JavaScript dictionary with names

Another approach would be to have an array of objects, with each individual object holding the properties of a column. This slightly changes the structure of "myMappings", but makes it easy to work with:

var myMappings = [
    { title: "Name", width: "10%" },
    { title: "Phone", width: "10%" },
    { title: "Address", width: "50%" },
    { title: "Zip", width: "10%" },
    { title: "Comments", width: "20%" }
];

Then you could easily iterate through all your "columns" with a for loop:

for (var i = 0; i < myMappings.length; i += 1) {
    // myMappings[i].title ...
    // myMappings[i].width ...
}

You may be trying to use a JSON object:

var myMappings = { "name": "10%", "phone": "10%", "address": "50%", etc.. }

To access:

myMappings.name;
myMappings.phone;
etc..

The main problem I see with what you have is that it's difficult to loop through, for populating a table.

Simply use an array of arrays:

var myMappings = [
    ["Name", "10%"], // Note the quotes around "10%"
    ["Phone", "10%"],
    // etc..
];

... which simplifies access:

myMappings[0][0]; // column name
myMappings[0][1]; // column width

---

Alternatively:

var myMappings = {
    names: ["Name", "Phone", etc...],
    widths: ["10%", "10%", etc...]
};

And access with:

myMappings.names[0];
myMappings.widths[0];

An object technically is a dictionary.

var myMappings = {
    mykey1: 'myValue',
    mykey2: 'myValue'
};

var myVal = myMappings['myKey1'];

alert(myVal); // myValue

You can even loop through one.

for(var key in myMappings) {
    var myVal = myMappings[key];
    alert(myVal);
}

There is no reason whatsoever to reinvent the wheel. And of course, assignment goes like:

myMappings['mykey3'] = 'my value';

And ContainsKey:

if (myMappings.hasOwnProperty('myKey3')) {
    alert('key already exists!');
}

I suggest you follow this: http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly/