Develop Reference

Swapping out Constants for a Function

I'm trying to refactor the following code, which depending on the top level domain of the recipients email, changes where you click through to in my button. I currently do this with two consts, which I need to refactor into only one.
const CCENTERURL_AT= `${HOSTURL_AT}/ccenter/zendesk/landing/`;
const CCENTERURL = `${HOSTURL}.com/ccenter/zendesk/landing/`;
const recipientEmail = data.ticket.recipient;
var cCenterUrl;
if(recipientEmail.indexOf(".com") > 0)
{
cCenterUrl = getCcenterUrl(zendeskID)
}else{
cCenterUrl = getAustrianCcenterUrl(zendeskID)
}
function getCcenterUrl(ticketID) {
const cCenterTicketUrl = CCENTERURL + ticketID ;
return cCenterTicketUrl;
}
// Get Austrian Ccenter Ticket Url using Zendesk ticket ID
function getAustrianCcenterUrl(ticketID) {
const cCenterTicketUrlAustria = CCENTERURL_AT + ticketID ;
return cCenterTicketUrlAustria;
}
I know I should be able to create a function which will take recipient Email`s top-level domain as parameter and return appropriate URL for CCENTERURL. But no matter what I've tried its become overcomplicated or hasn't worked. I would be interested to hear peoples opinions on either how I can achieve my goal or even how it would be better to go about this!

So you basically want to combine these into one function and use a string template like this.
const HOSTURL = 'example.com/'
const HOSTURL_AT = 'example.au/'
const reAu = /\.au$/;
const getTicketURL = (
(mail, id) => `${ reAu.test(mail) > 0 ? HOSTURL : HOSTURL_AT }ccenter/zendesk/landing/${id}`
);
// Test AU
console.log(getTicketURL('foo#google.com.au', 'ABC1231'))
// Test US
console.log(getTicketURL('foo#google.com', 'ABC1231'))

Javascript: Infinite loop in webworker [duplicate]

I want to sort an array, using Web Workers. But this array might receive new values over time, while the worker is still performing the sort function.
So my question is, how can I "stop" the sorting computation on the worker after receiving the new item, so it can perform the sort on the array with that item, while still keeping the sorting that was already made?
Example:
let worker = new Worker('worker.js');
let list = [10,1,5,2,14,3];
worker.postMessage({ list });
setInterval(() => worker.postMessage({ num: SOME_RANDOM_NUM, list }), 100);
worker.onmessage = event => {
list = event.data.list;
}
So lets say that, I've passed 50, the worker made some progress in the sorting before that and now I have something like this:
[1, 2, 3, 10, 5, 14, 50]. Which means the sorting stopped at index 3. So I pass this new array back to the worker, so it can continue the sorting from position 3.
How can I accomplish that, since there is no way to pause/resume a web worker?

