Develop Reference

How to let callee know who is the caller [duplicate]

function main()
{
Hello();
}
function Hello()
{
// How do you find out the caller function is 'main'?
}
Is there a way to find out the call stack?

Note that this solution is deprecated and should no longer be used according to MDN documentation
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/caller
function Hello()
{
alert("caller is " + Hello.caller);
}
Note that this feature is non-standard, from Function.caller:
Non-standard
This feature is non-standard and is not on a standards track. Do not use it on production sites facing the Web: it will not work for every user. There may also be large incompatibilities between implementations and the behavior may change in the future.
The following is the old answer from 2008, which is no longer supported in modern Javascript:
function Hello()
{
alert("caller is " + arguments.callee.caller.toString());
}

StackTrace
You can find the entire stack trace using browser specific code. The good thing is someone already made it; here is the project code on GitHub.
But not all the news is good:
It is really slow to get the stack trace so be careful (read this for more).
You will need to define function names for the stack trace to be legible. Because if you have code like this:
var Klass = function kls() {
this.Hello = function() { alert(printStackTrace().join('\n\n')); };
}
new Klass().Hello();
Google Chrome will alert ... kls.Hello ( ... but most browsers will expect a function name just after the keyword function and will treat it as an anonymous function. An not even Chrome will be able to use the Klass name if you don't give the name kls to the function.
And by the way, you can pass to the function printStackTrace the option {guess: true} but I didn't find any real improvement by doing that.
Not all browsers give you the same information. That is, parameters, code column, etc.
Caller Function Name
By the way, if you only want the name of the caller function (in most browsers, but not IE) you can use:
arguments.callee.caller.name
But note that this name will be the one after the function keyword. I found no way (even on Google Chrome) to get more than that without getting the code of the whole function.
Caller Function Code
And summarizing the rest of the best answers (by Pablo Cabrera, nourdine, and Greg Hewgill). The only cross-browser and really safe thing you can use is:
arguments.callee.caller.toString();
Which will show the code of the caller function. Sadly, that is not enough for me, and that is why I give you tips for the StackTrace and the caller function Name (although they are not cross-browser).

I usually use (new Error()).stack in Chrome.
The nice thing is that this also gives you the line numbers where the caller called the function. The downside is that it limits the length of the stack to 10, which is why I came to this page in the first place.
(I'm using this to collect callstacks in a low-level constructor during execution, to view and debug later, so setting a breakpoint isn't of use since it will be hit thousands of times)

I know you mentioned "in Javascript", but if the purpose is debugging, I think it's easier to just use your browser's developer tools. This is how it looks in Chrome:
Just drop the debugger where you want to investigate the stack.

In both ES6 and Strict mode, use the following to get the Caller function
console.log((new Error()).stack.split("\n")[2].trim().split(" ")[1])
Please note that, the above line will throw an exception if there is no caller or no previous stack. Use accordingly.
To get callee (the current function name), use:
console.log((new Error()).stack.split("\n")[1].trim().split(" ")[1])

If you are not going to run it in IE < 11 then console.trace() would suit.
function main() {
Hello();
}
function Hello() {
console.trace()
}
main()
// Hello # VM261:9
// main # VM261:4

You can get the full stacktrace:
arguments.callee.caller
arguments.callee.caller.caller
arguments.callee.caller.caller.caller
Until caller is null.
Note: it cause an infinite loop on recursive functions.

To recap (and make it clearer) ...
this code:
function Hello() {
alert("caller is " + arguments.callee.caller.toString());
}
is equivalent to this:
function Hello() {
alert("caller is " + Hello.caller.toString());
}
Clearly the first bit is more portable, since you can change the name of the function, say from "Hello" to "Ciao", and still get the whole thing to work.
In the latter, in case you decide to refactor the name of the invoked function (Hello), you would have to change all its occurrences :(

I would do this:
function Hello() {
console.trace();
}

You can use Function.Caller to get the calling function. The old method using argument.caller is considered obsolete.
The following code illustrates its use:
function Hello() { return Hello.caller;}
Hello2 = function NamedFunc() { return NamedFunc.caller; };
function main()
{
Hello(); //both return main()
Hello2();
}
Notes about obsolete argument.caller: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/arguments/caller
Be aware Function.caller is non-standard: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/caller

