Javascript update an object with a new object where value matches value in array of objects

Question

I have an array of objects with an unlimited number of nested children objects like this:

var items = [
    {
        id: 1,
        name: 'Item 1',
        children: [
            {
                id: 2,
                name: 'Item 2',
                children: [],
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        id: 2,
        name: 'Item 2',
        children: [],
    },
    {
        id: 3,
        name: 'Item 3',
        children: [
            {
                id: 1,
                name: 'Item 1',
                children: [
                    id: 2,
                    name: 'Item 2',
                    children: [],
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
];

I want to update every occurrence of object with id 2 to have a name of "This is a cool object".

I'm not sure if this needs recursion or if some type of find and replace will do.

var newObject = {
  id: 2,
  name: 'This is a cool object',
  children: []
}

I want to replace every occurrence of any object with id 2 with the new object (regardless of the rest of the objects contents).

I tried looping through but then realized that it could potentially be unlimited levels deep.

Answer 1

Try this single line of code with Array filter() method.

function findID(items) {
    return items.filter(obj => (obj.id === 2)?obj.name='This is a cool object':findID(obj.children));
}

var res = findID(items);

Working Demo

var items = [
    {
        id: 1,
        name: 'Item 1',
        children: [
            {
                id: 2,
                name: 'Item 2',
                children: [],
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        id: 2,
        name: 'Item 2',
        children: [],
    },
    {
        id: 3,
        name: 'Item 3',
        children: [
            {
                id: 1,
                name: 'Item 1',
                children: [
                    {
                       id: 2,
                       name: 'Item 2',
                       children: [],
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
];

function findID(items) {
  return items.filter(obj => (obj.id === 2)?obj.name='This is a cool object':findID(obj.children));
}

console.log(findID(items));

Answer 2

With recursion.

var items = [    {        "id": 1,        "name": "Item 1",        "children": [            {                "id": 2,                "name": "Item 2",                "children": []            }        ]    },    {        "id": 2,        "name": "Item 2",        "children": []    },    {        "id": 3,        "name": "Item 3",        "children": [            {                "id": 1,                "name": "Item 1",                "children": [{                    "id": 2,                    "name": "Item 2",                    "children": []                }]            }        ]    }];

function loop(array, targetId) {
  array.forEach((e) => {
    if(e.id === targetId) {
      e.name = 'This is a cool object';
    }
    
    if (e.children && e.children.length > 0) {
      loop(e.children, targetId);
    }
  });
}

loop(items, 2);

console.log(items);

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }