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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.

JavaScript calling a getter from its function

Trying to do something that in pseudo code would look like this:
(function(scope) {
scope.doSomenthin = function() {
if (x === y && this.onfinish) {
// If exists, run onfinish, should return 'fin'
this.onfinish();
}
}
})(scope);
window.scope = window.scope || (window.scope = {});
scope.doSomenthin().onfinish = function(){return 'fin'}
At run time if onfinish exists, run that function. Tried using getters/setter but at that point it will return undefined. Setting a timeout works but its not something I wish to do.
Any other ideas? Thanks.

I'm not sure if I completely understand the question, but I think what you want comes down to setting the context for the functions you are calling. Is this what you are after?
//create a function that accesses an object's properties and methods with 'this'
var doSomethin = function() {
var result = "nonfinish";
if (this.onfinish) {
// If exists, run onfinish, should return 'fin'
result = this.onfinish();
}
return result;
}
//add an 'onfinish' method to the 'scope' object
scope = {
onfinish: function(){return 'fin'}
}
//run the accessor function in the window context
alert(doSomethin());
//run the accessor function in scope's context
alert(doSomethin.call(scope));

I see several mistakes with your code. This may be the results you are trying to achieve..
window.scope = window.scope || (window.scope = {});
scope.onfinish = function(){return 'fin'};
(function(scope) {
scope.doSomenthin = function() {
if (this.onfinish) {
// If exists, run onfinish, should return 'fin'
return this.onfinish();
}
}
})(scope);
alert(scope.doSomenthin());
When you create the temporary scope here you give scope as a
parameter. But scope is not defined yet.
(function(scope) {
scope.doSomenthin = function() {
if (x === y && this.onfinish) {
// If exists, run onfinish, should return 'fin'
this.onfinish();
}
}
})(scope);
Your scope.doSomenthin function doesn't return any value. Because
of that the value of scope.doSomenthin() is undifined. Therefore
with scope.doSomenthin().onfinish = function(){return 'fin'} you
are trying to set a property of undifined.

What you want to approach is similar to event-driven programming. Don't just call the function right away, register it as an event handler instead. The following pseudo-code only shows my idea. It's not complete
//register the function here, instead of calling it immediately
event = document.createEvent("HTMLEvents");
event.initEvent("myEvent", true, true);
document.addEventListener("myEvent", function(e) {
e.scope.doSomenthin = function() {
if (this.onfinish) {
// If exists, run onfinish, should return 'fin'
return this.onfinish();
}
}
});
......
//call the handler to handle the below event
window.scope = window.scope || (window.scope = {});
scope.doSomenthin().onfinish = function(){return 'fin'}
event.scope = scope;
document.body.dispatchEvent(event);
The above code is kind of silly. You have to design where to put and trigger the events.

Nesting Objects in Javascript - Anonymous is not a function error

Ok, so I'm a complete newbie to OOP in Javascript, apparently. I thought I understood it, but it appears I only know a small portion. Anyway, what I'm trying to do is setup an object to store and return data from an XML input by using a fairly simple string to retrieve data. I'd like to retrieve the data with a string similar to reader.getItem().getSubItem() or something like that.
Below is an example of what I attempted, but I get the error anonymous is not a function each time I try to do a call to fr.getType().isTexture() so obviously, I need to change something.
//Create the object by passing an XML element containing sub-elements
var fr = new FeatureReader(test.child(i));
alert(fr.getName()); //returns the object's name
alert(fr.getType().isTexture()); //"anonymous is not a function" error
function FeatureReader(feature) {
var feat = feature;
this.getName = function() {
return feat.name;
};
this.getType = new function() {
this.isTexture = new function() {
if (feat.type.texture == "yes") {
return true;
}
return false;
};
this.isModel = new function() {
if (feat.type.model == "yes") {
return true;
}
return false;
};
};
}
Now, obviously I could just remove the surrounding this.getType = function() {} around the this.isTexture and this.isModel to get my data, but for the sake of learning something, I'd like to see how it is recommended that I set this object up to get the returned values using a string similar to what I mentioned in the first and second paragraphs.