Looks like this is quite a solved question but I recently found out that callee is not allowed in 'strict mode' so for my own use I wrote a class that will get the path from where it is called. It's part of a small helper lib and if you want to use the code standalone change the offset used to return the stack trace of the caller (use 1 instead of 2)
function ScriptPath() {
var scriptPath = '';
try {
//Throw an error to generate a stack trace
throw new Error();
}
catch(e) {
//Split the stack trace into each line
var stackLines = e.stack.split('\n');
var callerIndex = 0;
//Now walk though each line until we find a path reference
for(var i in stackLines){
if(!stackLines[i].match(/http[s]?:\/\//)) continue;
//We skipped all the lines with out an http so we now have a script reference
//This one is the class constructor, the next is the getScriptPath() call
//The one after that is the user code requesting the path info (so offset by 2)
callerIndex = Number(i) + 2;
break;
}
//Now parse the string for each section we want to return
pathParts = stackLines[callerIndex].match(/((http[s]?:\/\/.+\/)([^\/]+\.js)):/);
}
this.fullPath = function() {
return pathParts[1];
};
this.path = function() {
return pathParts[2];
};
this.file = function() {
return pathParts[3];
};
this.fileNoExt = function() {
var parts = this.file().split('.');
parts.length = parts.length != 1 ? parts.length - 1 : 1;
return parts.join('.');
};
}

heystewart's answer and JiarongWu's answer both mentioned that the Error object has access to the stack.
Here's an example:
function main() {
Hello();
}
function Hello() {
try {
throw new Error();
} catch (err) {
let stack = err.stack;
// N.B. stack === "Error\n at Hello ...\n at main ... \n...."
let m = stack.match(/.*?Hello.*?\n(.*?)\n/);
if (m) {
let caller_name = m[1];
console.log("Caller is:", caller_name);
}
}
}
main();
Different browsers shows the stack in different string formats:
Safari : Caller is: main#https://stacksnippets.net/js:14:8
Firefox : Caller is: main#https://stacksnippets.net/js:14:3
Chrome : Caller is: at main (https://stacksnippets.net/js:14:3)
IE Edge : Caller is: at main (https://stacksnippets.net/js:14:3)
IE : Caller is: at main (https://stacksnippets.net/js:14:3)
Most browsers will set the stack with var stack = (new Error()).stack. In Internet Explorer the stack will be undefined - you have to throw a real exception to retrieve the stack.
Conclusion: It's possible to determine "main" is the caller to "Hello" using the stack in the Error object. In fact it will work in cases where the callee / caller approach doesn't work. It will also show you context, i.e. source file and line number. However effort is required to make the solution cross platform.

function Hello() {
alert(Hello.caller);
}

It's safer to use *arguments.callee.caller since arguments.caller is deprecated...

2018 Update
caller is forbidden in strict mode. Here is an alternative using the (non-standard) Error stack.
The following function seems to do the job in Firefox 52 and Chrome 61-71 though its implementation makes a lot of assumptions about the logging format of the two browsers and should be used with caution, given that it throws an exception and possibly executes two regex matchings before being done.
'use strict';
const fnNameMatcher = /([^(]+)#|at ([^(]+) \(/;
function fnName(str) {
const regexResult = fnNameMatcher.exec(str);
return regexResult[1] || regexResult[2];
}
function log(...messages) {
const logLines = (new Error().stack).split('\n');
const callerName = fnName(logLines[1]);
if (callerName !== null) {
if (callerName !== 'log') {
console.log(callerName, 'called log with:', ...messages);
} else {
console.log(fnName(logLines[2]), 'called log with:', ...messages);
}
} else {
console.log(...messages);
}
}
function foo() {
log('hi', 'there');
}
(function main() {
foo();
}());

Try accessing this:
arguments.callee.caller.name

Just console log your error stack. You can then know how are you being called
const hello = () => {
console.log(new Error('I was called').stack)
}
const sello = () => {
hello()
}
sello()

I wanted to add my fiddle here for this:
http://jsfiddle.net/bladnman/EhUm3/
I tested this is chrome, safari and IE (10 and 8). Works fine. There is only 1 function that matters, so if you get scared by the big fiddle, read below.
Note:
There is a fair amount of my own "boilerplate" in this fiddle. You can remove all of that and use split's if you like. It's just an ultra-safe" set of functions I've come to rely on.
There is also a "JSFiddle" template in there that I use for many fiddles to simply quick fiddling.

