metaprogramming - Javascript automatic getter/setters (John Resig Book)

Question

I'm reading "Pro Javascript Techniques" from John Resig, and I'm confused with an example. This is the code:

// Create a new user object that accepts an object of properties
function User( properties ) {
  // Iterate through the properties of the object, and make sure
  // that it's properly scoped (as discussed previously)
  for ( var i in properties ) { (function(){
  // Create a new getter for the property
  this[ "get" + i ] = function() {
    return properties[i];
  };
  // Create a new setter for the property
  this[ "set" + i ] = function(val) {
    properties[i] = val;
  };
})(); }
}

// Create a new user object instance and pass in an object of
// properties to seed it with
var user = new User({
  name: "Bob",
  age: 44
});

// Just note that the name property does not exist, as it's private
// within the properties object
alert( user.name == null );

// However, we're able to access its value using the new getname()
// method, that was dynamically generated
alert( user.getname() == "Bob" );

// Finally, we can see that it's possible to set and get the age using
// the newly generated functions
user.setage( 22 );
alert( user.getage() == 22 );

Now running that on Firebug console (on FF3) throws that user.getname() is not a function. I tried doing this:

var other = User
other()
window.getname() --> this works!

And it worked!

Any idea why? thanks everybody!

PS: I strongly recommend this book.

EDIT:

doing:

var me = this;

seems to work a bit better, but when executing "getname()" it returns '44' (the second property)...

also I find it strange that it worked on the window object without modification...

and a third question, what's the difference between PEZ solution and the original? (he doesn't use an anonymous function)

Thanks to everyone for the feedback! +1

Answer 1

I think it's best not to use the new keyword at all when working in JavaScript.

This is because if you then instantiate the object without using the new keyword (ex: var user = User()) by mistake, *very bad things will happen...*reason being that in the function (if instantiated without the new keyword), the this will refer to the global object, ie the window...

So therefore, I suggest a better way on how to use class-like objects.

Consider the following example :

var user = function (props) {
    var pObject = {};
    for (p in props) {
        (function (pc) {
            pObject['set' + pc] = function (v) {
                props[pc] = v;
                return pObject;
            }
            pObject['get' + pc] = function () {
                return props[pc];
            }
        })(p);
    }
    return pObject;
}

In the above example, I am creating a new object inside of the function, and then attaching getters and setters to this newly created object.

Finally, I am returning this newly created object. Note that the the this keyword is not used anywhere

Then, to 'instantiate' a user, I would do the following:

var john = user({name : 'Andreas', age : 21});
john.getname(); //returns 'Andreas'
john.setage(19).getage(); //returns 19

The best way to avoid falling into pitfalls is by not creating them in the first place...In the above example, I am avoiding the new keyword pitfall (as i said, not using the new keyword when it's supposed to be used will cause bad things to happen) by not using new at all.