Even though the Worker works on an other thread than the one of your main page, and can thus run continuously without blocking the UI, it still runs on a single thread.
This means that until your sort algorithm has finished, the Worker will delay the execution of the message event handler; it is as blocked as would be the main thread.
Even if you made use of an other Worker from inside this worker, the problem would be the same.
The only solution would be to use a kind of generator function as the sorter, and to yield it every now and then so that the events can get executed.
But doing this will drastically slow down your sorting algorithm.
To make it better, you could try to hook to each Event Loop, thanks to a MessageChannel object: you talk in one port and receive the message in the next Event loop. If you talk again to the other port, then you have your own hook to each Event loop.
Now, the best would be to run a good batch in every of these Event loop, but for demo, I'll call only one instance of our generator function (that I borrowed from this Q/A)
const worker = new Worker(getWorkerURL());
worker.onmessage = draw;
onclick = e => worker.postMessage(0x0000FF/0xFFFFFF); // add a red pixel
// every frame we request the current state from Worker
function requestFrame() {
worker.postMessage('gimme a frame');
requestAnimationFrame(requestFrame);
}
requestFrame();
// drawing part
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
const img = ctx.createImageData(50, 50);
const data = new Uint32Array(img.data.buffer);
ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = false;
function draw(evt) {
// converts 0&1 to black and white pixels
const list = evt.data;
list.forEach((bool, i) =>
data[i] = (bool * 0xFFFFFF) + 0xFF000000
);
ctx.setTransform(1,0,0,1,0,0);
ctx.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
ctx.putImageData(img,0,0);
// draw bigger
ctx.scale(5,5);
ctx.drawImage(canvas, 0,0);
}
function getWorkerURL() {
const script = document.querySelector('[type="worker-script"]');
const blob = new Blob([script.textContent]);
return URL.createObjectURL(blob);
}
body{
background: ivory;
}
<script type="worker-script">
// our list
const list = Array.from({length: 2500}).map(_=>+(Math.random()>.5));
// our sorter generator
let sorter = bubbleSort(list);
let done = false;
/* inner messaging channel */
const msg_channel = new MessageChannel();
// Hook to every Event loop
msg_channel.port2.onmessage = e => {
// procede next step in sorting algo
// could be a few thousands in a loop
const state = sorter.next();
// while running
if(!state.done) {
msg_channel.port1.postMessage('');
done = false;
}
else {
done = true;
}
}
msg_channel.port1.postMessage("");
/* outer messaging channel (from main) */
self.onmessage = e => {
if(e.data === "gimme a frame") {
self.postMessage(list);
}
else {
list.push(e.data);
if(done) { // restart the sorter
sorter = bubbleSort(list);
msg_channel.port1.postMessage('');
}
}
};
function* bubbleSort(a) { // * is magic
var swapped;
do {
swapped = false;
for (var i = 0; i < a.length - 1; i++) {
if (a[i] > a[i + 1]) {
var temp = a[i];
a[i] = a[i + 1];
a[i + 1] = temp;
swapped = true;
yield swapped; // pause here
}
}
} while (swapped);
}
</script>
<pre> click to add red pixels</pre>
<canvas id="canvas" width="250" height="250"></canvas>
Note that the same can be achieved with an async function, which may be more practical in some cases:
const worker = new Worker(getWorkerURL());
worker.onmessage = draw;
onclick = e => worker.postMessage(0x0000FF/0xFFFFFF); // add a red pixel
// every frame we request the current state from Worker
function requestFrame() {
worker.postMessage('gimme a frame');
requestAnimationFrame(requestFrame);
}
requestFrame();
// drawing part
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
const img = ctx.createImageData(50, 50);
const data = new Uint32Array(img.data.buffer);
ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = false;
function draw(evt) {
// converts 0&1 to black and white pixels
const list = evt.data;
list.forEach((bool, i) =>
data[i] = (bool * 0xFFFFFF) + 0xFF000000
);
ctx.setTransform(1,0,0,1,0,0);
ctx.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
ctx.putImageData(img,0,0);
// draw bigger
ctx.scale(5,5);
ctx.drawImage(canvas, 0,0);
}
function getWorkerURL() {
const script = document.querySelector('[type="worker-script"]');
const blob = new Blob([script.textContent]);
return URL.createObjectURL(blob);
}
body{
background: ivory;
}
<script type="worker-script">
// our list
const list = Array.from({length: 2500}).map(_=>+(Math.random()>.5));
// our sorter generator
let done = false;
/* outer messaging channel (from main) */
self.onmessage = e => {
if(e.data === "gimme a frame") {
self.postMessage(list);
}
else {
list.push(e.data);
if(done) { // restart the sorter
bubbleSort(list);
}
}
};
async function bubbleSort(a) { // async is magic
var swapped;
do {
swapped = false;
for (var i = 0; i < a.length - 1; i++) {
if (a[i] > a[i + 1]) {
const temp = a[i];
a[i] = a[i + 1];
a[i + 1] = temp;
swapped = true;
}
if( i % 50 === 0 ) { // by batches of 50?
await waitNextTask(); // pause here
}
}
} while (swapped);
done = true;
}
function waitNextTask() {
return new Promise( (resolve) => {
const channel = waitNextTask.channel ||= new MessageChannel();
channel.port1.addEventListener("message", (evt) => resolve(), { once: true });
channel.port2.postMessage("");
channel.port1.start();
});
}
bubbleSort(list);
</script>
<pre> click to add red pixels</pre>
<canvas id="canvas" width="250" height="250"></canvas>

