using try catch when declaring variables - javascript

For one reason or other ( I'm not going to go into why here) I need to use javascript to get the values of 12 hidden input fields and set a variable for each value.
I am not sure what the best approach for this would be. I'd like to be able to get the values and if they are not created i.e. the input fields are not there then id like to generate an error.
Would using a try / catch be good for this or should I simply be using typeof to check the variables have been created?
would putting them in an array as well so i can loop through to check their existance be a good idea?
thanks

This is the easy way of doing it. try-catch is rather heavy. Also, where would you throw the error to? Instead of unwinding your flow on error, collect your errors into a well structured response. That way if your first one is missing, but the other X are not, then you still get some work done.
if ( typeof( something ) !== "undefined" ) { doStuff(); }
Otherwise, I'd need more information to help you with your question.

Here's simple function that will check to see that exactly 12 input elements are included on the page. Please provide more information if you need th check that individual input elements are present.
function SaveInputValues() {
var inps = document.getElementsByTagName('input');
if (inps.length !== 12) {
return alert("There must be exactly 12 input elements. You have included " + inps.length + ".");
}
var vals = [];
for (i = 0; i < inps.length; i++) vals.push(inps[i].value);
inps = null; // provides closure
}

if(document.getElementById("someID")){
// add the value since the input exists
}
else{
// skip or use default - and inform if need be
}
Example implementation:
http://jsfiddle.net/zVz6h/1/
Code:
function getValueArray(idArray){
var valArray = [];
for(var i=0;i<idArray.length;i++){
if(document.getElementById(idArray[i])){
valArray.push(document.getElementById(idArray[i]).value);
}
else{
valArray.push("not defined");
}
}
return valArray;
}
var txtIDs = ["txt1","txt2","txt3","txt4","txt5","txt6","txt7","txt8"];
alert(getValueArray(txtIDs));

Related

javascript use console.log without moving to new line

I am new to js and hope this is not too trivial, but I am unable to find any help on the net.
I wish to output to console.log and prevent moving to a new line, so the next time the output will be appended to the same line. ie,
"use strict";
for (let i = 0; i<=9;i++){
console.log(i); // here i would like to freeze the output so the result is 0123456789 on one line, rather than those digits in a column.
}
I have seen fixes involving assigning the outputs to a string and printing in 1 hit, but that seems incredibly crude. Even in Fortran 4 as I recall in the '70s, you could prevent moving to a new line before printing again, so I think I am missing something fundamental. Also I cannot find any general help on formatting numerical output in javascript. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Unfortunately, the console.log() method will only write out a string to a single line and doesn't support the appending behavior you are looking for.
As you detailed in your original post, you could accomplish writing the final result out through the use of a variable (i.e. displaying the final concatenated string), but not continually appending to the same line within the console itself as the loop is being iterated over.
Alternative Grouping Option
The concept of grouping entries is supported, which is obviously very different than your original ask, but it may be worth considering as mentioned in the documentation for console.group() and might look something like this:
var rollingConcatenation = '';
console.group("Looping Group Example");
for (let i = 0; i<=9;i++){
rollingConcatenation += i;
console.log(rollingConcatenation);
}
console.groupEnd();
This can give your console the following appearance, which can help with readability (depending on your use cases):
Do It Yourself Implementation
Another option might be to store your current console value within a variable and at clear it and rewrite the updated values out. Depending on your very specific use cases, you could achieve the behavior you are looking for using something like this crude implementation:
// Define a custom console
var customConsole = {
// Store a reference to your backing value
tempValue: '',
// Always write out the most recent value
log: function(msg) {
this.tempValue += msg;
console.clear();
console.log(this.tempValue);
},
// A clear method to clear the backing console
clear: function() {
this.tempValue = '';
console.clear();
}
}
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
// Use your custom console instead of the normal one
customConsole.log(i);
}
Take a new variable outside the loop and then prepare that string inside the loop and then you can console.log() outside the loop.
var str = '';
for (let i = 0; i <= 9; i++) {
str += i;
}
console.log(str);

object with array type string causing a typeError

The best way to explain this is just to show you.
var condition = 70;
var formnames = new Array("wheelcheckbox1", "wheelcheckbox2","spokecheckbox","spokecheckbox2","tirecheckbox","tirecheckbox2","tirecheckbox3");
formnames.forEach(function(entry) {
console.log(obj.entry);
if(obj.entry == "") {
condition = condition - 10;
}
});
as you can see I used the console log to show how it needs to work
as that works perfect, however, using the array causes an error as
they're strings and not what the obj wants, it wants text without it being a string.
Any ideas?
for..in should not be used to iterate over an array. Consider using forEach instead.

