Sending a JavaScript object to an API

Question

I'm trying to send this data to an API:

data={
 "to":{name : "to whom"}
};

But JavaScript doesn't allow me to do so (note that "name" is a variable). On the other hand it allows me to do as following:

data={
  "to" :{"me": "to whom"}
};

What am I doing wrong ?

Answer 1

ES5 doesn't natively allow you to do this. you'd need to create the inner hash as a variable and use that.

var address = {};
address[name] = 'to whom';

var data = {
  to: address
};

If you're using ES6 syntax, you can add brackets in the declaration

var data = {
  to: { [name]: 'to whom' }
};

Answer 2

In JavaScript {name : "to whom"} and {"name" : "to whom"} is exactly the same. What you are looking for are computed property names:

var data = {
    "to": {[name]: "to whom"}
};

This syntax is supported in node v6.0.