When you do this:
this.isTexture = new function() {
if (feat.type.texture == "yes") {
return true;
}
return false;
};
you're setting the "isTexture" property to the object constructed, not to that function. If you drop the new keyword from the statement, you'll be setting "isTexture" to be a function.
An expression of the form new <some-function> evaluates to an object, in other words.
edit — your "getType" property will also be an object, for the same reason. However, I think this would work:
alert( fr.getType.isTexture() );
Also note that your if statement can be simplified:
return feat.type.texture == "yes";

What you can do is simply assign an object instead of using new:
function FeatureReader(feature) {
var feat = feature;
this.getName = function() {
return feat.name;
};
this.getType = {
isTexture: function() {
return feat.type.texture == "yes";
},
isModel: function() {
return feat.type.model == "yes";
}
};
}
Then use the method like:
instance.getType.isTexture()
Note that you don't need to return true or false, as returning an expression that evaluates to boolean like a == b
returns a boolean value.

Is there a Javascript equivalent of Ruby's andand?

In trying to make my Javascript unobtrusive, I'm using onLoads to add functionality to <input>s and such. With Dojo, this looks something like:
var coolInput = dojo.byId('cool_input');
if(coolInput) {
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
coolInput.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
}
Or, approximately equivalently:
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
dojo.forEach(dojo.query('#cool_input'), function(elt) {
elt.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
});
Has anyone written an implementation of Ruby's andand so that I could do the following?
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
// the input's onkeyup is set iff the input exists
dojo.byId('cool_input').andand().onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
or
dojo.byId('cool_input').andand(function(elt) {
// this function gets called with elt = the input iff it exists
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
elt.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
});

I don't know Dojo, but shouldn't your first example read
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
var coolInput = dojo.byId('cool_input');
if(coolInput)
coolInput.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
Otherwise, you might end up trying to access the element before the DOM has been built.
Back to your question: In JavaScript, I'd implement andand() as
function andand(obj, func, args) {
return obj && func.apply(obj, args || []);
}
Your example could then be written as
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
andand(dojo.byId('cool_input'), function() {
this.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
});
which isn't really that much shorter than using the explicit if statement - so why bother?

The exact syntax you want is not possible in JavaScript. The way JavaScript executes would need to change in a pretty fundamental fashion. For example:
var name = getUserById(id).andand().name;
// ^
// |-------------------------------
// if getUserById returns null, execution MUST stop here |
// otherwise, you'll get a "null is not an object" exception
However, JavaScript doesn't work that way. It simply doesn't.
The following line performs almost exactly what you want.
var name = (var user = getUserById(id)) ? user.name : null;
But readability won't scale to larger examples. For example:
// this is what you want to see
var initial = getUserById(id).andand().name.andand()[0];
// this is the best that JavaScript can do
var initial = (var name = (var user = getUserById(id)) ? user.name : null) ? name[0] : null;
And there is the side-effect of those unnecessary variables. I use those variables to avoid the double lookup. The variables are mucking up the context, and if that's a huge deal, you can use anonymous functions:
var name = (function() {return (var user = getUserById(id)) ? user.name : null;})();
Now, the user variable is cleaned-up properly, and everybody's happy. But wow! what a lot of typing! :)

You want dojo.behavior.
dojo.behavior.add({
'#cool_input': {
onKeyUp: function(evt) { ... }
}
});

How about something like this:
function andand(elt, f) {
if (elt)
return f(elt);
return null;
}
Call like this:
andand(dojo.byId('cool_input'), function(elt) {
// this function gets called with elt = the input iff it exists
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
elt.onkeyup = function() { ... };
});
});

As far as I know there isn't a built-in JavaScript function that has that same functionality. I think the best solution though is to query by class instead of id and use dojo.forEach(...) as you will be guaranteed a non-null element in the forEach closure.
You could always use the JavaScript equivalent:
dojo.byId('cool_input') && dojo.byId('cool_input').whateverYouWantToDo(...);

I've never used dojo, but most javascript frameworks (when dealing with the DOM) return the calling element when a method is called from the element object (poor wording, sorry). So andand() would be implicit.
dojo.addOnLoad(function() {
dojo.byId('cool_input').onkeyup(function(evt) { /*event handler code*/
});
});

For a list:
Array.prototype.andand = function(property, fn) {
if (this.filter(property).length > 0) this.map(fn);
}