Develop Reference

Javascript context in inner class object

Prior to using ES6 we could instantiate a "class" like so...
var Animal = function(){}
and then...
var dog = new Animal()
the context within the "class" will be the class (instance) itself
var Animal = function( name ){
this.name = name;
this.getName = function(){
// the context here (this) is the class (Animal)
return this.name; // works well
}
}
The question is, if I wouldn't want to pollute the root scope and use sub-objects, for various uses, then the context would become the object in which the function is being kept
var Animal = function( name ){
this.utilities = {
this.getName : function(){
// the context here is the 'utilities' object so...
return this.name // wouldn't work
}
}
}
of course we could always use something in the form of
dog.utilities.getName.call(dog)
but this would be kind of long and uncomfortable...
is there a way to create the 'utilities' object and apply the context to all of its functions to point back to the root scope? without having to use call and apply every time? (an answer without using ES6 would be great...)

One way to ensure that this is what you want it to be in the various utilities functions is to use arrow functions for them, since arrow functions close over the this where they're defined:
class Animal {
constructor(name) {
this.name = name;
this.utilities = {
getName: () => { // This is an arrow function
return this.name; //
} //
};
}
}
const dog = new Animal("dog");
console.log(dog.utilities.getName()); // "dog"
This is basically the ES2015+ version of the old var t = this; solution:
function Animal(name) {
var t = this;
this.name = name;
this.utilities = {
getName() {
return t.name;
}
};
}
var dog = new Animal("dog");
console.log(dog.utilities.getName()); // "dog"
In both cases, this means that you're creating new function objects for each individual instance of Animal (the code will be shared between those objects, but the objects are distinct). That's fine unless there are going to be a lot of Animal instances.
Alternately, you could have a helper that you pass the instance to:
const Animal = (function() {
class Utilities {
constructor(animal) {
this.a = animal;
}
getName() {
return this.a.name;
}
}
class Animal {
constructor(name) {
this.name = name;
this.utilities = new Utilities(this);
}
}
return Animal;
})();
const dog = new Animal("dog");
console.log(dog.utilities.getName()); // "dog"
or
var Animal = (function() {
function Utilities(animal) {
this.a = animal;
}
Utilities.prototype.getName = function getName() {
return this.a.name;
};
return function Animal(name) {
this.name = name;
this.utilities = new Utilities(this);
}
})();
var dog = new Animal("dog");
console.log(dog.utilities.getName()); // "dog"
...which lets utilities reuse its function objects via Utilities.prototype.

You could probably use the following:
var utilities = function (context) {
return {
getName: function () {
console.log(context.name)
}
}
}
var Animal = function( name ){
this.name = name
this.utilities = utilities.call(null, this)
}
var dog = new Animal('dog')
dog.utilities.getName()
But, if you are okay doing this: dog.getName() instead of dog.utilities.getName() then you might have a cleaner solution (IMO) as follows:
var Animal = function( name ){
this.name = name
}
var utilities = {
getName: function () {
console.log(this.name)
}
};
Object.assign(Animal.prototype, utilities)
var dog = new Animal('dog')
dog.getName()
Let me know if that works. Thanks.
NEW ANSWER:
var UTILITIES = {
getName: function () {
console.log(this.self.name)
}
}
var Animal = function (name) {
this.name = name
this.utilities = Object.create(UTILITIES, {
self: {
value: this
}
})
}
var dog = new Animal('dog')
dog.utilities.getName()
Variation includes the use of a 'self' attribute which points to the instance of interest. Now, this could look more intuitive.

You can use getter methods. I find them very useful for cases where I need formatted value. This way, the utilities/ logic is only known to this class and is not exposed outside.
function Person(fname, lname) {
var _fname = fname;
var _lname = lname;
Object.defineProperty(this, 'fullName', {
get: function(){
return _fname + ' ' + _lname
}
});
Object.defineProperty(this, 'firstName', {
get: function(){
return _fname
},
set: function(value) {
_fname = value;
}
});
Object.defineProperty(this, 'lastName', {
get: function(){
return _lname
},
set: function(value) {
_lname = value;
}
});
}
var person = new Person('hello', 'world');
console.log(person.fullName);
person.firstName = 'Hello';
console.log(person.fullName);
person.lastName = 'World'
console.log(person.fullName);

