Can I put one-line instructions in function array?

Question

I don't know if I'm clear, but what I'm trying to do is something like this:

 ajaxUpdate= $.ajax({
                        url: "updateSheet.php",
                        type: "post",
                        data: {
                            'update': 1,
                            'id': $('#numbah'+numbah+'').attr("class"),
                            'x': if (x) x,
                            'y': if (y) y,
                            'title': if (title) title,
                            'content': if (content) content
                        }
                    });

is something like 'x': if (x) x, correct? I can't risk running this part of code corrupted, because it can mess with my file.

No, as you'll notice if you open your developer console, that syntax is not correct. In JS, `if` is not an expression. JS does have a [conditional operator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Conditional_Operator) though, that'll let you do `x ? x : ""`. Or you can use a [logical OR](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Logical_Operators) `x || ""`. In both cases a default value of `""` is provided. There's no way to elide the entire property inline. — , May 11 '16 at 18:37
Your code / problem has nothing to do with JSON. It seems you are confusing an object literal with JSON. — Felix Kling, May 11 '16 at 18:47
Probably a duplicate of [How to write an inline IF statement in JavaScript?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/10270351/218196) — Felix Kling, May 11 '16 at 18:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '16 at 18:39

Just use the ternary operator and do x ? x : ''. This says if x is truthy (in your case if it's set) then return x otherwise return the empty string. So you could do something like this:

ajaxUpdate= $.ajax({
                    url: "updateSheet.php",
                    type: "post",
                    data: {
                        'update': 1,
                        'id': $('#numbah'+numbah+'').attr("class"),
                        'x': x ? x : '',
                        'y': y ? y : '',
                        'title': title ? title : '',
                        'content': content ? content : ''
                    }
                });

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 11 '16 at 18:38

Javascript has a three-way-operator ?: which you could use like so:

title: title ? title : '',
content: content ? content : ''

This sends an empty string, if the variable is empty or the content of it if not.

Alternatively, you can use the logical OR operator ||:

title: title || ''
content: content || ''

It's a little shorter.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 11 '16 at 18:41

You can use ternary operator - info MDN

ajaxUpdate= $.ajax({
                    url: "updateSheet.php",
                    type: "post",
                    data: {
                        'update': 1,
                        'id': $('#numbah'+numbah+'').attr("class"),
                        'x': x == someValue ? x: '',
                        'y': y == someValue ? y: '',
                        'title': if (title) title,
                        'content': if (content) content
                    }
                });

Can I put one-line instructions in function array?

3 Answers3