Develop Reference

Javascript prototype function override when x

In my case, I'm using the Phaser framework.
So in this example I'm extending the Group class of phaser. Every 'actor' class (Sprite, Group, ...) calls upon the update() prototype every few miliseconds.
My idea was to extend this function only when the application runs on a desktop (so not on a phone).
for example:
var MousePointer = function (game, parent, name) {
Phaser.Group.call(this, game, parent, name);
this.init();
};
MousePointer.prototype = Object.create(Phaser.Group.prototype);
MousePointer.prototype.constructor = MousePointer;
MousePointer.prototype.init = function () {
// ... init
};
MousePointer.prototype.update = function () {
// Do something when on desktop
};
I can't possibly use an if clausule in the update() function to check whether the player is on dekstop/tablet/phone. So is there a way to actually override the prototype on initialisation?
for example (pseudocode):
if(onPhone)
MousePointer.prototype.update = parent.prototype.update;
else
MousePointer.prototype.update = this.update;

Well, you've kind of already written the answer for yourself, haven't you? This code (not inside the init method).
if(onPhone) {
MousePointer.prototype.update = function(){//Phone implementation};
} else {
MousePointer.prototype.update = function(){//Other implementation};
}
I advise against starting off with the "regular" function and then potentially overriding it, since you're just declaring it for nothing.

I think a better way to do this would be to write two different classes that shares the same parent, and then write different update() implementations for them. Then you can just do something like:
if(phone) {
var obj = new PhoneMousePointerObject();
} else {
var obj = new DesktopMousePointerObject();
}
// ... later
obj.update()

javascript method is undefined

I'm trying to learn javascript. As part of that effort, I am writing a basic minimax AI. I have the following methods:
Computer.prototype.expand = function(node) {
/* adds all state action pairs to the node.successors array */
};
Computer.prototype.getMove = function(boardAr) {
console.log("getMove");
var b2 = boardAr.slice();
var i;
var action;
this.root = new TNode(b2, this.mark);
this.root.AIPlayedLast = false;
this.expand(this.root);
this.root.successors.forEach(this.minVal);
action = maxNode(root.successors);
this.draw(action);
registerMove(action, this.mark);
};
Computer.prototype.minVal = function(node) {
if (node.isTerminal) {
return;
} else {
this.expand(node);
node.successors.forEach(maxVal);
node.utility = this.minNode(node.successors).utility;
}
};
When the getMove method is called the subsequent call to expand goes as expected. But, when expand is called from the minVal method I get: Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function. I'm utterly perplexed by this. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think the reason is in this row:
this.root.successors.forEach(this.minVal);
You pass minVal as contextless reference, it will not be called in a context of your Computer instance (this)
Here is how you can improve it:
var self = this;
this.root.successors.forEach(function() {
self.minVal.apply(self,arguments);
})

The simplest and quickest solution is just to change
this.root.successors.forEach(this.minVal);
to
this.root.successors.forEach(this.minVal.bind(this))
This solves the problem in the same as the other answers, but in a way some might consider more compact.
Or, you can pass a "this" to the forEach function as the second argument, a somewhat under-utilized feature of forEach:
this.root.successors.forEach(this.minVal, this)
This feature is also available on other Array prototype methods that take functions, including map, filter, some, every (but not reduce and reduceRight).
ES6 arrow functions handle this differently, so you can do
this.root.successors(forEach(e => this.minVal(e)));

The forEach() method might be called for each of the successors. So, you pass the Computer::minVal method (this.minVal), but with the TNode(?) as this-pointer. Try:
var that = this;
this.root.successors.forEach(function(node) {
that.minVal(node));
});

What does Jquery.Recup mean?

well i'm confuse about the line witch says "$.Recup ..." I don't know why it is named the same as the plugin name and what it's for.
(function ($) {
$.fn.Recup = function () {
var parametros = {
};
var tsic = true;
$.Recup = function (opciones) {
var Metodos = {
};
return Metodos;
};
$.Recup.anterior = function () {
};
$.Recup.siguiente = function () {
}
})(jQuery);
I'm refering to this code, What does $.Recup exactly do?it would be perfect if someone gives me an example please
$.Recup = function (opciones) {
var Metodos = {
};
return Metodos;
};

