How to preserve empty array fields?

[draftomatic]

When minCount is 0 and there are no items in the array, the field is completely removed/unset from the resulting object. I would like it to submit an empty array.

This doesn't work but it illustrates my goal:

'variables.myObjectArray': {
    type: [MyObjectSchema],
    label: 'An Object',
    minCount: 0,
    maxCount: 10,
    autoValue: function() {
        if (!this.isSet) {
            return [];
        }
    }
}

When myObjectArray is empty in the form, I want it to submit:

variables: {
    myObjectArray: []
}

How do I force SimpleSchema/AutoForm to preserve empty arrays in the resulting object?

[aldeed]

hmm, off the top of my head I'm not sure if this is actually possible. You might try defining the array item separately because when you use the type: [] shorthand, I think it guesses that you want that autoValue on the items rather than on the array itself.

'variables.myObjectArray': {
    type: Array,
    label: 'An Object',
    minCount: 0,
    maxCount: 10,
    autoValue: function() {
        if (!this.isSet) {
            return [];
        }
    }
},
'variables.myObjectArray.$': {
    type: MyObjectSchema
}

[draftomatic]

Thanks I tried your advice - doesn't appear to help. I suppose I'll have to add some ugly ad-hoc code to put the empty arrays back in after cleaning/validating.

[draftomatic]

Revisited this and the autoValue technique does indeed give me the empty array after cleaning. I was printing in the wrong place. Sorry for the trouble and thanks for the help!