Google Closure bind / resolve issues with the this keyword - javascript

What is the Google Closure's solution for resolving the issues with the this keyword in JavaScript callback functions. It would be so useful in OO style programming.
Is there any conventions or style for OOP in Google Closure???
update
How can I access this.darklayer in ViewportSizeMonitor handler???
goog.require('goog.dom');
goog.require('goog.events');
goog.require('goog.events.EventType');
goog.require('goog.math.Size');
goog.require('goog.style');
goog.require('goog.dom.ViewportSizeMonitor');
goog.provide('ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox');
ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox = function (url, containerClass) {
try {
this.url = url;
this.containerClass = containerClass;
var viwportSize = goog.dom.getViewportSize();
this.darklayer = goog.dom.createDom("div", {
"style": "width: " + viwportSize.width + "px;" + "height: " +
viwportSize.height + "px;" +
"background-image: url('css/img/50black.png');" +
"z-index: 1000;" +
"position: absolute;" +
"left: 0px; top: 0px;"
});
var vsm = new goog.dom.ViewportSizeMonitor();
goog.events.listen(vsm, goog.events.EventType.RESIZE, function(e) {
console.log("this: " + this.darklayer);
});
this.container = goog.dom.createDom("div", {
"class": this.containerClass
});
goog.dom.appendChild(this.darklayer, this.container);
goog.dom.setTextContent(this.container, "hello ajax box");
this.show = function() {
goog.dom.appendChild(document.body, this.darklayer);
},
this.hide = function() {
goog.dom.removeNode(this.darklayer);
}
} catch (e) {
console.log("error: " + e);
}
};
I changed my class according to the Closure's style this way:
goog.require('goog.dom');
goog.require('goog.events');
goog.require('goog.events.EventType');
goog.require('goog.math.Size');
goog.require('goog.style');
goog.require('goog.dom.ViewportSizeMonitor');
goog.provide('ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox');
ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox = function (url, containerClass) {
try {
this.url = url;
this.containerClass = containerClass;
var viwportSize = goog.dom.getViewportSize();
this.darklayer = goog.dom.createDom("div", {
"style": "width: " + viwportSize.width + "px;" + "height: " +
viwportSize.height + "px;" +
"background-image: url('css/img/50black.png');" +
"z-index: 1000;" +
"position: absolute;" +
"left: 0px; top: 0px;"
});
var vsm = new goog.dom.ViewportSizeMonitor();
goog.events.listen(vsm, goog.events.EventType.RESIZE, function(e) {
console.log("this: " + this.darklayer);
});
this.container = goog.dom.createDom("div", {
"class": this.containerClass
});
goog.dom.appendChild(this.darklayer, this.container);
goog.dom.setTextContent(this.container, "hello ajax box");
} catch (e) {
console.log("error: " + e);
}
};
ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox.prototype.show = function() {
goog.dom.appendChild(document.body, this.darklayer);
}
ehsun7b.ajax.AjaxBox.prototype.hide = function() {
goog.dom.removeNode(this.darklayer);
}

goog.bind is the general purpose solution. For example:
goog.bind(this.someFunction, this);
goog.bind(this.someFunction, this, arg1);
goog.bind(this.someFunction, this, arg1, arg2);
The framework is generally designed such that this can be avoided, so it's not common to have to explicitly call goog.bind.
For example, goog.events.EventHandler automatically binds callbacks to the handler you set in its constructor.
var handler = new goog.events.EventHandler(this);
handler.listen(something, 'something', this.someFunction); // no need to bind
The array functions also support a handler argument.
goog.array.forEach(elements, this.someFunction, this);
var items = goog.array.map(elements, this.someFunction, this);
And so on. Most parts of the framework make it pretty easy to do this, it's very well designed for "pseudo-classic" inheritance.
For more details, see http://www.bolinfest.com/javascript/inheritance.php

Related

How to set an element property from within a callback function

I have this "service" element where I would like to set the property "bookmarks" with the function getTree, which takes a callback function.
My problem is that I don't see how I could reach the property from within the callback function where "this" is undefined!!
<dom-module id="...">
<style>
:host {
display: none;
}
</style>
<script>
Polymer({
is: "bookmark-service",
properties: {
bookmarks: {
type: Array,
value: function() { return [{title:"init"}]; }
}
},
created: function() {
chrome.bookmarks.getTree(
function(bookmarkTreeNodes) {
this.bookmarks = bookmarkTreeNodes;
console.log(this.localName + '#' + this.id + ' in getTree.');
} );
console.log(this.localName + '#' + this.id + ' was created');
console.log("Bookmark: " + this.bookmarks[0].title + '.');
},
...
You could save a reference for this before calling getTree:
var that = this;
chrome.bookmarks.getTree(function(bookmarkTreeNodes) {
that.bookmarks = bookmarkTreeNodes;
console.log(that.localName + '#' + that.id + ' in getTree.');
});
You can use bind to set this in your callback function.
chrome.bookmarks.getTree(
function(bookmarkTreeNodes) {
this.bookmarks = bookmarkTreeNodes;
console.log(this.localName + '#' + this.id + ' in getTree.');
}.bind(this) );
That was a part of my problem and I prefer not to use "bind" which I fear may have side effects with this and looks more complicated.
But another problem, was the asynchronous nature of getTree. For this, I had to add an observer.
Also, the properties doesn't even exist in "created" phase, I had to use "ready"
So here is the almost final result:
properties: {
bookmarks: {
type: Array,
value: function() { return [{title:"init"}]; },
observer: 'bookready'
}
},
bookready: function(){
console.log("Bookmark ready: " + this.bookmarks[0].title + '.');
},
ready: function() {
var self = this;
chrome.bookmarks.getTree(
function(bookmarkTreeNodes) {
self.bookmarks = bookmarkTreeNodes[0].children;
}
);
console.log(this.localName + '#' + this.id + ' was readied');
console.log("Bookmark: " + this.bookmarks[0].title + '.');
},