There are two decent options.
Option 1: Worker.terminate()
The first is just to kill your existing web worker and start a new one. For that you can use Worker.terminate().
The terminate() method of the Worker interface immediately terminates the Worker. This does not offer the worker an opportunity to finish its operations; it is simply stopped at once.
The only downsides of this approach are:
You lose all worker state. If you had to copy a load of data into it for the request you have to do it all again.
It involves thread creation and destruction, which isn't as slow as most people think but if you terminate web workers a lot it might cause issues.
If neither of those are an issue it is probably the easiest option.
In my case I have lots of state. My worker is rendering part of an image, and when the user pans to a different area I want it to stop what it is doing and start rendering the new area. But the data needed to render the image is pretty huge.
In your case you have the state of your (presumably huge) list that you don't want to use.
Option 2: Yielding
The second option is basically to do cooperative multitasking. You run your computation as normal, but every now and then you pause (yield) and say "should I stop?", like this (this is for some nonsense calculation, not sorting).
let requestId = 0;
onmessage = event => {
++requestId;
sortAndSendData(requestId, event.data);
}
function sortAndSendData(thisRequestId, data) {
let isSorted = false;
let total = 0;
while (data !== 0) {
// Do a little bit of computation.
total += data;
--data;
// Check if we are still the current request ID.
if (thisRequestId !== requestId) {
// Data was changed. Cancel this sort.
return;
}
}
postMessage(total);
}
This won't work though because sortAndSendData() runs to completion and blocks the web worker's event loop. We need some way to yield just before thisRequestId !== requestId. Unfortunately Javascript doesn't quite have a yield method. It does have async/await so we might try this:
let requestId = 0;
onmessage = event => {
console.log("Got event", event);
++requestId;
sortAndSendData(requestId, event.data);
}
async function sortAndSendData(thisRequestId, data) {
let isSorted = false;
let total = 0;
while (data !== 0) {
// Do a little bit of computation.
total += data;
--data;
await Promise.resolve();
// Check if we are still the current request ID.
if (thisRequestId !== requestId) {
console.log("Cancelled!");
// Data was changed. Cancel this sort.
return;
}
}
postMessage(total);
}
Unfortunately it doesn't work. I think it's because async/await executes things eagerly using "microtasks", which get executed before pending "macrotasks" (our web worker message) if possible.
We need to force our await to become a macrotask, which you can do using setTimeout(0):
let requestId = 0;
onmessage = event => {
console.log("Got event", event);
++requestId;
sortAndSendData(requestId, event.data);
}
function yieldToMacrotasks() {
return new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve));
}
async function sortAndSendData(thisRequestId, data) {
let isSorted = false;
let total = 0;
while (data !== 0) {
// Do a little bit of computation.
total += data;
--data;
await yieldToMacrotasks();
// Check if we are still the current request ID.
if (thisRequestId !== requestId) {
console.log("Cancelled!");
// Data was changed. Cancel this sort.
return;
}
}
postMessage(total);
}
This works! However it is extremely slow. await yieldToMacrotasks() takes approximately 4 ms on my machine with Chrome! This is because browsers set a minimum timeout on setTimeout(0) of something like 1 or 4 ms (the actual minimum seems to be complicated).
Fortunately another user pointed me to a quicker way. Basically sending a message on another MessageChannel also yields to the event loop, but isn't subject to the minimum delay like setTimeout(0) is. This code works and each loop only takes ~0.04 ms which should be fine.
let currentTask = {
cancelled: false,
}
onmessage = event => {
currentTask.cancelled = true;
currentTask = {
cancelled: false,
};
performComputation(currentTask, event.data);
}
async function performComputation(task, data) {
let total = 0;
let promiseResolver;
const channel = new MessageChannel();
channel.port2.onmessage = event => {
promiseResolver();
};
while (data !== 0) {
// Do a little bit of computation.
total += data;
--data;
// Yield to the event loop.
const promise = new Promise(resolve => {
promiseResolver = resolve;
});
channel.port1.postMessage(null);
await promise;
// Check if this task has been superceded by another one.
if (task.cancelled) {
return;
}
}
// Return the result.
postMessage(total);
}
I'm not totally happy about it - it relies on postMessage() events being processed in FIFO order, which I doubt is guaranteed. I suspect you could rewrite the code to make it work even if that isn't true.

