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Passing values from an object inside a function

I have been working all day trying to pass the value of "returnData.salary" inside the "readData" function to
the object inside the "calculateTax" function which is suppose to take the salary value and calculate state and federal taxes. I am stumped, I can't find anything on the internet which provides a good example for me to work with. The examples are either way to simple or super complex. Any help would be appreciated.
I apologize in advance if I did not submit this question in the correct format. This is my first time asking for help on stackoverflow.
function readForm() {
var returnData = {};
returnData.name = $("#name").val();
returnData.lastName = $("#lastName").val();
returnData.age = $("#age").val();
returnData.gender = $("[name=gender]:checked").val();
returnData.salary = $("#salary").val();
returnData.isManager = $("#isManager").val();
returnData.myTextArea = $("#myTextArea").val();
$("#name2").text(returnData.name);
$("#lastName2").text(returnData.lastName);
$("#age2").text(returnData.age);
$("#gender2").text(returnData.gender);
$("#salary2").text(returnData.salary);
$("#myTextArea2").text(returnData.myTextArea);
if ($(isManager).is(':checked')) {
$("#isManager2").text("Yes");
}
else {
$("#isManager2").text("No");
}
//$("#employeeForm")[0].reset();
} //end of readForm function
function calculateTax() {
console.log("Button Works");
var calculateTax = {
state: function(num) {
num *= 0.09;
return num;
}
, federal: function(num) {
if (num > 10000) {
num *= 0.2;
return num;
}
else {
num * 0.1;
return num;
}
}
, exempt: true
};
}
//Invoke readForm function when the submit button is clicked.
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#btnSubmit").on("click", readForm);
$("#btnCalculate").on("click", calculateTax);
})
</script>

Well, simply put; you can't. Not like this anyway. Or, at least not pass the value to the function directly.
You are using global functions right now, which are not inside a class. If it was inside a class, you could instantiate the class and save it to this (which would be the class' instance). However, I'm assuming classes are a bit over complicated in this case. What you could do, is set variables globally so all functions can use them, like this;
//declare the global variable so it exists for every function
var returnData = {};
function readForm() {
//We do NOT redeclare the "var" again. It's global now.
returnData = {}; //Reset the global variable when this function is called
returnData.name = $("#name").val();
returnData.lastName = $("#lastName").val();
returnData.age = $("#age").val();
returnData.gender = $("[name=gender]:checked").val();
returnData.salary = $("#salary").val();
returnData.isManager = $("#isManager").val();
returnData.myTextArea = $("#myTextArea").val();
//Rest of your function
}
function calculateTax(){
console.log(returnData) //works here
}
Note that you do overwrite global variables, so it's best to reset them on every function call. You might get old data stuck in there, otherwise.

Javascript Typedef Error when using parameters

What am I doing wrong, and how can one pass variables to a different function within the same wrapping variable/function.
Example:
function customFunctionWrap(){
this.myVar1 = 0;
this.getCurrentPosition = function(){
if (navigation.geolocation) {
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(position){});
}
},
this.doSomething = function(){ // Works
//Do something, return
this.callWithParams(); //Works
},
//If I remove passing in 'value1',calling it elsewhere works
this.doSomethingWithParams = function(value1){
//Use value1
//Return
},
this.callWithParams = function(){
var value1 = 'xyz'; //Is a variable that changes based on some DOM element values and is a dynamic DOM element
this.doSomethingWithParams(value1); //THROWS TYPEDEF ERROR: this.doSomethingWithParams is not a function
this.getCurrentPosition();
}
};
var local = new customFunctionWrap();
local.doSomething(); //WORKS
I know there is another way to do it and then directly use customFunctionWrap.callWithParams(), but am trying to understand why the former approach is erroring out.
var customFunctionWrap = {
myVar1 : 0,
callWithParams : function(){
}
}

What JS sees:
var customFunctionWrap = (some function)()
returned function is fired, because the last (), so it has to yield/return something, otherwise, like in your code it is "returning" undefined.
So your given code does not work.
The very first fix is to delete last 2 characters from
var customFunctionWrap = (some function)()
to make it return constructor.