If you just want the function name and not the code, and want a browser-independent solution, use the following:
var callerFunction = arguments.callee.caller.toString().match(/function ([^\(]+)/)[1];
Note that the above will return an error if there is no caller function as there is no [1] element in the array. To work around, use the below:
var callerFunction = (arguments.callee.caller.toString().match(/function ([^\(]+)/) === null) ? 'Document Object Model': arguments.callee.caller.toString().match(/function ([^\(]+)/)[1], arguments.callee.toString().match(/function ([^\(]+)/)[1]);

Here, everything but the functionname is stripped from caller.toString(), with RegExp.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Show the callers name</title><!-- This validates as html5! -->
<script>
main();
function main() { Hello(); }
function Hello(){
var name = Hello.caller.toString().replace(/\s\([^#]+$|^[^\s]+\s/g,'');
name = name.replace(/\s/g,'');
if ( typeof window[name] !== 'function' )
alert ("sorry, the type of "+name+" is "+ typeof window[name]);
else
alert ("The name of the "+typeof window[name]+" that called is "+name);
}
</script>

Just want to let you know that on PhoneGap/Android the name doesnt seem to be working. But arguments.callee.caller.toString() will do the trick.

here is a function to get full stacktrace:
function stacktrace() {
var f = stacktrace;
var stack = 'Stack trace:';
while (f) {
stack += '\n' + f.name;
f = f.caller;
}
return stack;
}

Note you can't use Function.caller in Node.js, use caller-id package instead. For example:
var callerId = require('caller-id');
function foo() {
bar();
}
function bar() {
var caller = callerId.getData();
/*
caller = {
typeName: 'Object',
functionName: 'foo',
filePath: '/path/of/this/file.js',
lineNumber: 5,
topLevelFlag: true,
nativeFlag: false,
evalFlag: false
}
*/
}

Works great for me, and you can chose how much you want to go back in the functions:
function getCaller(functionBack= 0) {
const back = functionBack * 2;
const stack = new Error().stack.split('at ');
const stackIndex = stack[3 + back].includes('C:') ? (3 + back) : (4 + back);
const isAsync = stack[stackIndex].includes('async');
let result;
if (isAsync)
result = stack[stackIndex].split(' ')[1].split(' ')[0];
else
result = stack[stackIndex].split(' ')[0];
return result;
}

I could use these in 2021 and get the stack which starts from the caller function :
1. console.trace();
2. console.log((new Error).stack)
// do the same as #2 just with better view
3. console.log((new Error).stack.split("\n"))

Try the following code:
function getStackTrace(){
var f = arguments.callee;
var ret = [];
var item = {};
var iter = 0;
while ( f = f.caller ){
// Initialize
item = {
name: f.name || null,
args: [], // Empty array = no arguments passed
callback: f
};
// Function arguments
if ( f.arguments ){
for ( iter = 0; iter<f.arguments.length; iter++ ){
item.args[iter] = f.arguments[iter];
}
} else {
item.args = null; // null = argument listing not supported
}
ret.push( item );
}
return ret;
}
Worked for me in Firefox-21 and Chromium-25.

Another way around this problem is to simply pass the name of the calling function as a parameter.
For example:
function reformatString(string, callerName) {
if (callerName === "uid") {
string = string.toUpperCase();
}
return string;
}
Now, you could call the function like this:
function uid(){
var myString = "apples";
reformatString(myString, function.name);
}
My example uses a hard coded check of the function name, but you could easily use a switch statement or some other logic to do what you want there.

As far as I know, we have 2 way for this from given sources like this-
arguments.caller
function whoCalled()
{
if (arguments.caller == null)
console.log('I was called from the global scope.');
else
console.log(arguments.caller + ' called me!');
}
Function.caller
function myFunc()
{
if (myFunc.caller == null) {
return 'The function was called from the top!';
}
else
{
return 'This function\'s caller was ' + myFunc.caller;
}
}
Think u have your answer :).

Why all of the solutions above look like a rocket science. Meanwhile, it should not be more complicated than this snippet. All credits to this guy
How do you find out the caller function in JavaScript?
var stackTrace = function() {
var calls = [];
var caller = arguments.callee.caller;
for (var k = 0; k < 10; k++) {
if (caller) {
calls.push(caller);
caller = caller.caller;
}
}
return calls;
};
// when I call this inside specific method I see list of references to source method, obviously, I can add toString() to each call to see only function's content
// [function(), function(data), function(res), function(l), function(a, c), x(a, b, c, d), function(c, e)]