Understanding and correcting the structure of Javascript code

so I've been on here for awhile, and I'm still considered an entry level programmer based on my general knowledge of structure and basic concepts. I have a function below that was given to me in an answer for a different question I asked. I can understand most of what it is doing, but I need help understanding the rest of what it does. I'm asking this because I would really like to understand further advanced concepts of javascript, and jQuery.
So what I've done below is placed the function, and I'll comment in what I know about what the function is doing at where, and then I'll place question marks where I"m confused.
function validate(){
//array of objeccts used to defined the class selector for each element iterated
//with what validation function is be assigned to that specific selector
var fields = [
{
selector: $('.not-empty'),
validations: [ isNotEmpty]
},
{
selector: $('.email'),
validations: [ isNotEmpty, isEmail]
},
{
selector: $('.number'),
validations: [ isNotEmpty, isNumber]
},
{
selector: $('.number-noreq'),
validations: [isNumberNotRequired]
},
{
selector: $('.checked'),
validations: [isChecked]
}
];
//remove any classes of 'has-error' from each element traversed before validation begins
$('.form-control').closest('.form-group').removeClass('has-error');
//defining variables
var i = 0, k = 0, z = 0, j = fields.length, item, selector, fn, info;
//for loop to traverse the fields array of objects
for(; i < j; i++){
item = fields[i];
//traversing each field.validation
for(k = 0; k < item.validations.length; k++){
fn = item.validations[k]; //setting fn as a function found in validation
//traversing each selector in item
for( z = 0; z < item.selector.length; z++){
selector = $(item.selector[z]); //setting the selector
//attempting to set info to the closest form or input group found by the selector
info = selector.closest('.form-group, .input-group');
if(info) //if info contains data
//?????????????????????????????????????? no idea what's going on below other
//other than it's running the validation function that was passed, but why
//is it written like this and what is it doing?
info[fn(selector.val()) ? 'removeClass' : 'addClass']('has-error');
}
}
}
}
So that is the basic question I have for this code (where all the question marks are). If someone can clearly answer what is going on, why you write the code like that, what the purpose of it is, and is it benefcial or not, would be fantastic. if you need more clarification I would be happy to provide it. I just want to be able to explain the code to somebody and know what I am talking about instead of trying to have to bs my through it. I think it was Einstein who said, "If you can't explain something accurately and to the point, then you truly do not understand it" or something like that!
Thank you in advance!
EDIT: here are the functions that 'validations' traverse through
//validation functions
function isNotEmpty(value){
return value && $.trim(value).length > 0;
}
function isEmail(value){
return /^([^#\s\t\n]+\#[\w\d]+\.[\w]{2,3}(\.[\w]{2})?)$/.test(value);
}
function isNumber(value){
return /^\d+$/.test(value);
}
function isNumberNotRequired(value){
return /^\d+$/.test(value) || value.length < 1;
}
function isChecked(value){
var r = false;
var name = $(value).attr('name');
$('input[name="'+name+'"').each(function(){
if($(this).is(':checked')){
r = true;
}
});
return r;
}
SECOND EDIT/UPDATE: We have determined that there is a severe error in the code that allows it not to keep track of the validation and take into account previous validations for input groups, and other related sections. How does this corrected. I'm testing items on jsfiddle at the moment I will return when I have restuls!
This line:
info[fn(selector.val()) ? 'removeClass' : 'addClass']('has-error');
is equivalent to this:
var result = fn(selector.val());
if (result)
info.removeClass("has-error");
else
info.addClass("has-error");
How is that? Well, your code calls the function plucked from the list of validation routines stored in that data structure, passing the value of the field to be tested. The result of that function call is used as a true/false test in the ? : expression. If the result is true, the ? : resolves to the string "removeClass"; if false, to "addClass".
Now, what is info? It's a jQuery object that refers to the closest piece of the DOM that (presumably) is where an error message would be displayed, or where some other indicator would be shown based on some CSS rule. The [ ] operator will take whichever of those two strings the ? : resolves to and use that as a property accessor. The net effect, therefore, is to reference either info.removeClass or info.addClass. Those are both references to jQuery methods, so one or the other will be called. In either case, the code wants to operate on the class name "has-error", because it wants to either add it (when the validation fails) or remove it (when the validation succeeds).
That said, the code has a serious defect: if, for a given field, there is in fact a list of validation functions, the code will run all of them (which is fine). However, for each validation function, it sets or clears that "has-error" class without regard to prior validation results. That might work, if you're really careful with the ordering of the validation functions, but that's an awfully fragile way of doing things. I think it would be much more robust if it made each test and kept track of whether any test failed, and then after that process is complete for a given field it'd only then set or clear the "has-error" class.
Fixing the code isn't too hard. Currently it iterates the the validation functions outside the iteration over the selected fields, which (I think) is backwards. However, as long as it checks the state of the error indicator element(s), it should be OK.
First, at the top, the code removes "has-error" from .form-group elements but not from .input-group elements. That's clearly incorrect, so:
$('.form-control').closest('.form-group, .input-group').removeClass('has-error');
Then, in the loop:
for( z = 0; z < item.selector.length; z++){
selector = $(item.selector[z]); //setting the selector
//attempting to set info to the closest form or input group found by the selector
info = selector.closest('.form-group, .input-group');
if (info.length && !fn(selector.val())) // if info contains data and field is invalid
info.addClass('has-error');
}
Since all the "has-error" flags are cleared at the outset, all we need to do is add the class to classes that are invalid. If you wanted to have a positive "is-ok" class, then you'd add that to everything at the top and remove it when you find an error.
As you should have known, foo.bar are foo["bar"] are identical in JavaScript (if you did not know, learn it, now).
This line
info[fn(selector.val()) ? 'removeClass' : 'addClass']('has-error');
means
var methodName;
if (fn(selector.val())) { methodName = 'removeClass'; } else { methodName = 'addClass'; }
info[methodName]('has-error')
so, in yet another words,
if (fn(selector.val())) {
info.removeClass('has-error');
} else {
info.addClass('has-error');
}
So it is actually switching class has-error on/off. Just it's pretty densely written.