In this case it appears to be a questionable plugin design - especially since $.Recup is not assigned until $.fn.Recup is first called.
However, if it is "appropriately and/or well written" is another question that requires context of (intended) usage. For what it is worth, I would reject this code as written as it smells of misunderstood design and widely scoped side-effects.
Anyway, the way the function is assigned determines how the method can be called.
// let $ be jQuery, then:
$.fn.foo = function () { console.log("foo") }
$.bar = function () { console.log("bar") }
$.foo() // TypeError: $.foo is not a function
$.bar() // -> "bar"
$("sel").foo() // -> "foo"
$("sel").bar() // TypeError: $(..).bar is not a function
That is, $.fn.foo is like .each() - it does something based on the currently selected elements (which are represented by this). On the other hand, $.bar is like jQuery.each() - it provides a way to iterate over a general collection but is not related to a specific set of (previously) selected elements.
In general, a plugin should only add a single entry to $.fn, but directly adding to $ may be useful to expose utility functions - it should definitely be done with care.
Here are two approaches that fix the issue of incorrectly leaked data:
$.fn.Recup = function () {
var parametros = ..
var tsic = true;
// Most trivial change; then use recup in this scope
// (or child scopes) only. There is no $.Recup - yay!
var recup = function (opciones) {
};
// ..
}
Or, just expose as local methods:
$.fn.Recup = function () {
var parametros = ..
var tsic = true;
function anterior () {
}
function siguiente () {
}
// Just use simple functions in scope
}

This is a jQuery plugin.
jQuery.fn is an alias to jQuery's prototype. So this line lets you call the Recup function on instances of jQuery :
$('#myid').Recup();
Here's the documentation on creating jQuery plugins.

Referencing a parent object in callback functions with jQuery

I've a page that is generated dynamically, and that includes certain number (user-dynamically-defined) of advanced scatter plot charts. I intend to create a JavaScript object which defines the scatter plot itself, i.e. which takes some parameters, some data, and some container ID, and which will create the various elements needed to obtain the visualisation: canvas elements, toolbar, etc.. To do so, I started with the following (simplified) class:
(function () {
if (!this.namespace) { this.namespace = {};}
this._instances = { index: 0 };
this.namespace.ScatterPlot = function (containerId, file, options) {
_instances.index ++;
this.id = this.containerId+"-"+_instances.index ;
this.containerId = containerId ;
_instances [this.id] = this;
// ... Do stuffs with file and options ...
// Initialize elements once the DOM is ready
$(this.updateDOM);
}
namespace.ScatterPlot.prototype = {
updateDOM: function() {
$("<canvas>")
.click(clickCallback)
.appendTo("#"+this.containerId);
//(...)
},
clickCallback: function() {
alert("Some click: "+this.id);
}
}
})();
Each object can be created with:
var v1 = new namespace.ScatterPlot("container1", "foo", "foo");
var v2 = new namespace.ScatterPlot("container2", "foo", "foo");
There are two problems here: (1) in updateDOM, 'this' does not make reference to my initial ScatterPlot object, which means that this example will never work, and (2) similarly, the clickCallback will not be able reference the scatterplot with 'this' either.
I'm new to javascript, and I'm still struggeling to understand the logic of OO programming in javascript, so the question is: I'm I taking the wrong direction here ? After some digging, I could roughly achieve what I wanted by passing this to updateDOM:
$(this.updateDOM(this)); // This blows my eyes but does the trick, at least partially
updateDOM: function(that) {
$("<canvas>")
.click(that.clickCallback)
.appendTo("#"+that.containerId);
//(...)
},
clickCallback: function() {
// Not working either... Should pass 'that' to the function too
alert("Some click: "+this.id);
}
But I don't feel this patters to be very elegant... And the problem is not fixed either regarding the click callback.
Thoughts ?

Have a look at MDN's introduction to the this keyword.
The standard ways of dealing with that issue are using a that variable - not as an argument, but in a separate function:
var that = this;
$(function() {
that.updateDOM();
});
// or
$(this.getClickCallback());
...
namespace.ScatterPlot.prototype.getClickCallback = function() {
var that = this;
return function clickCallback(e) {
alert("Some click: "+that.id);
};
};
Alternatively, you can always use .bind() (or $.proxy for older browsers) which do quite what the second example does in a more generic way:
$(this.clickCallback.bind(this));