You can do it with some trick – with the help of setTimeout function interrupting. For example it is not possible without an addition thread to execute 2 functions parallel, but with setTimeout function interrupting trick we can do it like follows:
Example of parallel execution of functions
var count_0 = 0,
count_1 = 0;
function func_0()
{
if(count_0 < 3)
setTimeout(func_0, 0);//the same: setTimeout(func_0);
console.log('count_0 = '+count_0);
count_0++
}
function func_1()
{
if(count_1 < 3)
setTimeout(func_1, 0);
console.log('count_1 = '+count_1)
count_1++
}
func_0();
func_1();
You will get this output:
count_0 = 0
count_1 = 0
count_0 = 1
count_1 = 1
count_0 = 2
count_1 = 2
count_0 = 3
count_1 = 3
Why is it possible? Because the setTimeout function needs some time to be executed. And this time is even enought for the execution of some part from your following code.
Solution for you
For this case you have to write your own array sort function (or you can also use the following function from me) because we can not interrupt the native sort function. And in this your own function you have to use this setTimeout function interrupting trick. And you can receive your message event notification.
In the following example I have the interrupting in the half length of my array, and you can change it if you want.
Example with custom sort function interrupting
var numbers = [4, 2, 1, 3, 5];
// this is my bubble sort function with interruption
/**
* Sorting an array. You will get the same, but sorted array.
* #param {array[]} arr – array to sort
* #param {number} dir – if dir = -1 you will get an array like [5,4,3,2,1]
* and if dir = 1 in opposite direction like [1,2,3,4,5]
* #param {number} passCount – it is used only for setTimeout interrupting trick.
*/
function sortNumbersWithInterruption(arr, dir, passCount)
{
var passes = passCount || arr.length,
halfOfArrayLength = (arr.length / 2) | 0; // for ex. 2.5 | 0 = 2
// Why we need while loop: some values are on
// the end of array and we have to change their
// positions until they move to the first place of array.
while(passes--)
{
if(!passCount && passes == halfOfArrayLength)
{
// if you want you can also not write the following line for full break of sorting
setTimeout(function(){sortNumbersWithInterruption(arr, dir, passes)}, 0);
/*
You can do here all what you want. Place 1
*/
break
}
for(var i = 0; i < arr.length - 1; i++)
{
var a = arr[i],
b = arr[i+1];
if((a - b) * dir > 0)
{
arr[i] = b;
arr[i+1] = a;
}
}
console.log('array is: ' + arr.join());
}
if(passCount)
console.log('END sring is: ' + arr.join());
}
sortNumbersWithInterruption(numbers, -1); //without passCount parameter
/*
You can do here all what you want. Place 2
*/
console.log('The execution is here now!');
You will get this output:
array is: 4,2,3,5,1
array is: 4,3,5,2,1
The execution is here now!
array is: 4,5,3,2,1
array is: 5,4,3,2,1
END sring is: 5,4,3,2,1

You can do it with insertion sort (kind of).
Here is the idea:
Start your worker with an internal empty array (empty array is sorted obviously)
Your worker receives only elements not the entire array
Your worker insert any received element right in correct position into the array
Every n seconds, the worker raises a message with the current array if it has changed after the last event. (If you prefer, you can send the array on every insertion, but is more efficient to buffer somehow)
Eventually, you get the entire array, if any item is added, you will receive the updated array to.
NOTE: Because your array is always sorted, you can insert in correct position using binary search. This is very efficient.

I think the case comes down to careful management of postMessage calls and amount of data passed to be processed at a time. Was dealing with problem of this kind - think about not sending all new data into the function at once but rather creating your own queue and when small enough portion of the task has been acomplished by webworker thread send a message back to the main thread and decide to send the next portion, wait or quit.
In Your case, e.g. one time You get 9000 new items, next 100k - maybe create a queue/buffer that adds next 10k new elements each time webworker is done processing last data change.
const someWorker = new Worker('abc.js');
var processingLock = false;
var queue = [];
function newDataAction(arr = null) {
if (arr != null) {
queue = queue.concat(arr);
}
if (!processingLock) {
processingLock = true;
var data = [];
for (let i = 0; i < 10000 && queue.length > 0; i++) {
data.push(queue.pop());
}
worker.postMessage(data);
}
}
someWorker.addEventListener('message', function(e) {
if (e.data == 'finished-last-task') {
processingLock = false;
if (queue.length > 0) {
newDataAction();
}
}
});
Worked through many sorting algorithms and I don't see how sending new data into an sorting algorithm with partially sorted array makes much difference in terms of compuation time from sorting them both sequentially and performing a merge.

