setting context with list of objects as prameters in dialogflow - node.js

Question

I have a list of values each having another KEY value corresponding to it, when i present this list to user, user has to select a value and agent has to call an external api with selected value's KEY. how can i achieve this in dialogflow?
I tried to send the entire key value pair in the context and access it in the next intent but for some reason when i set a list(array) to context parameters dialogflow simply ignoring the fulfillment response.
What is happening here and is there any good way to achieve this? I am trying to develop a food ordering chatbot where the category of items in menu is presented and list items in that menu will fetched when user selects a category, this menu is not static thats why i am using api calls to get the dynamic menu.
function newOrder(agent)
{
var categories = []
var cat_parameters = {}
var catarray = []
const conv = agent.conv();
//conv.ask('sure, select a category to order');
agent.add('select a category to order');
return getAllCategories().then((result)=>{
for(let i=0; i< result.restuarantMenuList.length; i++)
{
try{
var name = result.restuarantMenuList[i].Name;
var catid = result.restuarantMenuList[i].Id;
categories.push(name)
//categories.name = catid
cat_parameters['id'] = catid;
cat_parameters['name'] = name
catarray.push(cat_parameters)
}catch(ex)
{
agent.add('trouble getting the list please try again later')
}
}
agent.context.set({
name: 'categorynames',
lifespan: 5,
parameters: catarray, // if i omit this line, the reponse is the fultillment response with categories names, if i keep this line the reponse is fetching from default static console one.
})
return agent.add('\n'+categories.toString())
})
function selectedCategory(agent)
{
//agent.add('category items should be fetched and displayed here');
var cat = agent.parameters.category
const categories = agent.context.get('categorynames')
const cat_ob = categories.parameters.cat_parameters
// use the key in the catarray with the parameter cat to call the external API
agent.add('you have selected '+ cat );
}
}

Answer 1

The primary issue is that the context parameters must be an object, it cannot be an array.
So when you save it, you can do something like
parameters: {
"cat_parameters": catarray
}
and when you deal with it when you get the reply, you can get the array back with
let catarray = categories.parameters.cat_parameters;
(There are some other syntax and scoping issues with your code, but this seems like it is the data availability issue you're having.)