Why are these objects not equal?

Question

I am trying to write a test in JavaScript using Mocha and Chai. At the end of the test, I want to compare 2 JavaScript objects, these should be equal.

The output I get from the test is the following:

{ publication: 
   { publication_id: 'pubFetch1',
     title: 'Publication Fetcher',
     person_id: 'uploader',
     URL: 'http://www.pubfetchertest.com',
     publication_year: '2015',
     upload_date: '2015-05-05 00:00:00',
     page_count: '5',
     type: 'paper',
     rating: '0',
     votes: '0',
     abstract: 'Testing the Publication Fetcher',
     location: 'location' },
  comments: 
     [ { commentID: 'comment1',
         personID: 'uploader',
         firstName: 'First',
         lastName: 'Last',
         text: 'Comment Content',
         time: '2015-05-05 10:24:36',
         reactions: [],
         myComment: true },
       { commentID: 'comment2',
         personID: 'author1',
         firstName: 'First',
         lastName: 'Last',
         text: 'Comment Content',
         time: '2015-05-05 11:01:45',
         reactions: [Object],
         myComment: false } ],
   keywords: [ 'keyword1', 'keyword2', 'keyword3' ],
   uploader: { person_id: 'uploader', first_name: 'First', last_name: 'Last' },
   score: 5,
   authors: 
     [ { person_id: 'author1', first_name: 'First', last_name: 'Last' },
       { person_id: 'author2', first_name: 'First', last_name: 'Last' },
       { person_id: 'author3', first_name: 'First', last_name: 'Last' } ],
   editors: [],
   publishers: [] }

While the object I want to compare it with, is the following:

{ publication: 
      { publication_id: 'pubFetch1',
        title: 'Publication Fetcher',
        person_id: 'uploader',
        url: 'http://www.pubfetchertest.com',
        publication_year: '2015',
        upload_date: '2015-05-05 00:00:00',
        page_count: '5',
        type: 'paper',
        rating: '0',
        votes: '0',
        abstract: 'Testing the Publication Fetcher',
        location: 'location'},
   comments: 
      [{ commentID: 'comment1',
         personID: 'uploader',
         firstName: 'First',
         lastName: 'Last',
         text: 'Comment Content',
         time: '2015-05-05 10:24:36',               
         reactions: [],
         myComment: true},
       { commentID: 'comment2',
         personID: 'author1',
         firstName: 'First',
         lastName: 'Last',
         text: 'Comment Content',
         time: '2015-05-05 11:01:45',
         reactions: [{ commentID: 'comment3',
                       personID: 'author2',
                       firstName: 'First',
                       lastName: 'Last',
                       text: 'Comment Content',
                       time: '2015-05-05 11:02:10',
                       reactions: [],
                       replyID: 'comment2',
                       myComment: false}],
         myComment: false}],
    keywords: ['keyword1', 'keyword2', 'keyword3'],
    uploader: {person_id: 'uploader',
               first_name: 'First',
               last_name: 'Last'},
    score: 5,
    authors: [{person_id: 'author1',
               first_name: 'First',
               last_name: 'Last'},
              {person_id: 'author2',
               first_name: 'First',
               last_name: 'Last'},
              {person_id: 'author3',
               first_name: 'First',
               last_name: 'Last'}],
    editors: [],
    publishers: []
};

I don't see any difference in these 2 objects, so why does JavaScript say these are different? I am using JSON.stringify(obj1) === JSON.stringify(obj2) to compare these 2 objects.

JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/9akeh8bh/4/

Without looking at the objects: In JavaScript, object properties are not in any particular order. So it might be possible that the JSON representation of an object looks different from the JSON representation of another object with the same content. — basilikum, May 05 '15 at 09:17
you can really find out the differences if you use the tool to help you. Some keys are not the same. — R Lam, May 05 '15 at 09:21

Jonathan Smith · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-05T09:19:21.380

3

There are differences between the two objects; some keys have underscores and some are uppercase.

Have you tried standardising the key names and seeing if the comparison works?

edited May 05 '15 at 09:19

answered May 05 '15 at 09:13

Jonathan Smith

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I have adjusted the keys, but it still returns false. Does it have something to do with the `reactions: [Object]`? – JNevens May 05 '15 at 09:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 03 '17 at 20:10

0

Your reactions are different, some contain Objects, some do not.

edited Jan 03 '17 at 20:10

Highmastdon

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answered May 05 '15 at 09:23

Ed Knowles

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My test returns `reactions: [Object]` in once of the `comments`. Should this be compared with `reactions: [Object]` or with the true object? – JNevens May 05 '15 at 09:26
how are you getting that test, just `return obj` ? – Ed Knowles May 05 '15 at 09:30
there is more than just 'reactions' that are different – Jonathan Smith May 05 '15 at 09:31
@jonnyknowsbest I know, I have adjusted the keys. A function gets data from a database and builds the object. This build object is compared with a stored object. – JNevens May 05 '15 at 09:32

Why are these objects not equal?

2 Answers2