JavaScript - Issues recovering a map in an object after being saved in localStorage

I've been dealing with this for some time. I've a list of sections in which the user checks some checkboxes and that is sent to the server via AJAX. However, since the user can return to previous sections, I'm using some objects of mine to store some things the user has done (if he/she already finished working in that section, which checkboxes checked, etc). I'm doing this to not overload the database and only send new requests to store information if the user effectively changes a previous checkbox, not if he just starts clicking "Save" randomly. I'm using objects to see the sections of the page, and storing the previous state of the checkboxes in a Map. Here's my "supervisor":
function Supervisor(id) {
this.id = id;
this.verif = null;
this.selections = new Map();
var children = $("#ContentPlaceHolder1_checkboxes_div_" + id).children().length;
for (var i = 0; i < children; i++) {
if (i % 2 == 0) {
var checkbox = $("#ContentPlaceHolder1_checkboxes_div_" + id).children()[i];
var idCheck = checkbox.id.split("_")[2];
this.selections.set(idCheck, false);
}
}
console.log("Length " + this.selections.size);
this.change = false;
}
The console.log gives me the expected output, so I assume my Map is created and initialized correctly. Since the session of the user can expire before he finishes his work, or he can close his browser by accident, I'm storing this object using local storage, so I can change the page accordingly to what he has done should anything happen. Here are my functions:
function setObj(id, supervisor) {
localStorage.setItem(id, JSON.stringify(supervisor));
}
function getObj(key) {
var supervisor = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(key));
return supervisor;
}
So, I'm trying to add to the record whenever an user clicks in a checkbox. And this is where the problem happens. Here's the function:
function checkboxClicked(idCbx) {
var idSection = $("#ContentPlaceHolder1_hdnActualField").val();
var supervisor = getObj(idSection);
console.log(typeof (supervisor)); //Returns object, everythings fine
console.log(typeof (supervisor.change)); //Returns boolean
supervisor.change = true;
var idCheck = idCbx.split("_")[2]; //I just want a part of the name
console.log(typeof(supervisor.selections)); //Prints object
console.log("Length " + supervisor.selections.size); //Undefined!
supervisor.selections.set(idCheck, true); //Error! Note: The true is just for testing purposes
setObj(idSection, supervisor);
}
What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

Please look at this example, I removed the jquery id discovery for clarity. You'll need to adapt this to meet your needs but it should get you mostly there.
const mapToJSON = (map) => [...map];
const mapFromJSON = (json) => new Map(json);
function Supervisor(id) {
this.id = id;
this.verif = null;
this.selections = new Map();
this.change = false;
this.selections.set('blah', 'hello');
}
Supervisor.from = function (data) {
const id = data.id;
const supervisor = new Supervisor(id);
supervisor.verif = data.verif;
supervisor.selections = new Map(data.selections);
return supervisor;
};
Supervisor.prototype.toJSON = function() {
return {
id: this.id,
verif: this.verif,
selections: mapToJSON(this.selections)
}
}
const expected = new Supervisor(1);
console.log(expected);
const json = JSON.stringify(expected);
const actual = Supervisor.from(JSON.parse(json));
console.log(actual);
If you cant use the spread operation in 'mapToJSON' you could loop and push.
const mapToJSON = (map) => {
const result = [];
for (let entry of map.entries()) {
result.push(entry);
}
return result;
}
Really the only thing id change is have the constructor do less, just accept values, assign with minimal fiddling, and have a factory query the dom and populate the constructor with values. Maybe something like fromDOM() or something. This will make Supervisor more flexible and easier to test.
function Supervisor(options) {
this.id = options.id;
this.verif = null;
this.selections = options.selections || new Map();
this.change = false;
}
Supervisor.fromDOM = function(id) {
const selections = new Map();
const children = $("#ContentPlaceHolder1_checkboxes_div_" + id).children();
for (var i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
if (i % 2 == 0) {
var checkbox = children[i];
var idCheck = checkbox.id.split("_")[2];
selections.set(idCheck, false);
}
}
return new Supervisor({ id: id, selections: selections });
};
console.log(Supervisor.fromDOM(2));
You can keep going and have another method that tries to parse a Supervisor from localStorageand default to the dom based factory if the localStorage one returns null.

