How to use associative arrays in TestComplete

Artem recently described how to use dictionary arrays, aka associative arrays, with the Microsoft runtime library. Here's another way to create hash based associative arrays that uses native JScript/JavaScript that will also work when scripting web pages.

The method Artem used should be faster if you're doing a lot of work with these arrays, but this method may be easier to remember if you're scripting both tests and web pages.

Here's example code that demonstrates how to use associative arrays in TestComplete: //[TestComplete JScript]<br />function AssociativeArrayDemo()<br />{<br />// Create a new associative array like this:<br />// var list = new Object();<br />// or like this:<br />var list = {"color": "red", "width": 100, "text": "File"};<br />// Add keys and items<br />list["a"] = "Alphabet";<br />list["b"] = "Book";<br />list["c"] = "Coffee";<br />list["FavoriteNumber"] = 1234;<br />Log.Message("array.length doesn't work on associative arrays.");<br />Log.Message("There are " + list.length + " items in the list.");<br />// So for ... in is used to iterate over the array<br />listString = "";<br />for (var word in list)<br />listString += list[word] + ", ";<br />Log.Message("The items in the list are " + listString);<br />// Get the item by key.<br />Log.Message(list["c"]);<br />// Assign a new item to the same key.<br />list["c"] = "Cookie";<br />Log.Message(list["c"]);<br />// Remove second pair.<br />//list["b"] = null;<br />delete list["b"];<br />if (list["b"])<br />Log.Message("The pair exists.")<br />else<br />Log.Message("The pair does not exist.")<br />}<br />