How to write JavaScript prototype chain

How to create an object of Manager with name "joe" and create subordinate "John" and add Salary to John.
Ex. var result = new Manager("Joe").getSubordinate("John").addSalary(10000);
function Manager(name){
this.name = name;
this.getSubordinate = function(submane){
return submane;
}
}
var result = new Manager('Joe');
I am able to write down so far.

if you want to chain the functions you need to return the objects like if you have a class Manager and one of Ordinate:
function Manager(name){
this.name = name;
this.subordinate = {John : new Subordinate('John')};
this.getSubordinate = function getSubordinate(subName){
return this.subordinate[subName];
};
}
function Subordinate(name){
this.name = name;
this.salary = 0;
this.addSalary = function addSalary(salary){
this.salary = salary;
return salary;
};
}
var result = new Manager('Joe').getSubordinate("John").addSalary(10000);
but i think you want as a result a Manager object so I recomend to use this way
function Manager(name){
var self = this;
this.name = name;
this.subordinate = {John : new Subordinate('John')};
this.getSubordinate = function getSubordinate(subName){
return this.subordinate[subName];
};
this.addSalaryToSubordinate = function addSalaryToSubordinate(subName, salary){
self.getSubordinate(subName).addSalary(salary);
return self;
};
}
function Subordinate(name){
this.name = name;
this.salary = 0;
this.addSalary = function addSalary(salary){
this.salary = salary;
return salary;
};
}
var result = new Manager('Joe').addSalaryToSubordinate ("John", 10000);

Create dynamic prototype like jquery function chain

I try to create a dynamic prototype like jQuery and able to function chain, but I got error without use new and inside of function, return this object correct?
(function() {
var peopleDynamicProto = function(name, age, state) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.state = state;
if (typeof this.printPerson !== 'function') {
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.printPerson = function() {
console.log(this.name + ',' + this.age + ',' + this.state);
return this;
};
}
if (!this.hasOwnProperty('gender')) {
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.gender = 'male';
return this;
}
}
window.peopleDynamicProto = peopleDynamicProto;
return peopleDynamicProto;
})();
//var person1 = new peopleDynamicProto('john', 23,'CA');
//person1.printPerson();
peopleDynamicProto('john', 23, 'CA').printPerson(); //got error
Anyone know where is the problem?

You have to use "new" if you want to create a new object based off a prototype.
I am not sure what you are trying to do exactly, and why you are trying to create the prototype dynamically. I'm not going to say 100% sure, but I don't think jQuery does that (plus it looks like a very bad practice).
If you're trying to do something like jQuery, where your class is chainable and can be chained as (new peopleDynamicProto(...)).print() or peopleDynamicProto(...).print(), then you can do something like this:
function peopleDynamicProto(name) {
if (this instanceof peopleDynamicProto) {
/* initialize attributes here */
this.name = name;
} else {
return new peopleDynamicProto(name);
}
}
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.printPerson = function() {
console.log( this.name );
return this;
}
Now you should be able call it in both ways:
peopleDynamicProto('john').printPerson();
(new peopleDynamicProto('john')).printPerson();
If you don't care about supporting both ways, then you can just return an object, e.g.:
function peopleDynamicProto(name) {
return {
name: name,
printPerson = function() {
console.log( this.name );
return this;
}
};
}
peopleDynamicProto('John').printPerson();
(There are other ways of doing that)

I think the reason why you are getting such an error is because what you are returning here is a function not an object but you are trying to access a property of an object.
For eg,
If you write as:
**
var myFun = function(){
this.message = "TEST";
}
**
you cannot access myFUN.message because here myFun is a function not an object of this function constructor.
To access its property, you need to do something like
(new myFun()).message;
Similarly in you case what you return is "peopleDynamicProto" which is a function only, not an object of this function constructor.
To access method printPerson (which is a member), you need to create an instance of peopleDynamicProto and access its member