I think the following code piece may be helpful:
window.fnPureLog = function(sStatement, anyVariable) {
if (arguments.length < 1) {
throw new Error('Arguments sStatement and anyVariable are expected');
}
if (typeof sStatement !== 'string') {
throw new Error('The type of sStatement is not match, please use string');
}
var oCallStackTrack = new Error();
console.log(oCallStackTrack.stack.replace('Error', 'Call Stack:'), '\n' + sStatement + ':', anyVariable);
}
Execute the code:
window.fnPureLog = function(sStatement, anyVariable) {
if (arguments.length < 1) {
throw new Error('Arguments sStatement and anyVariable are expected');
}
if (typeof sStatement !== 'string') {
throw new Error('The type of sStatement is not match, please use string');
}
var oCallStackTrack = new Error();
console.log(oCallStackTrack.stack.replace('Error', 'Call Stack:'), '\n' + sStatement + ':', anyVariable);
}
function fnBsnCallStack1() {
fnPureLog('Stock Count', 100)
}
function fnBsnCallStack2() {
fnBsnCallStack1()
}
fnBsnCallStack2();
The log looks like this:
Call Stack:
at window.fnPureLog (<anonymous>:8:27)
at fnBsnCallStack1 (<anonymous>:13:5)
at fnBsnCallStack2 (<anonymous>:17:5)
at <anonymous>:20:1
Stock Count: 100

How to dynamically change the contents of a function using JavaScript

To help understand this the function is in the html page and it is generated, I cannot change the generated code:
function Update_qu7260() {
var newVal = ''
for( var idx = 0; idx < 2; idx++ )
{
var test
if( idx == 0 ) test = text7263
else if( idx == 1 ) test = text7265
if( test.matchObj ) newVal += test.leftSel + "-" + test.matchObj.rightSel + ","
}
newVal = newVal.substring( 0, newVal.length-1 )
VarQuestion_0001.set( newVal )
qu7260.hasBeenProcessed=false;
doImmFeedback('qu7260');
}
var qu7260 = new Object();
...
qu7260.updFunc = Update_qu7260;
var qObj=[qu7260];
Note in the above the number "7260", the numbers start at 1 so there are lots of them and each Update_###() will be different so I cannot re-write them with "hard wired" code. My code is in an external JavaScript file and is executed onLoad:
...
var updFunc = qObj[0].updFunc.toString();
if(updFunc.indexOf('doImmFeedback(')!=-1){
updFunc = updFunc.replace('doImmFeedback','doImmQuestionFeedback'); // do my function
updFunc = updFunc.replace('function ',''); // remove the word function
var funcName = updFunc.substr(0,updFunc.indexOf('(')); // get the function name e.g. Update_qu7260
updFunc = "window['" + funcName + "']=function" + updFunc.replace(funcName,'');
eval(updFunc);
}
...
When I change the eval() to alert() I can see the that it's correct, however, the eval() is not raising any errors and my function doImmQuestionFeedback is not being called. When I subsequently do an alert(qObj[0].updFunc.toString()) I see the original function.
It would seem that I have provided information that is too complex, so the following code is a better example:
function hi(){alert('hi');}
function changeHi(){
hi(); // I get an alert box with hi
newHi = "function hi(){alert('hi there');}"
eval(newHi);
hi(); // I get an alert box with hi
window.setTimeout('hi()',500); // I get an alert box with hi
}
window.setTimeout('changeHi()',500);
The following is the original question:
I have a predefined function that I did not create, however, I know it's name so I can get the function itself and then I change it by doing:
var funcText = window.updateFunc.toString();
funcText = funcText.replace('doSomeOtherFunction(','doMyFunction(');
How do I update the actual function so it will do all that it did before except it will now call doMyFuntion()?
The following is an example to help visualize what I want to do, the actual function I need to change is very complex. I have:
function updateFunc(whatToUpdate,true){
... - do lots of stuff.
var retVal = doSomeOtherFunction(whatToUdate);
... - do lots of stuff based on retVal
}
I need to change this to:
function updateFunc(whatToUpdate,true){
... - do lots of stuff
var retVal = doMyFunction(whatToUdate);
... - do lots of stuff based on retVal, I have had a chance to change retVal
}
Then the first thing my function will do is call doSomeOtherFunction() check/change the returned value and subsequently return the value to the updateFunc().
I have tried to manipulate the funcText above to:
funcText = 'window.updateFunc = function(...';
eval(funcText);
Without success.

