JS jQuery - check if value is in array

Question

I am more of a PHP person, not JS - and I think my problem is more a syntax problem ..

I have a small jQuery to "validate" and check input value .

It works ok for single words, but I need array.

I am using the inArray() of jQuery .

var ar = ["value1", "value2", "value3", "value4"]; // ETC...

        jQuery(document).ready(function() {

            jQuery("form#searchreport").submit(function() {
            if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first"), ar)){ 
                      //if (jQuery("input:first").val() == "value11") { // works for single words
            jQuery("#divResult").html("<span>VALUE FOUND</span>").show();
            jQuery("#contentresults").delay(800).show("slow");
                return false;
              }

        // SINGLE VALUE SPECIAL CASE / Value not allowed 
               if (jQuery("input:first").val() == "word10") {

                jQuery("#divResult").html("YOU CHEAT !").show();
                jQuery("#contentresults").delay(800).show("slow");

                return false;
              }

        // Value not Valid

              jQuery("#divResult").text("Not valid!").show().fadeOut(1000);

              return false;
            });

        });

now - this if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first"), ar)) is not working right .. every value that I put will be validated as OK . (even empty)

I need to validate only values from the array (ar) .

I tried also if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first"), ar) == 1) // 1,0,-1 tried all

what am i doing wrong ?

Bonus question : how to do NOT in array in jQuery ?? (the equivalent of PHP if (!in_array('1', $a)) - I sw somehre that it will not work , and need to use something like this : !!～

Answer 1

You are comparing a jQuery object (jQuery('input:first')) to strings (the elements of the array).
Change the code in order to compare the input's value (wich is a string) to the array elements:

if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first").val(), ar) != -1)

The inArray method returns -1 if the element wasn't found in the array, so as your bonus answer to how to determine if an element is not in an array, use this :

if(jQuery.inArray(el,arr) == -1){
    // the element is not in the array
};

Answer 2

As to your bonus question, try if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first").val(), ar) < 0)