Im trying to store the stats of 'this' in my javscript object so that later on in my application I can return 'this' to a previous state. I thought I could accomplish using a closure but so far I haven't successful. My idea was to do something like this
function SavedFeature() {
var self = this;
this.savedItem;
this.storeState = function() {
this.savedItem = storeClosure();
}
function storeClosure() {
var closure = self;
return function() {
return closure;
};
};
//other things the user can change...
}
so later on in my application if I needed to return to the point when I called storeState I could just do
//return the object I put in my closure
var backToNormal = savedFeature.savedItem();
that doesn't work though because any changes to my savedFeature object after I call storeState() are being reflected in the item im retrieving from called savedItem(). I'm guessing this is happening because closure is being set to a reference of self instead of copied to a new instance.
Is there anyway to store the state of my entire object in a closure like this or do I need to store this some other way.
The issue you are running into is that in js objects are passed by reference. This means that all changes performed on your object will apply to your obj.savedItem property.
Fix: Store a deep clone into obj.savedItem
this.storeState = function() {
this.savedItem = _.cloneDeep(this); // or _.clone(this, true);
}
cloneDeep is a lodash method, most js libs supply one of their own, e.g. jQuery's $.extend, etc.
You could easily roll your own deep clone function, look up the options on this thread.
A complete example with jQuery:
function SavedFeature() {
this.savedItem;
this.clone = function() {
return $.extend(true, {}, this);
},
this.storeState = function() {
this.savedItem = this.clone();
}
}
Doing it this way allows you adapt to different environments by changing your clone method as it is facading the used library method.
There are dozens of ways how to implement it. I will do just simple one. saving property.
Take into account if you want to save entire object you need to do deep copy of the object.
this is your feature:
function SavedFeature() {
this.savedItem = {'isNew': true};
this.stateMachine = new StateMachine();
}
this is some kind of state machine:
function StateMachine () {
var state = { 'isNew' : null};
function set(newState) {
state.isNew = newState.isNew;
}
function get() {
return state.isNew;
}
return {
get : get,
set : set
};
}
which, know how to store isNew property
and a working sample:
var savedFeature = new SavedFeature();
console.log(savedFeature.savedItem); // true by default
savedFeature.stateMachine.set(savedFeature.savedItem); // saving state.
savedFeature.savedItem.isNew = false; // modifying state
console.log(savedFeature.savedItem); // return false, because of statement above
var restoredState = savedFeature.stateMachine.get(); // restoring state
console.log(restoredState); // true
savedFeature.savedItem.isNew = restoredState.isNew;
console.log(savedFeature.savedItem); // true
you can adjust that code, and reach functionality whatever you need. hope that helps
Related
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()
I have 2 services and would like to update a variable in the 1st service from the 2nd service.
In a controller, I am setting a scope variable to the getter of the 1st service.
The problem is, the view attached to the controller doesn't update when the service variable changes UNLESS I use angular.extend/copy. It seems like I should just be able to set selectedBuilding below without having to use extend/copy. Am I doing something wrong, or is this how you have to do it?
controller
app.controller('SelectedBuildingCtrl', function($scope, BuildingsService) {
$scope.building = BuildingsService.getSelectedBuilding();
});
service 1
app.factory('BuildingsService', function() {
var buildingsList = [];
var selectedBuilding = {};
// buildingsList populated up here
...
var setSelectedBuilding = function(buildingId) {
angular.extend(selectedBuilding, _.find(
buildingsList, {'building_id': buildingId})
);
};
var getSelectedBuilding = function() {
return selectedBuilding;
};
...
return {
setSelectedBuilding: setSelectedBuilding,
getSelectedBuilding: getSelectedBuilding
}
});
service 2
app.factory('AnotherService', function(BuildingsService) {
...
// something happens, gives me a building id
BuildingsService.setSelectedBuilding(building_id);
...
});
Thanks in advance!
When you execute this code:
$scope.building = BuildingsService.getSelectedBuilding();
$scope.building is copied a reference to the same object in memory as your service's selectedBuilding. When you assign another object to selectedBuilding, the $scope.building still references to the old object. That's why the view is not updated and you have to use angular.copy/extend.
You could try the following solution to avoid this problem if you need to assign new objects to your selectedBuilding:
app.factory('BuildingsService', function() {
var buildingsList = [];
var building = { //create another object to **hang** the reference
selectedBuilding : {}
}
// buildingsList populated up here
...
var setSelectedBuilding = function(buildingId) {
//just assign a new object to building.selectedBuilding
};
var getSelectedBuilding = function() {
return building; //return the building instead of selectedBuilding
};
...
return {
setSelectedBuilding: setSelectedBuilding,
getSelectedBuilding: getSelectedBuilding
}
});
With this solution, you have to update your views to replace $scope.building bindings to $scope.building.selectedBuilding.
In my opinion, I will stick to angular.copy/extend to avoid this unnecessary complexity.