This may be closed enough to what you are looking for.
Assuming you have this original function:
function originalFunc(val) {
// this function converts input string to upper case
return val.toUpperCase();
}
Now you want to override it to something either before or after you execute that function (in this example, we execute before, of course before or after doesn't matter in this case).
// we preserve orignal function
var originalFunc_save = originalFunc;
// now we override the original function with this block
var originalFunc = function(text) {
// lets call the orignal function
text = originalFunc_save(text);
// now do our custom thing
return text.split('').reverse().join('');
}
So our test should work.
var text = 'This is a test';
console.log(originalFunc(text));
Output:
TSET A SI SIHT
This method also works if you have to override functions inside a class. The only thing we have to be careful of is to choose a saved name that doesn't interfere with the original class code. _save may not be good enough, but you get the idea.
UPDATE: I'm updating this code above to use a string variable pointing to the original function. I think this is what the OP wanted.
Original code which defined by some library
function originalFunc(val) {
// this function converts input string to upper case
return val.toUpperCase();
}
Now we use the func string variable to point to that function and execute it.
var text = 'This is a test';
var func = 'originalFunc';
text = window[func](text);
console.log(text);
Output: Of course we get the original intended result because we haven't overridden it.
THIS IS A TEST
Now we write our code to override the original function behavior using a string pointing to the function.
// let's define a new function string
var funcSaved = func + '___saved';
// now preserve the original function code
window[funcSaved] = window[func];
// override the original function code block
window[func] = function(text) {
// lets call the orignal function
text = window[funcSaved](text);
// now do our custom thing
return text.split('').reverse().join('');
}
// let's test the code
text = 'This is a test';
text = window[func](text);
console.log(text);
Output:
TSET A SI SIHT

You can make a clone of updateFunc function, edit it at your discretion and work with it in what follows.
function updateFunc(whatToUpdate, param){ // the initial function
...
var retVal = doSomeOtherFunction(whatToUpdate);
return retVal;
}
// formation of unnamed function as string
var newfunc = updateFunc.toString().replace('function updateFunc', 'function ').replace('doSomeOtherFunction(', 'doMyFunction(');
function doMyFunction(whatToUpdate){ // your new function, just for example
console.log(parseInt(whatToUpdate) * 10);
}
var newUpdateFunc;
// declaring new version of 'updateFunc' function
// which is stored in 'newUpdateFunc' variable
eval("newUpdateFunc = " + newfunc);
newUpdateFunc(3); // outputs '30'

I believe this is a valid use case for the forgotten JavaScript with feature.
Basic idea: you call original updateFunc supplying your own version of doSomeOtherFunction to it using with namespace injection:
function updateFunc(whatToUpdate,true){
... - do lots of stuff.
var retVal = doSomeOtherFunction(whatToUdate);
... - do lots of stuff based on retVal
}
function patchUpdateFunc() {
var original_doSomeOtherFunction = window.doSomeOtherFunction;
var original_updateFunc = window.updateFunc;
function doMyFunction() {
// call original_doSomeOtherFunction() here,
// do your own stuff here.
};
window.updateFunc = function() {
with ({doSomeOtherFunction: doMyFunction}) {
return original_updateFunc.apply(this, arguments);
}
}
}
patchUpdateFunc();

I think you are going at this way too complicated.
If you only have doMyFunction and doSomeOtherFunction to switch between, you could just create a flag somewhere telling you to use one or the other when used in an if-statement.
If you want to call a function with a name you do not know beforehand and you only get a name during runtime, you could either accept the function to call as a parameter or accept the name of the function as a parameter and call it like so: var retVal = window[functionName](); (assuming functionName is a property of the window object).
I would highly recommend directly accepting a function as a parameter since the function may not be defined in a global scope.
EDIT:
After your clarification, I think, I can give you a satisfying answer:
if you have a string like var functionString = "function updateFunc(whatToUpdate){var retVal = doMyFunction(whatToUpdate);}";
You can define a function using a Function object:
window.updateFunc = new Function("whatToUpdate", "return (" + functionString + ")(whatToUpdate)");
This will replace the already existing function and you can give it any valid function string you want as long as you know and specify the arguments.

If I understood correctly, you want to override the external function. You can achieve that with the following code
//Someone else's function
function externalFunction(foo){
return "some text";
}
//Your function
function myFunction(value){
//Do something
}
//Override
var externalFunction = (function(){
var original = externalFunction; //Save original function
return function(){
var externalFunctionReturnValue = original.apply(this, arguments);
return myFunction(externalFunctionReturnValue);
}
})();
I strongly sugest not to use eval, but since you want to parse javascript from string:
function hi(){alert('hi');}
function changedHi(){
hi(); // I get an alert box with hi
newHi = "window['hi'] = function(){alert('hi there');}"
eval(newHi);
hi(); // I get an alert box with hi there
window.setTimeout('hi()',500); // I get an alert box with hi there
}
window.setTimeout('changedHi()',500);
UPDATE:
This code snippet works which is your original code:
<script type="text/javascript">
function doImmFeedback(foo){
console.log("DoImmFeedback: " + foo);
}
function Update_qu7260() {
console.log("Some code")
doImmFeedback('qu7260');
}
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var qu7260 = new Object();
qu7260.updFunc = Update_qu7260;
var qObj=[qu7260];
var updFunc = qObj[0].updFunc.toString();
if(updFunc.indexOf('doImmFeedback(')!=-1){
updFunc = updFunc.replace('doImmFeedback','doImmQuestionFeedback'); // do my function
updFunc = updFunc.replace('function ',''); // remove the word function
var funcName = updFunc.substr(0,updFunc.indexOf('(')); // get the function name e.g. Update_qu7260
updFunc = "window['" + funcName + "']=function" + updFunc.replace(funcName,'');
console.log(updFunc);
eval(updFunc);
}
function doImmQuestionFeedback(foo){
//Your function
console.log("doImmQuestionFeedback: " + foo);
}
Update_qu7260(); //This executes your doImmQuestionFeedback
</script>
So if your function isn't running, your function isn't in the global scope, or something else is happening, and we can't know if don't have any more info. Check your developer's console for javascript errors.