Best practice to handle undefined variables dynamicaly in JavaScript/Nodejs

Ok, maybe is not the best title, but I lacked inspiration, so here goes:
Let's say you have a "global" (not really) variable to store temporary data and sub data as random users interact with your server. Normally on the first interaction with your server, the main variable will be undefined so you need to handle that case.
Now, what puzzled me about this, is what's the best practice performance wise to do this if there are a lot of users and a lot way more interactions with the variable.
Puzzled? Yeah, I know, words are not my strong point so let me show you in code
So you have
var user_data = [];
Then a function that handles user interaction to store data
function writeData(uid, data_name, data)
Now, on first interaction, user_data[uid][data_name] is undefined, and so it's user_data[uid]
I know you can handle this 2 ways:
With if -
if(!user_data[uid]) user_data[uid] = {}
user_data[uid][data_name] = data
With try/catch
try{user_data[uid][data_name] = data}
catch(e) {user_data[uid] = {}; writeData(uid, data_name, data)}
The if will check on every interaction, and like I said there are a lot.
Try catch will trigger once, but it has a cost as a block (afaik)
Which one is better? Or is there a another better way

#Nertan ,
There is a partiality in your proof :P . I have slightly tweeked the ternary way (same as the order of execution in if way). With this you can conclude.
//var present = require('present');
function test(val,ud,fun) {
var k = 10000000;
var t = Date.now();
for(var i=0; i<k;i++)
{
var uid = Math.ceil(Math.random()*1000);
fun(uid,ud,"value");
}
var tf = Date.now()-t;
return tf;
}
function setValue_Opp(uid,ud,value)
{
(!ud[uid] && (ud[uid] = {})) && (ud[uid].value = value);
}
function setValue_Try(uid,ud,value)
{
try{ ud[uid].value = value}
catch(e){ ud[uid] = {}; setValue_Try(uid,ud,value)};
}
function setValue_Cond(uid,ud,value)
{
if(!ud[uid]) ud[uid] = {}
ud[uid].value = value;
}
var k1=0;
var k2=0;
var k3=0;
for(var i=0;i<10;i++){
k1+=test(1,{}, setValue_Cond);
k2+=test(2,{}, setValue_Try);
k3+=test(3,{}, setValue_Opp);
}
console.log(k1,k2,k3)

I feel we can take advantage of ES6 ternaries as below:
let user_data = {}
const writeData = (uid, data_name, data) => {
((user_data[uid] || (user_data[uid] = {})) && (user_data[uid][data_name] = data ))
console.log(user_data)
// perform write action
}
writeData('1',"test","test1");
writeData('2',"test","test2");
writeData('1',"test","test3");

Ok, so I had to rewrite the test because it doesn't work fine in the Snippet
So I made this for node.js:
var present = require('present');
function test(val,ud,fun) {
var k = 10000000;
var t = present();
for(var i=0; i<k;i++)
{
var uid = Math.ceil(Math.random()*1000);
fun(uid,ud,"value");
}
var tf = present()-t;
console.log("END "+val+" at "+tf);
return tf;
}
function setValue_Opp(uid,ud,value)
{
(ud[uid] || (ud[uid] = {})) && (ud[uid].value = value);
}
function setValue_Try(uid,ud,value)
{
try{ ud[uid].value = value}
catch(e){ ud[uid] = {}; setValue_Try(uid,ud,value)};
}
function setValue_Cond(uid,ud,value)
{
if(!ud[uid]) ud[uid] = {}
ud[uid].value = value;
}
var k1=0;
var k2=0;
var k3=0;
for(var i=0;i<10;i++){
k1+=test(1,{}, setValue_Cond);
k2+=test(2,{}, setValue_Try);
k3+=test(3,{}, setValue_Opp);
}
console.log(k1,k2,k3)
And in the end:
3244.328997004777 3695.0267750024796 3437.6855720058084
Which means:
The best is the classical if
The second best is condintional operators method
And the worst is the try-catch
So it seems the classics win
Edited:
With further tests thanks to #CRayen the best method is :
(!ud[uid] && (ud[uid] = {})) && (ud[uid].value = value);