I dont believe you need an extend in your service. You should be able to watch the service directly and respond to the changes:
app.controller('SelectedBuildingCtrl', function($scope, BuildingsService) {
// first function is evaluated on every $digest cycle
$scope.$watch(function(scope){
return BuildingsService.getSelectedBuilding();
// second function is a callback that provides the changes
}, function(newVal, oldVal, scope) {
scope.building = newVal;
}
});
More on $watch: https://code.angularjs.org/1.2.16/docs/api/ng/type/$rootScope.Scope
One of the issues I've been encountering again and again is the reference to the this pointer changing. Take the below example. I want to create a Server object, and store the resolution of the camera as a property. This is not possible, as this.resolution applies to a property in the camera callback object instead of the Server object.
function Server(options) {
this.settings = options.settings;
this.camera = options.camera;
// Grab camera resolution
this.camera.getImageResolution(function(err, data) {
this.resolution = data;
});
}
Server.prototype.start = function() {
console.log(this.resolution); // This outputs an undefined variable error
}
In the past, I have worked around this by renaming this to self temporarily to call functions. This does not work when I am storing a value. I would need to to pass this into the callback, which I obviously cannot do.
Additionally, I cannot use apply, as that would not allow camera.getImageResolution to call its own methods.
What is the best route to take in solving this issue? Please ask for clarification if my question is vague.
function Server(options) {
var self = this;
self.settings = options.settings;
self.camera = options.camera;
// Grab camera resolution
this.camera.getImageResolution(function(err, data) {
self.resolution = data;
});
}
Server.prototype.start = function () {
return this.resolution;
}
var server = new Server({options: {...}, settings: {...}});
server.camera.getImageResolution();
// after getImageResolution's asynch method has completed
server.start() // === data parameter from getImageResolution's asynch method callback
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));
Hi I'm trying to author a jQuery plugin and I need to have methods accessible to elements after they are initialized as that kind of object, e.g.:
$('.list').list({some options}); //This initializes .list as a list
//now I want it to have certain methods like:
$('.list').find('List item'); //does some logic that I need
I tried with
$.fn.list = function (options) {
return this.each(function() {
// some code here
this.find = function(test) {
//function logic
}
}
}
and several other different attempts, I just can't figure out how to do it.
EDIT:
I'll try to explain this better.
I'm trying to turn a table into a list, basically like a list on a computer with column headers and sortable items and everything inbetween. You initiate the table with a command like
$(this).list({
data: [{id: 1, name:'My First List Item', date:'2010/06/26'}, {id:2, name:'Second', date:'2010/05/20'}]
});
.list will make the <tbody> sortable and do a few other initial tasks, then add the following methods to the element:
.findItem(condition) will allow you to find a certain item by a condition (like findItem('name == "Second"')
.list(condition) will list all items that match a given condition
.sort(key) will sort all items by a given key
etc.
What's the best way to go about doing this?
If you want these methods to be available on any jQuery object, you will have to add each one of them to jQuery's prototype. The reason is every time you call $(".list") a fresh new object is created, and any methods you attached to a previous such object will get lost.
Assign each method to jQuery's prototype as:
jQuery.fn.extend({
list: function() { .. },
findItem: function() { .. },
sort: function() { .. }
});
The list method here is special as it can be invoked on two occasions. First, when initializing the list, and second when finding particular items by a condition. You would have to differentiate between these two cases somehow - either by argument type, or some other parameter.
You can also use the data API to throw an exception if these methods are called for an object that has not been initialized with the list plugin. When ('xyz').list({ .. }) is first called, store some state variable in the data cache for that object. When any of the other methods - "list", "findItem", or "sort" are later invoked, check if the object contains that state variable in its data cache.
A better approach would be to namespace your plugin so that list() will return the extended object. The three extended methods can be called on its return value. The interface would be like:
$('selector').list({ ... });
$('selector').list().findOne(..);
$('selector').list().findAll(..);
$('selector').list().sort();
Or save a reference to the returned object the first time, and call methods on it directly.
var myList = $('selector').list({ ... });
myList.findOne(..);
myList.findAll(..);
myList.sort();
I found this solution here:
http://www.virgentech.com/blog/2009/10/building-object-oriented-jquery-plugin.html
This seems to do exactly what I need.
(function($) {
var TaskList = function(element, options)
{
var $elem = $(element);
var options = $.extend({
tasks: [],
folders: []
}, options || {});
this.changed = false;
this.selected = {};
$elem.sortable({
revert: true,
opacity: 0.5
});
this.findTask = function(test, look) {
var results = [];
for (var i = 0,l = options.tasks.length; i < l; i++)
{
var t = options['tasks'][i];
if (eval(test))
{
results.push(options.tasks[i]);
}
}
return results;
}
var debug = function(msg) {
if (window.console) {
console.log(msg);
}
}
}
$.fn.taskList = function(options)
{
return this.each(function() {
var element = $(this);
if (element.data('taskList')) { return; }
var taskList = new TaskList(this, options);
element.data('taskList', taskList);
});
}
})(jQuery);
Then I have
$('.task-list-table').taskList({
tasks: eval('(<?php echo mysql_real_escape_string(json_encode($tasks)); ?>)'),
folders: eval('(<?php echo mysql_real_escape_string(json_encode($folders)); ?>)')
});
var taskList = $('.task-list-table').data('taskList');
and I can use taskList.findTask(condition);
And since the constructor has $elem I can also edit the jQuery instance for methods like list(condition) etc. This works perfectly.
this.each isn't needed. This should do:
$.fn.list = function (options) {
this.find = function(test) {
//function logic
};
return this;
};
Note that you'd be overwriting jQuery's native find method, and doing so isn't recommended.
Also, for what it's worth, I don't think this is a good idea. jQuery instances are assumed to only have methods inherited from jQuery's prototype object, and as such I feel what you want to do would not be consistent with the generally accepted jQuery-plugin behaviour -- i.e. return the this object (the jQuery instance) unchanged.