need help understanding closures usage in this code

Here is a simplified snippet from some code I wrote for managing tablet gestures on canvas elements
first a function that accepts an element and a dictionary of callbacks and register the events plus adding other features like 'hold' gestures:
function registerStageGestures(stage, callbacks, recieverArg) {
stage.inhold = false;
stage.timer = null;
var touchduration = 1000;
var reciever = recieverArg || window;
stage.onLongTouch = function(e) {
if (stage.timer) clearTimeout(stage.timer);
stage.inhold = true;
if (callbacks.touchholdstart) callbacks.touchholdstart.call(reciever, e);
};
stage.getContent().addEventListener('touchstart', function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
calcTouchEventData(e);
stage.timer = setTimeout(function() {
stage.onLongTouch(e);
}, touchduration);
if (callbacks.touchstart) callbacks.touchholdstart.call(reciever, e);
});
stage.getContent().addEventListener('touchmove', function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
if (stage.timer) clearTimeout(stage.timer);
if (stage.inhold) {
if (callbacks.touchholdmove) callbacks.touchholdmove.call(reciever, e);
} else {
if (callbacks.touchmove) callbacks.touchmove.call(reciever, e);
}
});
stage.getContent().addEventListener('touchend', function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
if (stage.timer) clearTimeout(stage.timer);
if (stage.inhold) {
if (callbacks.touchholdend) callbacks.touchholdend.call(reciever, e);
} else {
if (callbacks.touchend) callbacks.touchend.call(reciever, e);
}
stage.inhold = false;
});
}
later I call registerStageGestures on a few elements (represented by 'View' objects) in the same page. Something like:
function View() {
var self=this;
..
function InitView() {
...
registerStageGestures(kineticStage, {
touchstart: function(e) {
// do something
},
touchmove: function(e) {
// do something
},
touchendunction(e) {
// do something
},
touchholdstart: function(e) {
// do something
},
touchholdmove: function(e) {
// do something
},
touchholdend: function(e) {
// do something
},
}, self);
Everything works fine, however I'm left wondering about two things in the implementation of registerStageGestures:
First, is it necessary to make inhold, timer and onLongTouch members of the stage ? or will closures make everything works well if they are local vars in registerStageGestures ?
Second, is it necessary to call the callbacks with '.call(receiver,' syntax ? I'm doing this to make sure the callback code will run in the context of the View but I'm not sure if it's needed ?
any input is much appreciated
Thanks!

First, is it necessary to make inhold, timer and onLongTouch members
of the stage ? or will closures make everything works well if they are
local vars in registerStageGestures ?
As far as registerStageGestures() is concerned, var inhold, var timer and function onLongTouch(e) {...}. would suffice. The mechanism by which an inner function has automatic access to its outer function's members is known as "closure". You would only need to set stage.inhold, stage.timer and stage.onLongTouch if some other piece of code needs access to these settings as properties of stage.
Second, is it necessary to call the callbacks with '.call(receiver,'
syntax ? I'm doing this to make sure the callback code will run in the
context of the View but I'm not sure if it's needed ?
Possibly, depending on how those callbacks are written. .call() and .apply() are sometimes used when calling functions that use this internally. In both cases, the first parameter passed defines the object to be interpreted as this. Thus, javascript gives you the means of defining general purpose methods with no a priori assumption about the object to which those methods will apply when called. Similarly, you can call a method of an object in such a way that it acts on another object.
EDIT:
For completeness, please note that even in the absence of this in a function, .apply() can be very useful as it allows multiple parameters to be specified as elements of a single array, eg the ubiquitous jQuery.when.apply(null, arrayOfPromises)...

