter/f2kgetec/

answered May 1, 2017 at 10:53

tao

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2 Comments

Manish Negi Over a year ago

Thank you so much @Andrei, you save me. I just spoiled my whole day for this silly mistake.

tao Over a year ago

You're welcome, @ManishNegi. And it's not a silly mistake. It's a common one, which you'll learn to avoid. Happy coding!

Shital Marakana · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-01 10:44:23Z

0

jQuery.inArray returns the index of the element if found or -1 if it isn't -- not a boolean value. So the correct is

if(jQuery.inArray(i, favorite) !== -1)
{
     console.log("is in array");
     alert('Hours in sequence!');
}
 else {
    console.log("is NOT in array");
    alert('Please select hours in sequence!');
}

answered May 1, 2017 at 10:44

Shital Marakana

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Comments

quirimmo · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-01 11:11:38Z

0

The inArray method uses a strict comparison. Maybe the issue is just that you are comparing strings and numbers. Try to convert the max_v and minx_v to strings int his way:

var max_v = "" + Math.max.apply(Math,favorite);
var min_v = "" + Math.min.apply(Math,favorite);

And then in the for uses a parseInt(min_v) parseInt(max_v) for cycling.

p.s. Updating as per comment, you can of course also parse directly the .val()

Cleaner solution would be to use an array of numbers directly converting the .val()

favorite.push(parseInt(jQuery(this).val()))

Then if you want to look for an element inside the array, just use standard indexOf method

if (favorite.indexOf(myValueToCheck !== -1))

edited May 1, 2017 at 11:11

answered May 1, 2017 at 10:37

quirimmo

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7 Comments

tao Over a year ago

A better way would be to parseInt on .val()s. But, as a rule of thumb, you should not make assumptions when answering. It is best you do not answer a question that does not provide sufficient information about the source of the problem.

quirimmo Over a year ago

Yeah, sure you can directly convert to int the .val(). About answering, I think there are enough info about. The problem should be the comparison between strings and numbers. And you posted the answer as well highlighting this issue :)

tao Over a year ago

Yes, after testing, I realized checkbox's .val() always returns a string and a for loop always requires integers. However, both existing answers suggested pushing strings into the array and subsequently parsing them to ints, rather than pushing ints to the array, which is much cleaner.

quirimmo Over a year ago

To be honest the cleaner solution is to use array of numbers and use a simple indexOf for finding if the element is in.

tao Over a year ago

There are several ways to do it and whether one is better than the other is clearly debatable. But considering the current code, the easiest fix, IMHO, is the one I proposed. Of course, one could go about and streamline the entire script above into a one-liner but, most probably, that would cease to be an answer about inArray() :).

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