jQuery multidimensional object with multidimensional arrays

Question

Im trying to build a somewhat advanced "Flot" jQuery pluging graph. For that, I need a multidimensional object (or at least I think it is).

The structure should look like this:

var datasets = {
        "usa": {
            label: "USA",
            data: [[1988, 483994], [1989, 479060], [1990, 457648], [1991, 401949], [1992, 424705], [1993, 402375], [1994, 377867], [1995, 357382], [1996, 337946], [1997, 336185], [1998, 328611], [1999, 329421], [2000, 342172], [2001, 344932], [2002, 387303], [2003, 440813], [2004, 480451], [2005, 504638], [2006, 528692]]
        },        
        "russia": {
            label: "Russia",
            data: [[1988, 218000], [1989, 203000], [1990, 171000], [1992, 42500], [1993, 37600], [1994, 36600], [1995, 21700], [1996, 19200], [1997, 21300], [1998, 13600], [1999, 14000], [2000, 19100], [2001, 21300], [2002, 23600], [2003, 25100], [2004, 26100], [2005, 31100], [2006, 34700]]
        }
};

From my code-behind i've generated some lists looking like this (Not the same data, but dont mind that):

<ul id="MOBILISATION">
  <li data-key="2012/3/27">02:10</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/28">05:25</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/29">09:21</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/30">00:00</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/31">00:00</li>
</ul>
<ul id="OPERATIONS">
  <li data-key="2012/3/27">19:51</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/28">18:35</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/29">14:39</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/30">07:46</li>
  <li data-key="2012/3/31">10:26</li>
</ul>

Where "USA/usa" is "MOBILISATION", "1988" is "2012/3/27" and "483994" is "02:10". You get picture!!??

I've tried writing some jQuery, but it obviously doesnt work:

    var objects = [];
    var array = [];
    var categoryName = "";
    $('div#Container ul').each(function () {
        catName = $(this).attr('id');
        $('li', this).each(function () {
            array.push([new Date($(this).data('key')).getTime(), $(this).text()]);
        });

        objects.push({ categoryName: { label: categoryName, data: array} });
    });
    var datasets = objects;

As you can see i've used push to objects array. Clearly that is not giving me the result I want. Im kindda loosing whats up and down in this, as its the first time I'm working with jQuery objects.

Whats the best solution for this?

Answer 1

Change var objects = []; to var objects = {}; and change

objects.push({ categoryName: { label: categoryName, data: array} });

to

objects[categoryName] = { label: categoryName, data: array};

The problem you have with JSON objects is in setting properties with a variable index. You can use array notation to do that, as above.