I guess you missed the new operator- see this for reference
The new operator creates an instance of a user-defined object type or
of one of the built-in object types that has a constructor function.
See demo below:
(function() {
var peopleDynamicProto = function(name, age, state) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.state = state;
if (typeof this.printPerson !== 'function') {
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.printPerson = function() {
console.log(this.name + ',' + this.age + ',' + this.state);
return this;
};
}
if (!this.hasOwnProperty('gender')) {
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.gender = 'male';
return this;
}
}
window.peopleDynamicProto = peopleDynamicProto;
return peopleDynamicProto;
})();
var person1 = new peopleDynamicProto('john', 23,'CA');
person1.printPerson();
new peopleDynamicProto('john', 23, 'CA').printPerson(); //got error

you cant create prototype inside contructor. see this explanation
defining-prototype-methods-inside-the-constructor
use this keyword instead of prototype:
(function(){
var peopleDynamicProto = function(name, age, state){
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.state = state;
this.printPerson = function(){
console.log( this.name + ',' + this.age + ',' + this.state );
return this;
}
if( !this.hasOwnProperty('gender') ){
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.gender = 'male';
return this;
}
}
window.peopleDynamicProto = peopleDynamicProto;
return peopleDynamicProto;
})();
peopleDynamicProto('john', 23,'CA').printPerson();
or use prototype outside constructor(this is better since function object not recreated each time object created)
(function(){
var peopleDynamicProto = function(name, age, state){
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.state = state;
if( !this.hasOwnProperty('gender') ){
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.gender = 'male';
return this;
}
}
if( typeof this.printPerson !== 'function' ){
peopleDynamicProto.prototype.printPerson = function(){
console.log( this.name + ',' + this.age + ',' + this.state );
return this;
};
}
window.peopleDynamicProto = peopleDynamicProto;
return peopleDynamicProto;
})();

JavaScript OOP: Uncaught TypeError: is not a function

Have trouble with object creation. Console says that something wrong in the last line. Please tell how it should be, I more familar with Java, so this is little bit confusing for me.
var dog = {
name:"Dog",
age:"11",
getName : function() {
alert(this.name);
}
}
function Dog(name, age) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
var d1 = new Dog("Rex", 8);
d1.getName();

Your dog is just a simple Object literal,
that means that your getName is bound to it, not to your Dog class.
You can make that function a method of Dog instead:
/*var dog = {
name:"Dog",
age:"11",
getName : function() {
alert(this.name);
}
}*/
function Dog(name, age) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
Dog.prototype.getName = function() {
console.log( this.name );
}
var d1 = new Dog("Rex", 8);
d1.getName(); // "Rex"
Here's a variant that uses your settings "defaults"
function Dog() {
this.name = "Dog"; // Default name
this.age = 11; // Default age
}
Dog.prototype.getName = function() {
console.log( this.name );
}
var d1 = new Dog();
d1.name = "Rex"; // Override default name
d1.getName(); // "Rex"

You can use class with syntaxic sugar to properly create objects in ES6.
In your exemple that would write like this :
'use strict';
class Dog{
constructor(name, age){
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
getName(){
console.log(this.name);
}
}
let doggy = new Dog("krypto", 125);
doggy.getName();

Traditional OO in JavaScript
function Dog(name, age) {
this.name = name || "Dog";// if the name is not given, it defaults to "Dog"
this.age = age || "11";
}
Dog.prototype.getName = function() {
alert(this.name);
}
var d1 = new Dog("Rex", 8);
d1.getName();
More Explicit OO in JavaScript
function createDog(name, age) {
// create a new dog and return it
var dog = {
name: name || "Dog",// if the name is not given, it defaults to "Dog"
age: age || "11"
};
return dog;
}
createDog.getName = function(dog) {
// explicit dog as 1st parameter
alert(dog.name);
}
//createDog is a normal function that returns something, no "new" needed
var d1 = createDog("Rex", 8);
createDog.getName(d1);

Accessing this variable from method instance

How do you access the this object from another object instance?
var containerObj = {
Person: function(name){
this.name = name;
}
}
containerObj.Person.prototype.Bag = function(color){
this.color = color;
}
containerObj.Person.prototype.Bag.getOwnerName(){
return name; //I would like to access the name property of this instance of Person
}
var me = new Person("Asif");
var myBag = new me.Bag("black");
myBag.getOwnerName()// Want the method to return Asif

Don't put the constructor on the prototype of another class. Use a factory pattern:
function Person(name) {
this.name = name;
}
Person.prototype.makeBag = function(color) {
return new Bag(color, this);
};
function Bag(color, owner) {
this.color = color;
this.owner = owner;
}
Bag.prototype.getOwnerName = function() {
return this.owner.name;
};
var me = new Person("Asif");
var myBag = me.makeBag("black");
myBag.getOwnerName() // "Asif"
Related patterns to deal with this problem: Prototype for private sub-methods, Javascript - Is it a bad idea to use function constructors within closures?