Javascript function hooks

EDIT: OK, I believe the following solutions are valid:
Use the jQuery AOP plugin. It basically wraps the old function together with the hook into a function sandwich and reassigns it to the old function name. This causes nesting of functions with each new added hook.
If jQuery is not usable for you, just pillage the source code, there did not seem to be any jQuery dependencies in the plugin, and the source is simple and very small.
Have an object describing all hooks and their targets and one to store the initial unmodified function. When adding a new hook, the wrapping would be redone around the original function, instead of re-wrap the the previous wrapping function.
You escape nested functions, and get two objects to handle instead. Potentially, this could also mean easier hook handling, if you add/remove hooks often and out of order.
I'll go with the first, since it's already done, and I don't have performance to worry about. And since the original functions are not affected, even if I switch hooking methods, I'll only need to redo the hook adding, which might be just some simple search&replace operations.
Hi,
Is it possible to create a mechanism, in which function A might have a set of hooks(functions that will execute before/after function A)?
Ideally, function A would not be aware of hooking functionality, so that I do not have to modify the source code of function A to call the hooks. Something like:
A = function(){
alert("I'm a naive function");
};
B = function(){
alert("I'm having a piggyback ride on function A!"+
"And the fool doesn't even know it!");
};
addHook(B, A)//add hook B to function A
A()
//getting alerts "I'm a naive function"/"I'm having a
//piggyback ride on function A! And the fool doesn't even know it!"
I've been trying to hack something up for a couple of hours, but so far no luck.

Might not be pretty but it seems to work...
<script>
function A(x) { alert(x); return x; }
function B() { alert(123); }
function addHook(functionB, functionA, parent)
{
if (typeof parent == 'undefined')
parent = window;
for (var i in parent)
{
if (parent[i] === functionA)
{
parent[i] = function()
{
functionB();
return functionA.apply(this, arguments)
}
break;
}
}
}
addHook(B, A);
A(2);
</script>

Take a look at jQuery's AOP plugin. In general, google "javascript aspect oriented programming".

Very simple answer:
function someFunction() { alert("Bar!") }
var placeholder=someFunction;
someFunction=function() {
alert("Foo?");
placeholder();
}

This answer is not definitive, but rather demonstrative of a different technique than those offered thus far. This leverages the fact that a function in Javascript is a first-class object, and as such, a) you can pass it as a value to another function and b) you can add properties to it. Combine these traits with function's built-in "call" (or "apply") methods, and you have yourself a start toward a solution.
var function_itself = function() {
alert('in function itself');
}
function_itself.PRE_PROCESS = function() {
alert('in pre_process');
}
function_itself.POST_PROCESS = function() {
alert('in post_process');
}
var function_processor = function(func) {
if (func.PRE_PROCESS) {
func.PRE_PROCESS.call();
}
func.call();
if (func.POST_PROCESS) {
func.POST_PROCESS.call();
}
}

The following function will give you before and after hooks that can be stacked. So if you have a number of potential functions that need to run before the given function or after the given function then this would be a working solution. This solution does not require jQuery and uses native array methods (no shims required). It should also be context sensitive so if you are calling the original function with a context if should run each before and after function likewise.
// usage:
/*
function test(x) {
alert(x);
}
var htest = hookable(test);
htest.addHook("before", function (x) {
alert("Before " + x);
})
htest.addHook("after", function (x) {
alert("After " + x);
})
htest("test") // => Before test ... test ... After test
*/
function hookable(fn) {
var ifn = fn,
hooks = {
before : [],
after : []
};
function hookableFunction() {
var args = [].slice.call(arguments, 0),
i = 0,
fn;
for (i = 0; !!hooks.before[i]; i += 1) {
fn = hooks.before[i];
fn.apply(this, args);
}
ifn.apply(this, arguments);
for (i = 0; !!hooks.after[i]; i++) {
fn = hooks.after[i];
fn.apply(this, args);
}
}
hookableFunction.addHook = function (type, fn) {
if (hooks[type] instanceof Array) {
hooks[type].push(fn);
} else {
throw (function () {
var e = new Error("Invalid hook type");
e.expected = Object.keys(hooks);
e.got = type;
return e;
}());
}
};
return hookableFunction;
}

Here's what I did, might be useful in other applications like this:
//Setup a hooking object
a={
hook:function(name,f){
aion.hooks[name]=f;
}
}a.hooks={
//default hooks (also sets the object)
};
//Add a hook
a.hook('test',function(){
alert('test');
});
//Apply each Hook (can be done with for)
$.each(a.hooks,function(index,f){
f();
});

I don't know if this will be useful. You do need to modify the original function but only once and you don't need to keep editing it for firing hooks
https://github.com/rcorp/hooker