Go to nextURL on local server

I need to go to the next URL after a correct answer on a quiz. I have an assignment where I'm creating a Quiz game with questions from a server at the university. When the person is correct the game gets the next question on the server with a XMLHttpRequest.
How can I somehow us a 'nextURL' here or is there no such term?
function Question () {
let quizQuestion = new window.XMLHttpRequest()
quizQuestion.open('GET', 'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/question/1')
quizQuestion.onload = function () {
let ourData = JSON.parse(quizQuestion.responseText)
let questionDiv = document.querySelector('#question')
questionDiv.innerText = ourData.question
}
quizQuestion.send()
answer()
}
function answer () {
let quizQuestion = new window.XMLHttpRequest()
let answerDiv = document.querySelector('#answer')
let button = document.createElement('button')
button.type = 'button'
button.setAttribute('id', 'send')
button.innerText = 'Answer'
answerDiv.appendChild(button)
button.addEventListener('click', function () {
quizQuestion.open('POST', 'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/answer/1')
quizQuestion.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json')
quizQuestion.send(JSON.stringify({answer: inputText.value}))
quizQuestion.onreadystatechange = function () {
console.log(quizQuestion.response)
let ourAnswer = JSON.parse(quizQuestion.responseText)
let answerDiv = document.querySelector('#answer')
answerDiv.innerText = ourAnswer.message
}
})
}
So if the value in ({answer: inputText.value}) is correct I want to go to the next question, which in this case is in quizQuestion.open('GET', 'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/question/21')

Based on what you've written, it looks like "next URL" at any given moment would be next in a list that you've been given, and it's up to you to figure out how to retrieve the appropriate one after a correct answer.
We'll assume the question numbers in your assignment are non-sequential (moving from question 1 to question 21 in your example), and that no questions repeat. Is there a list of the questions in the order you need on the server? If the list is in an array, can you access it based on the index of the current question?
If not, assuming you already know the list of questions in the desired order, you can do this in your own code. Suppose you put your question numbers into an array, and store the current question number, like so:
let questionNums = [1,21,14,9,6,23]
let currQuestionNum = questionNums[0]
This lets you concatenate the desired question number onto your base URL as
'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/question/' + currQuestionNum.toString().
Then, when you've checked if the answer is correct, you can move to the next question in the array:
if (questionNums.indexOf(currQuestionNum)+1 != questionNums.length){
currQuestionNum = questionNums[questionNums.indexOf(currQuestionNum)+1]
}
else{
//end the quiz
}
To use this with the concatenation example above, you'll need to modify your Question and answer functions to accept question numbers as parameters:
function Question (questionNum) {
let quizQuestion = new window.XMLHttpRequest()
quizQuestion.open('GET', 'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/question/'+questionNum)
quizQuestion.onload = function () {
let ourData = JSON.parse(quizQuestion.responseText)
let questionDiv = document.querySelector('#question')
questionDiv.innerText = ourData.question
}
quizQuestion.send()
answer(questionNum)
}
function answer (questionNum) {
let quizQuestion = new window.XMLHttpRequest()
let answerDiv = document.querySelector('#answer')
//Local answerNum variable
let answerNum = questionNum
let button = document.createElement('button')
button.type = 'button'
button.setAttribute('id', 'send')
button.innerText = 'Answer'
answerDiv.appendChild(button)
button.addEventListener('click', function () {
quizQuestion.open('POST', 'http://vhost3.lnu.se:20080/answer/'+answerNum)
quizQuestion.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json')
quizQuestion.send(JSON.stringify({answer: inputText.value}))
quizQuestion.onreadystatechange = function () {
console.log(quizQuestion.response)
let ourAnswer = JSON.parse(quizQuestion.responseText)
let answerDiv = document.querySelector('#answer')
answerDiv.innerText = ourAnswer.message
}
})
}
Note the local answerNum variable - this is added so that, if quesitonNum changes before the anonymous function is called on a click event, the value won't be affected.