Local variable lost in closure

The variable cont is being lost in the following:
__factory.setupMenu = function(cont,input,multiSelect,exclusive,popMenu){
var __menu = {multiSelect:multiSelect};
spotter.events.setEventTrigger(input,'change');
__menu.exclusive = {inputs:[],values:exclusive||[],simpleValues:[]};
alert(cont);//<-- is defined here
window.popSelectComponent= cont;//<-- saved it globally to test reference
return function(ajaxResult){
var data = ajaxResult.template.response||[];
var info = {},l=data.length;
while(--l > -1){
info[String(data[l].value)] = data[l].abbr||data[l].name;
}
var textTarget;
alert(window.popSelectComponent);//<-- this is defined as expected
alert(cont);//<-- is now undefined
alert(input);//<-- this is defined as expected
if(!(textTarget = cont.querySelector('[data-pop-selected]'))){textTarget = cont;}
if(!input.popSelectTemplate){
spotter.data.bindElementToInput(textTarget,input,function(content){
content = content.split(',');
var l=content.length;
while(--l > -1){
content[l] = info[content[l]];
}
content = content.join(',');
return (content.length ? content : 'ignore');
});
}
else{
var cont = document.createElement('SPAN');//<-- PROBLEM IS CAUSED HERE. HOISTING IS CAUSING CONT TO BE UNDEFINED AT CLOSURE START
cont.className="multi-select";
cont.appendChild(cont);
//removal function
var remove = (function(input){
return function(e){
var evt = e ? e:window.event;
if (evt.stopPropagation) evt.stopPropagation();
if (evt.cancelBubble!=null) evt.cancelBubble = true;
if(input.value !== input.spotterPopSelectDefaultValue){
input.value = input.value.removeListValue(this.getAttribute('data-id'),',');
spotter.deleteElement(this);
if(input.value === '' && input.value !== input.spotterPopSelectDefaultValue){
input.value = input.spotterPopSelectDefaultValue;
input.eventTriggers['pop-select-change']();
}
}
};
}(input));
input.spotterPopMenuOptions = __menu;
input.addEventListener('pop-select-change',(function(cont, info, template){
return function(){
var HTML = '';
this.value.split(',').forEach(function(val){
HTML += template.replace('$[ID]', val).replace('$[NAME]', info[val]);
});
cont.innerHTML = HTML;
spotter.castToArray(cont.children).forEach(function(el){ console.log('option el',el); el.addEventListener('click',remove,false); });
console.log('input.spotterPopMenuOptions',input.spotterPopMenuOptions);
};
}(cont, info, input.popSelectTemplate.innerHTML)),false);
}
....
So running var func = __factory.setupMenu(...)({template:{}}) I am receiving an error message that cont is undefined while window.popSelectComponent is defined like expected. I tried changing the name of cont thinking I was overlooking something that was changing the value but that did not work either.
After running the function, I check cont in the context that initially created this closure and cont is still defined so it is not a matter of an object reference being lost as far as I can tell.

Perhaps a highly simplified example would make the problem more obvious:
var outer = function(theVariable) {
console.log("In the outer function, theVariable is", theVariable);
var inner = function() {
console.log("In the inner function, theVariable is", theVariable);
if (false) {
var theVariable = 2;
}
};
inner();
}
outer(1)
In the outer function, theVariable is 1
In the inner function, theVariable is undefined
As you have seen, the fact that a different variable with the same name has been declared (even though not initialized) in the inner function hides the properly initialized variable in the outer function that would have otherwise been visible.
You might think that because the variable is declared in a block, it would not affect other parts of the function. No, var is function scoped, not block scope.
This flaw has been addressed in modern versions of Javascript, and the var keyword has been superseded by let, which has the block scope you were expecting. var is kept for backwards compatibility, but you should not use it in new code.

Javascript array is undefined... and I'm not sure why

I'm trying to translate a PHP class into JavaScript. The only thing I'm having trouble with is getting an item out of an array variable. I've created a simple jsfiddle here. I cannot figure out why it won't work.
(EDIT: I updated this code to better reflect what I'm doing. Sorry for the previous mistake.)
function tattooEightBall() {
this.subjects = ['a bear', 'a tiger', 'a sailor'];
this.prediction = make_prediction();
var that = this;
function array_random_pick(somearray) {
//return array[array_rand(array)];
var length = somearray.length;
var random = somearray[Math.floor(Math.random()*somearray.length)];
return random;
}
function make_prediction() {
var prediction = array_random_pick(this.subjects);
return prediction;
}
}
var test = tattooEightBall();
document.write(test.prediction);
​

