Destructuring array parameters

Question

I'm learning about destructuring and had a quick query on how to refer to the elements of an array.

I'm destructuring a nested array within an object in a function's parameter using:

function ajaxOptions({
    url,
    headers: [ 
        header0 ="Content-Type: text/plain",
        ...otherHeaders
    ] = [],
    data
} = {}) { 
    //... function body
}

which is giving a default value to the first element, header0 and spreading the other array elements.

But if I had a settings object:

var settings = {
    url: 'http://someothersite.com', 
    data: 50, 
    callback: sayHello, 
    headers: [,  'Header2', 'Header3'] 
}

and passed it to ajaxOptions(settings) I can't use header0 in the settings object to refer to the array element that's destructured in ajaxOptions can I? In other words I can't use it as a named argument like 'url', 'data' and 'callback' kind of are?

Hope that makes sense. Here's the complete code if it helps:

function ajaxOptions({
    url: url = "http://www.example.com",
    method: method = "post",
    headers: [ 
        header0 ="Content-Type: text/plain",
        ...otherHeaders
    ] = [],
    data: data,
    callback: callback 

} = {}) {
    return { url, method, headers: [header0, ...otherHeaders], data, callback};
}

function sayHello(){
    console.log('hello');
}


var defaults = ajaxOptions();

var settings = {
    url: 'http://someothersite.com', 
    data: 50, 
    callback: sayHello, 
    headers: [, header0 = 'New Header', 'Header2', 'Header3'] 
}

console.log(ajaxOptions(settings));

Thanks

Answer 1

I think you should try to solve your problem with objects to reference the array index. But if all you really want is to have an array that returns the first values within a function you could try to arrange the arrays as follows.

const defaulHeader = ["Content-Type: text/plain"]
const otherHeaders = ["Some-type: application/json"]

 const headers = [ 
        ...defaulHeader,
        ...otherHeaders
    ]

console.log(headers)

Answer 2

header0 in your parameter list is a parameter, a local variable, just like a is a parameter in:

function test(a) { }

And just like you cannot reference a by name outside of that test function, neither can you do that with your code and header0 . So if you call your function with header0 = , you are actually defining a global variable header0 and assigning it a value on the spot. It would produce an error in strict mode. It has nothing to do with the parameter header0 .

The parameter header0 will get its value from the first element of the array you pass as headers property value. If the object you pass as argument does not have the headers property, or that property does not define a first array element that is different from undefined , then the local headers0 variable will get the default value.

This variable is not to be confused with the property name followed by a colon, that also appears in your parameter section: headers: . This is not a variable, but is merely defining the spot from where variables headers0 and otherHeaders should get their values when the function is called. But headers itself is not a variable.

url on the other hand is a variable. It takes its value from the property with the same name. Notice the lack of the colon. That makes it a variable (parameter).

The syntax used in destructuring can be quite confusing. For instance, if instead of url, you would have url: url2 , then instead of defining variable url , you define variable url2 -- still being the value that the url property has in the object that you pass to the function.