There are some simple answers, here.
First, closure:
Closure basically says that whatever is defined inside of a function, has access to the rest of that function's contents.
And all of those contents are guaranteed to stay alive (out of the trash), until there are no more objects left, which ere created inside.
A simple test:
var testClosure = function () {
var name = "Bob",
recallName = function () { return name; };
return { getName : recallName };
};
var test = testClosure();
console.log(test.getName()); // Bob
So anything that was created inside can be accessed by any function which was also created inside (or created inside of a function created in a function[, ...], inside).
var closure_2x = function () {
var name = "Bob",
innerScope = function () {
console.log(name);
return function () {
console.log("Still " + name);
}
};
return innerScope;
};
var inner_func = closure_2x();
var even_deeper = inner_func(); // "Bob"
even_deeper(); // "Still Bob"
This applies not only to variables/objects/functions created inside, but also to function arguments passed inside.
The arguments have no access to the inner-workings(unless passed to methods/callbacks), but the inner-workings will remember the arguments.
So as long as your functions are being created in the same scope as your values (or a child-scope), there's access.
.call is trickier.
You know what it does (replaces this inside of the function with the object you pass it)...
...but why and when, in this case are harder.
var Person = function (name, age) {
this.age = age;
this.getAge = function () {
return this.age;
};
};
var bob = new Person("Bob", 32);
This looks pretty normal.
Honestly, this could look a lot like Java or C# with a couple of tweaks.
bob.getAge(); // 32
Works like Java or C#, too.
doSomething.then(bob.getAge);
? Buh ?
We've now passed Bob's method into a function, as a function, all by itself.
var doug = { age : 28 };
doug.getAge = bob.getAge;
Now we've given doug a reference to directly use bobs methid -- not a copy, but a pointer to the actual method.
doug.getAge(); // 28
Well, that's odd.
What about what came out of passing it in as a callback?
var test = bob.getAge;
test(); // undefined
The reason for this, is, as you said, about context...
But the specific reason is because this inside of a function in JS isn't pre-compiled, or stored...
this is worked out on the fly, every time the function is called.
If you call
obj.method();
this === obj;
If you call
a.b.c.d();
this === a.b.c;
If you call
var test = bob.getAge;
test();
...?
this is equal to window.
In "strict mode" this doesn't happen (you get errors really quickly).
test.call(bob); //32
Balance restored!
Mostly...
There are still a few catches.
var outerScope = function () {
console.log(this.age);
var inner = function () {
console.log("Still " + this.age);
};
inner();
};
outerScope.call(bob);
// "32"
// "Still undefined"
This makes sense, when you think about it...
We know that if a function figures out this at the moment it's called -- scope has nothing to do with it...
...and we didn't add inner to an object...
this.inner = inner;
this.inner();
would have worked just fine (but now you just messed with an external object)...
So inner saw this as window.
The solution would either be to use .call, or .apply, or to use function-scoping and/or closure
var person = this,
inner = function () { console.log(person.age); };
The rabbit hole goes deeper, but my phone is dying...

Force missing parameters in JavaScript

When you call a function in JavaScript and you miss to pass some parameter, nothing happens.
This makes the code harder to debug, so I would like to change that behavior.
I've seen
How best to determine if an argument is not sent to the JavaScript function
but I want a solution with a constant number of typed lines of code; not typing extra code for each function.
I've thought about automatically prefixing the code of all functions with that code, by modifying the constructor of the ("first-class") Function object.
Inspired by
Changing constructor in JavaScript
I've first tested whether I can change the constructor of the Function object, like this:
function Function2 () {
this.color = "white";
}
Function.prototype = new Function2();
f = new Function();
alert(f.color);
But it alerts "undefined" instead of "white", so it is not working, so I've don't further explored this technique.
Do you know any solution for this problem at any level? Hacking the guts of JavaScript would be OK but any other practical tip on how to find missing arguments would be OK as well.

If a function of yours requires certain arguments to be passed, you should check for those arguments specifically as part of the validation of the function.
Extending the Function object is not the best idea because many libraries rely on the behavior of defaulting arguments that are not passed (such as jQuery not passing anything to it's scoped undefined variable).
Two approaches I tend to use:
1) an argument is required for the function to work
var foo = function (requiredParam) {
if (typeof requiredParam === 'undefined') {
throw new Error('You must pass requiredParam to function Foo!');
}
// solve world hunger here
};
2) an argument not passed but can be defaulted to something (uses jQuery)
var foo = function (argumentObject) {
argumentObject = $.extend({
someArgument1: 'defaultValue1',
someArgument2: 'defaultValue2'
}, argumentObject || {});
// save the world from alien invaders here
};

