Search inside an array of objects under an object property for a string assistance in JavaScript

Question

I am using a JavaScript library that has some code that expects a simple flat array of items like this...

var items = [
    'item 1',
    'item 2',
    'item 3',
];

This is too limited for my project needs so I am editing the library to accept an array of object instead like this...

var items = [
    {
        id: 1,
        name: 'Item 1',
        image: 'img 1',
    },
    {
        id: 2,
        name: 'Item 2',
        image: 'img 2',
    },
    {
        id: 3,
        name: 'Item 3',
        image: 'img 3',
    },
]; 

The library calls some code like this...

if (_helpers.inArray(val, this.options.items) || (val === '')) {
    return val;
}

It check to see if a string is in the items array.

Because my items array is no longer a simple string value and is instead an object now. This breaks this part of the library code.

The code for the function it calls is this...

var _helpers = {

    inArray: function(val, arr) {
        return ($.inArray(val, arr) !== -1);
    },

};

So I need some help in making my own _helpers.inArray(val, this.options.items) function which will check for a string value in an array of objects under the object property name

Any help appreciated

Answer 1

Could be something like this?

var _helpers = {
    inArray: function(val, arr) {
        for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
            if (arr[i].name === val)
                return true;
        }
        return false;
    },
};

https://jsfiddle.net/z54qnukd/1/

Answer 2

Try mapping your array of objects back to the simple format:

var _helpers = {

    inArray: function(val, arr) {
        var mappedArr = $.map( items, function(item, index) {
            return item.name;
        });
        return ($.inArray(val, mappedArr) !== -1);
    },

};

https://jsbin.com/tihuyuquni/edit?html,output