Javascript 'this' as parameter - javascript

I'm trying to copy the value from "FROM" fields into "TO" fields. My first attempt was this:
function updateToField(toField,fromField)
{
toField.value = fromField.value}
}
function verifyFromToFields()
{
var inputs = getElementsByTagName("input");
for (var j = 0; j < inputs.length; j++)
{
if (inputs[j].name.indexOf('FROM') != -1 && if (inputs[j+1].name.indexOf('TO') != -1)
{
var fromField = inputs[j];
var toField = inputs[j+1];
fromField.onchange = function(){updateToField(toField,fromField)};
}
}
The website has several FROM-TO pairs, and this only seem to work for the last pair in the "inputs" array.
Then I tried this:
function updateToField(toField,fromField)
{
toField.value = fromField.value}
}
function verifyFromToFields()
{
var inputs = getElementsByTagName("input");
for (var j = 0; j < inputs.length; j++)
{
if (inputs[j].name.indexOf('FROM') != -1 && if (inputs[j+1].name.indexOf('TO') != -1)
{
var fromField = inputs[j];
var toField = inputs[j+1];
fromField.onchange = function(){updateToField(toField,this)};
}
}
With this, when any FROM field in the page is modified, it's copied to the last TO field on the page. I think this is one of those issues I've read about parameters as value or reference, but I can't figure it out.
Also this is a VERY simplified version of the code, I actually fill the inputs list with a getElementsByClass function and must search through childnodes.
Does anyone have a clue on whats going on?

That closure, I do not think it means what you think it means.
This line here:
fromField.onchange = function(){updateToField(toField,this)};
means "assign to onchange a function that assigns the contents of that fields to whatever toField is at the time of the change!
Since you only have one variable toField all the changeable fields will be assigned to it.
This would work:
var setOnChange = function(fromField, toField) {
fromField.onchange = function(){updateToField(toField,this)};
};
for (var j = 0; j < inputs.length; j++)
{
if (inputs[j].name.indexOf('FROM') != -1 && if (inputs[j+1].name.indexOf('TO') != -1)
{
setOnChange(inputs[j], inputs[j+1]);
}
}
EDIT: Isaac might have a better explanation of the problem (although I don't really like his solution).

That's is because of how closures work. When you assign the onchange function you create (for every loop) a new anonymous function that calls updateToField, but the value of the toField and this parameters (or any other you are passing) are not bind to the "current" loop, instead that parameters are bind to the last value of the loop (that's why is only working with your last "TO").
Instead of assigning a new function to onchange property try calling the Function.bind if you're running in an environment that has that or write one if you don't have it.
Here are the documentation for bind
So you can go like this:
fromField.onchange = updateToField.bind(this, fromField, toField);
Or you can use the other approach that Malvolio wrote.

The problem actually has to do with scope. What's happening is that your functions (the ones you assigned to onchange) are capturing the variables toField and fromField and their values keep changing. I know it looks like you've declared them anew each time through the loop, but that's not how JS works; consecutive trips through a loop share a scope, so fromField is the same variable each time through and you're merely assigning it a new value in each iteration. So at the end, all of your functions refer to the same fromField variable. And that fromField variable, naturally, contains the last value you assigned it.
So when you eventually call all of those functions, they all do the same thing, because all of their fromFields (and, by the same logic, toFields) are the same variable. So that explains why only the last inputs worked; they're what fromField and toField contained when you ran the functions.
You can fix this by introducing an intermediate function, since functions do create new scopes. That way each time through the loop, you get brand new variables.
function updateToField(toField,fromField)
{
toField.value = fromField.value;
}
function verifyFromToFields()
{
var inputs = getElementsByTagName("input");
for (var j = 0; j < inputs.length; j++)
{
function(){
if (inputs[j].name.indexOf('FROM') != -1 && if (inputs[j+1].name.indexOf('TO') != -1)
{
var fromField = inputs[j];
var toField = inputs[j+1];
fromField.onchange = function(){updateToField(toField,fromField)};
}
}();
}

Related

Adding onlick event to multiple elements with params

I am dynamically creating a table of elements and storing them in an array. The following may seem like an absolute nightmare but this is how I have decided to sort it. My problem now comes to the addEventListener where I want to add an onclick event connected to PlayMusic(). I have tried a simple .onclick = and left out the function(){} but then the PlayMusic() gets executed immediately. Having the function(){} in there, when I click on one of these elements the first param (i) is the "last number used" (aka 22 out of 21 elements). How would I go about making sure each of these onclicks has the correct index in their params?
var thetable = document.getElementById("mustable");
for(var i=0; i<fullists.length-1; i++)
{
fullists[i][2] = [];
fullists[i][3] = [];
for(var j=0; j<fullists[i][1].length; j++)
{
var row = thetable.insertRow();
fullists[i][2][j] = row.insertCell();
fullists[i][2][j].className = "musentry";
var header = fullists[i][0].substring(0,fullists[i][0].lastIndexOf("."));
if(fullists[i][1][j][1] != undefined)
var title = fullists[i][1][j][1];
else
var title = fullists[i][1][j][0].substring(fullists[i][1][j][0].lastIndexOf("/"));
fullists[i][2][j].innerHTML = header + "<br /><b>" + title + "</b>";
fullists[i][2][j].addEventListener("click",function() { PlayMusic(i,j); },false);
fullists[i][3][j] = 0;
}
}
The issue is that by the time the function executes, i already has a different value because the loop already continued executing. If you change your loop to use let i instead of var i (same for j) it will work, because let in the for iterator variable has a special behavior where it actually creates another copy of the variable scoped to the inside of the loop on every iteration, so that copy won't change.
Another way, which is basically the same thing but done explicitly: Store it inside another block-scoped variable first. E.g. const i2 = i and then use i2 inside the function () {}. Same for j.
Alternatively, write .addEventListener(..., PlayMusic.bind(null, i, j)). With bind you can create a new function from a function, where a this and arguments are already bound to it. Since the binding happens immediately and thereby captures the current values of i and j, that solves it too.