As others have said, there are many reasons not to do this, but I know of a couple of ways, so I'll tell you how! For science!
This is the first, stolen from Gaby, give him an upvote! Here's a rough overview of how it works:
//example function
function thing(a, b, c) {
}
var functionPool = {} // create a variable to hold the original versions of the functions
for( var func in window ) // scan all items in window scope
{
if (typeof(window[func]) === 'function') // if item is a function
{
functionPool[func] = window[func]; // store the original to our global pool
(function(){ // create an closure to maintain function name
var functionName = func;
window[functionName] = function(){ // overwrite the function with our own version
var args = [].splice.call(arguments,0); // convert arguments to array
// do the logging before callling the method
if(functionPool[functionName].length > args.length)
throw "Not enough arguments for function " + functionName + " expected " + functionPool[functionName].length + " got " + args.length;
// call the original method but in the window scope, and return the results
return functionPool[functionName].apply(window, args );
// additional logging could take place here if we stored the return value ..
}
})();
}
}
thing(1,2 ,3); //fine
thing(1,2); //throws error
The second way:
Now there is another way to do this that I can't remember the details exactly, basically you overrride Function.prototype.call. But as it says in this question, this involves an infinite loop. So you need an untainted Function object to call, this is done by a trick of turning the variables into a string and then using eval to call the function in an untainted context! There's a really great snippet out the showing you how from the early days of the web, but alas I can't find it at the moment. There's a hack that's required to pass the variables properly and I think you may actually lose context, so it's pretty fragile.
Still, as stated, don't try and force javascript to do something against its nature, either trust your fellow programmers or supply defaults, as per all the other answers.

You can imitate something like Python’s decorators. This does require extra typing per function, though not extra lines.
function force(inner) {
return function() {
if (arguments.length === inner.length) {
return inner.apply(this, arguments);
} else {
throw "expected " + inner.length +
" arguments, got " + arguments.length;
}
}
}
var myFunc = force(function(foo, bar, baz) {
// ...
});
In general this sounds like a bad idea, because you’re basically messing with the language. Do you really forget to pass arguments that often?

You could use the decorator pattern. The following decorator allows you to specify minimum and maximum number of arguments that need to be passed and an optional error handler.
/* Wrap the function *f*, so that *error_callback* is called when the number
of passed arguments is not with range *nmin* to *nmax*. *error_callback*
may be ommited to make the wrapper just throw an error message.
The wrapped function is returned. */
function require_arguments(f, nmin, nmax, error_callback) {
if (!error_callback) {
error_callback = function(n, nmin, nmax) {
throw 'Expected arguments from ' + nmin + ' to ' + nmax + ' (' +
n + ' passed).';
}
}
function wrapper() {
var n_args = arguments.length;
console.log(n_args, nmin, nmax);
console.log((nmin <= 0) && (0 <= nmax));
if ((nmin <= n_args) && (n_args <= nmax)) {
return f.apply(this, arguments);
}
return error_callback(n_args, nmin, nmax);
}
for (e in f) {
wrapper[e] = f[e];
}
return wrapper;
}
var foo = require_arguments(function(a, b, c) {
/* .. */
}, 1, 3);
foo(1);
foo(1, 2);
foo(1, 2, 3);
foo(1, 2, 3, 4); // uncaught exception: Expected arguments from 1 to 3 (4 passed).
foo(); // uncaught exception: Expected arguments from 1 to 3 (0 passed).

Javascript anonymous functions in Firefox 7

After updating to Firefox 7, I am getting the following error:
function statement requires a name
This particular functions is defined as
fun = eval("function (item) { //Function body }");
If I rewrite it as:
fun = eval("function view(item) { //Function body }");
The error does not show up any more, but the program still does not work.
Ps.- I know that evaluating a string is not a good idea. This is a legacy application that I have to fix in which some functions are downloaded from a database as strings on demand.

Wrap it in brackets
eval("(function (item) { alert('hello'); })");
But that doesn't make sense as it does nothing. Maybe you want:
eval("(function () { alert('hello'); })()");
Or
eval("var func = function (item) { };");

A function declaration (is what you've got there) requires an identifier by spec.
function() {
}
just like that is not allowed by ES specification (even if some browsers might allow it anyway). Only function expression may be anonymous.

just a guess, maybe try with:
fun = eval("return function (item) { //Function body }");
(I just added the return statement)

if the function is defined as a string and you wish to use it without calling eval everytime, you could do this:
var myFunc = 'function(){alert("myFunc");}';
var fun = eval('(function(){return '+myFunc+'})()');
fun();
Or just
var myFunc = 'function(){alert("myFunc");}';
var fun = eval('('+myFunc+')');
fun();