JavaScript & string length: why is this simple function slow as hell?

i'm implementing a charcounter in the UI, so a user can see how many characters are left for input.
To count, i use this simple function:
function typerCount(source, layerID)
{
outPanel = GetElementByID(layerID);
outPanel.innerHTML = source.value.length.toString();
}
source contains the field which values we want to meassure
layerID contains the element ID of the object we want to put the result in (a span or div)
outPanel is just a temporary var
If i activate this function, while typing the machine really slows down and i can see that FF is using one core at 100%. you can't write fluently because it hangs after each block of few letters.
The problem, it seems, may be the value.length() function call in the second line?
Regards
I can't tell you why it's that slow, there's just not enough code in your example to determine that. If you want to count characters in a textarea and limit input to n characters, check this jsfiddle. It's fast enough to type without obstruction.
It could be having problems with outPanel. Every time you call that function, it will look up that DOM node. If you are targeting the same DOM node, that's very expensive for the browser if it's doing that every single time you type a character.
Also, this is too verbose:
source.value.length.toString();
This is sufficient:
source.value.length;
JavaScript is dynamic. It doesn't need the conversion to a string.
I doubt your problem is with the use of innerHTML or getElementById().
I would try to isolate the problem by removing parts of the function and seeing how the cpu is used. For instance, try it all these ways:
var len;
function typerCount(source, layerID)
{
len = source.value.length;
}
function typerCount(source, layerID)
{
len = source.value.length.toString();
}
function typerCount(source, layerID)
{
outPanel = GetElementByID(layerID);
outPanel.innerHTML = "test";
}
As artyom.stv mentioned in the comments, cache the result of your GetElementByID call. Also, as a side note, what is GetElementByID doing? Is it doing anything else other than calling document.getElementById?
How would you cache this you say?
var outPanelsById = {};
function getOutPanelById(id) {
var panel = outPanelsById[id];
if (!panel) {
panel = document.getElementById(id);
outPanelsById[id] = panel;
}
return panel;
};
function typerCount(source, layerId) {
var panel = getOutPanelById(layerId);
panel.innerHTML = source.value.length.toString();
};
I'm thinking there has to be something else going on though, as even getElementById calls are extremely fast in FF.
Also, what is "source"? Is it a DOMElement? Or is it something else?

How to access key itself using javascript

I have a JSON like:
var xx = {'name':'alx','age':12};
Now I can read the value of name which is 'alx' as xx[0].name, but how should I retrieve value of 'name' itself? By that, I mean how can I fetch the key at run time?
for (i in xx) {
if (xx[i] == "alx") {
// i is the key
}
}
modified Code (from Victor) taking into account that you might want to look for any other possible string
var search_object = "string_to_look_for";
for (i in xx) {
if (xx[i] == search_object) {
// i is the key
alert(i+" is the key!!!"); // alert, to make clear which one
}
}
You are looking for associative arrays in Javascript. A quick google search suggests the following:
Read this page http://www.quirksmode.org/js/associative.html
and especially this section http://www.quirksmode.org/js/associative.html#link5

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