How to add onclick functions in an array of buttons using a for loop properly?

I'm making a kind of HTML calculator to test something I have in mind.
I've used a for loop to create the buttons of the keypad. The display is a text field.
Then I used a for loop to add the functions in the buttons:
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
buttons[i].onclick = function()
{
display.value += i;
};
}
What I was trying to do is to make, for example, buttons[0] add "0" to the value of the text field when clicked. Instead, clicking any button added "10" in the text field. Why? How can I make it right?
You almost got it right , you just need to change var to let in your loop declaration :
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
buttons[i].onclick = function()
{
display.value += i;
};
}
What's the difference between using "let" and "var"? Here you can get more info about your issue.
Your problem is that you are referencing i directly in your functions that you are binding to your Buttons. i will actually continue to exist even after you bound all your events, and its value will be the last value of the iteration 10. So whenever a click function runs, it looks up i and finds the last value you set (10) and takes that value. What you want to do is add a constant reference instead - so that you bind that value you have during the loop and keep that reference forever, no matter how i might change later.
for (var i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
const localValue = i
buttons[i].onclick = function()
{
counter += localValue;
counterElement.innerHTML = counter
};
}
I created a small example fiddle here: https://jsfiddle.net/4k8cds9n/ if you run this you should see the buttons in action. Some related reading for this topic would be around scopes in javascript, one good article: https://scotch.io/tutorials/understanding-scope-in-javascript

Undefined is not an object in Dropdown

I want my code to show the menu by adding a slactive class and change the value of an input from ddown collection. I have some code, which isn't working as console says that on line 9 nor ddown[i], nor slitems[j] are objects, as they're undefined. How to fix this?
var slitems = document.getElementsByClassName('slitem');
ddown = document.getElementsByClassName('ddown');
for(i=0; i<ddown.length; i++) {
ddown[i].addEventListener('click', function(){document.getElementById('sl'+i).classList.add('slactive');valueChange()});
}
function valueChange(){
for(j=0;j<slitems.length;j++){
slitems[j].addEventListener('click', function(){
ddown[i].value = slitems[j].value;
document.getElementById('sl'+i).classList.remove('slactive');
});
}
}
P.S. slitems is a collection of menu elements.
Look, what you are doing has at least two flaws:
1st: when doing this: for(i=0; i < ddown.length; i++) ... you are declaring a global variable named i that, at the end of loop will have the value ddown.length; so, in valueChange, it will always have the same value
2nd: i is set to ddown.length, that is a position that doesn´t exists in the array, hence the error you got.
To fix this, set i as a local variable using var, and pass it as an argument:
var slitems = document.getElementsByClassName('slitem');
ddown = document.getElementsByClassName('ddown');
for(var i=0; i<ddown.length; i++) {
ddown[i].setAttribute("data-index", i);
ddown[i].addEventListener('click', function(e){
var i = e.target.dataset.index;
document.getElementById('sl'+i).classList.add('slactive');valueChange(i)
});
}
function valueChange(i){
for(var j=0;j<slitems.length;j++){
slitems[j].setAttribute("data-index", j);
slitems[j].setAttribute("data-index2", i);
slitems[j].addEventListener('click', function(e){
var j = e.target.dataset.index;
var i = e.target.dataset.index2;
ddown[i].value = slitems[j].value;
document.getElementById('sl'+i).classList.remove('slactive');
});
}
}
EDIT
Changed the code to add the variables used in iterators as node attributes, what should fix the variable scope issue.

Javascript assigning value to variable

I am trying to make a cell in a table tell me its number when I click it.
for(var j = 0; j < 8; j++){
var cell = row.insertCell(j);
cell.name = j;
cell.onclick=function(){alert(cell.name)};
}
This however, prints the number 8 for every cell. How do I save the value of j in cell.name, instead of just having it point to the variable j?
Thanks.
IMPORTANT: All JavaScript developers should know this. It will cause all kinds of weird bugs that is very hard to find.
It is a common mistake of people who are new to JavaScript. I've made the same mistake before.
A function inside a loop is NOT created for every iteration. It is the same one function object with the same closure scope. Thus, your cells will have the exact same onclick callback.
My advice here is NEVER EVER create a function inside of loop. Instead, create and call a function that returns a callback function and assign it to onclick.
for (var j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
var cell = row.insertCell(j);
cell.name = j;
cell.onclick = createOnClick(cell);
}
function createOnClick(cell) {
return function () {
// do whatever you want to do with cell
};
}

Changing function parameters for onkeypress event according to source id

I want to assign a function according to their id to all the input fields in a web page. To do this I wrote below code but all the input fields are running keyPress with same parameter..
:(
///////////////////Checks all available 'text' 'input's////////////////////
var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName('input');
var cnvtrInput = new Array();
for (var index = 0; index < inputs.length; index++) {
if (inputs[index].type == 'text') {
cnvtrInput[index] = new converter(inputs[index]);
inputs[index].onkeypress = function() {return keyPess(cnvtrInput[index])};
}
}
//index--;
With the last commented statement I found that the passing element of keyPress is the last value of index;
Finally I tried same with textareas but failed...
You are creating functions in a loop which is always tricky. After the loop finished, index will have the value inputs.length and your callback is referencing index. But it won't work either if you define a new variable in a loop, as JavaScript has no block scope, only function scope.
You have to capture the value in a new scope, e.g. by using an immediate function:
inputs[index].onkeypress = (function(value) {
return function() {return keyPess(value)};
}(cnvtrInput[index]));

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