Works fine here, you are simple not calling
classname();
After you define the function.
Update
When you make a call to *make_prediction* , this will not be in scope. You are right on the money creating a that variable, use it on *make_prediction* :
var that = this;
this.prediction = make_prediction();
function make_prediction() {
var prediction = ''; //initialize it
prediction = prediction + array_random_pick(that.subjects);
return prediction;
}
You can see a working version here: http://jsfiddle.net/zKcpC/
This is actually pretty complex and I believe someone with more experience in Javascript may be able to clarify the situation.
Edit2: Douglas Crockfords explains it with these words:
By convention, we make a private that variable. This is used to make
the object available to the private methods. This is a workaround for
an error in the ECMAScript Language Specification which causes this to
be set incorrectly for inner functions.
To see the complete article head to: http://javascript.crockford.com/private.html

You never call classname. Seems to be working fine.

Works for me:
(function classname() {
this.list = [];
this.list[0] = "tiger";
this.list[1] = "lion";
this.list[2] = "bear";
function pickone(somearray) {
var length = somearray.length;
var random = somearray[Math.floor(Math.random()*length)];
return random;
}
var random_item = pickone(this.list);
document.write(random_item);
}());
Were you actually calling the classname function? Note I wrapped your code block in:
([your_code]());

I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish exactly with the class structure you were using so I made some guesses, but this code works by creating a classname object that has instance data and a pickone method:
function classname() {
this.list = [];
this.list[0] = "tiger";
this.list[1] = "lion";
this.list[2] = "bear";
this.pickone = function() {
var length = this.list.length;
var random = this.list[Math.floor(Math.random()*length)];
return random;
}
}
var cls = new classname();
var random = cls.pickone();
You can play with it interactively here: http://jsfiddle.net/jfriend00/ReL2h/.

It's working fine for me: http://jsfiddle.net/YznSE/6/ You just didn't call classname(). If you don't call it, nothing will happen ;)

Make it into a self-executing function like this:
(function classname() {
this.list = [];
this.list[0] = "tiger";
this.list[1] = "lion";
this.list[2] = "bear";
function pickone(somearray) {
var length = somearray.length; //<---WHY ISN'T THIS DEFINED??
var random = somearray[Math.floor(Math.random() * length)];
return random;
}
var random_item = pickone(this.list);
document.write(random_item);
})();

var test = tattooEightBall();
document.write(test.prediction);
Should be:
var test = new tattooEightBall(); //forgot new keyword to create object
document.write(test.prediction()); // forgot parens to fire method
and:
this.prediction = make_prediction();
Should be:
this.prediction = make_prediction;

Use variable's value as variable in javascript

I have a variable with a value, let's say
var myVarMAX = 5;
In HTML I have an element with id="myVar".
I combine the id with the string MAX (creating a string myVarMAX). My question is how can I use this string to access a variable with the same name?

You COULD use eval, but if you have the var in the window scope, this is better
var myVarMAX = 5;
var id="MAX"; // likely not in a var
alert(window["myVar"+id]); // alerts 5
However Don't pollute the global scope!
A better solution is something like what is suggested in the link I posted
var myVars = {
"myVarMin":1,
"myVarMax":5,
"otherVarXX":"fred"
} // notice no comma after the last var
then you have
alert(myVars["myVar"+id]);

Since this post is referred to often, I would like to add a use case.
It is probably often a PHP programmer who gives Javascript/Nodejs a try, who runs into this problem.
// my variables in PHP
$dogs = [...]; //dog values
$cats = [...]; //cat values
$sheep = [...]; //sheep values
Let's say I want to save them each in their own file (dogs.json, cats.json, sheep.json), not all at the same time, without creating functions like savedogs, savecats, savesheep. An example command would be save('dogs')
In PHP it works like this:
function save($animal) {
if(!$animal) return false;
file_put_contents($animal.'.json', json_encode($$animal));
return true;
}
In Nodejs/Javascript it could be done like this
// my variables in NodeJS/Javascript
let dogs = [...]; //dog values
let cats = [...]; //cat values
let sheep = [...]; //sheep values
function save(animal) {
if (!animal) return false;
let animalType = {};
animalType.dogs = dogs;
animalType.cats = cats;
animalType.sheep = sheep;
fs.writeFile(animal + '.json', JSON.stringify(animalType[animal]), function (err){
if (err) return false;
});
return true;
}