How can i get rid of putting "new" before a function

I was wondering how can I make it posible to get rid of putting "new" before a function, for example:
new functionToDo("thingsToDo").iGotYouBruh("Halo Humans");
is there a posible way of doing this without the "new"?
here is the code I'm trying to use without the "new":
function local (title) {
var storeTitle = title;
this.addL = function(lString) {
var storeText = lString;
localStorage.setItem(storeTitle, storeText);
console.info("Locally stored " + storeTitle.toUpperCase() + " with " + storeText.substring(0, 10) + "... As text.");
};
this.removeL = function() {
localStorage.removeItem(storeTitle);
console.info("Locally removed " + storeTitle + ".");
};
this.getL = function () {
localStorage.getItem(storeTitle);
console.info("Locally got string of " + storeTitle + ": " + localStorage.getItem(storeTitle));
};
};
and here's what I would have to do to invoke the function:
new local("storedElement").getL();
This is possible by checking whether this is an instance of the function itself and returning a new instance otherwise:
function local (title) {
if (!(this instanceof local)) {
return new local(title);
}
var storeTitle = title;
this.addL = function(lString) {
var storeText = lString;
localStorage.setItem(storeTitle, storeText);
console.info("Locally stored " + storeTitle.toUpperCase() + " with " + storeText.substring(0, 10) + "... As text.");
};
this.removeL = function() {
localStorage.removeItem(storeTitle);
console.info("Locally removed " + storeTitle + ".");
};
this.getL = function () {
localStorage.getItem(storeTitle);
console.info("Locally got string of " + storeTitle + ": " + localStorage.getItem(storeTitle));
};
};
You could use JavaScript closures. In particular look at the "Using Closures for the Module Pattern" section of this webpage for a full description. The idea is to have the function return an literal with all the required methods. Any functions or variables that you want to be kept private are just local variables for the function.

Javascript Parameters Function on Many Events

I'm trying to implement hammer.js to swipe pages (like a book) and I did it. The problem is that this works
var idHammer1 = document.getElementById("pageHoja1")
//var hammertime = new Hammer(myElement, hammerOptionsPan);
var objHammer1 = new Hammer(idHammer1);
objHammer1.on('panleft panright', function(ev)
{
//DBLog("obj1 - gSceneActual Antes: " + gSceneActual + " // X: " + ev.center.x + " Y: " + ev.center.y);
if (ev.type==='panleft')
{
if (!(gSceneActual===2))
{
gSceneActual = 2;
$(":mobile-pagecontainer").pagecontainer("change", "#pageHoja2", { transition: "slide", reverse: false});
}
}
else if (ev.type==='panright')
{
}
});
but this doesn't:
var fSwipe1 = function(ev)
{
//DBLog("obj1 - gSceneActual Antes: " + gSceneActual + " // X: " + ev.center.x + " Y: " + ev.center.y);
if (ev.type==='panleft')
{
if (!(gSceneActual===2))
{
gSceneActual = 2;
$(":mobile-pagecontainer").pagecontainer("change", "#pageHoja2", { transition: "slide", reverse: false});
}
}
else if (ev.type==='panright')
{
}
}
var idHammer1 = document.getElementById("pageHoja1")
//var hammertime = new Hammer(myElement, hammerOptionsPan);
var objHammer1 = new Hammer(idHammer1);
objHammer1.on('panleft panright', fSwipe1(ev))
and this also don't work
function fSwipe1(ev)
{
//DBLog("obj1 - gSceneActual Antes: " + gSceneActual + " // X: " + ev.center.x + " Y: " + ev.center.y);
if (ev.type==='panleft')
{
if (!(gSceneActual===2))
{
gSceneActual = 2;
$(":mobile-pagecontainer").pagecontainer("change", "#pageHoja2", { transition: "slide", reverse: false});
}
}
else if (ev.type==='panright')
{
}
}
and since I need to add this event to many pages (variable #) I cant hardcode it... How can I make it variable inside a cycle?
Thanks!
Ah, without knowing the extent of the errors, I do see:
objHammer1.on('panleft panright', fSwipe1(ev));
Here, you are rendering the function automatically, but what you actually want is to use a closure so that the function does not get rendered until the event gets hit. I'm not sure what ev represents, but if it is the event object, then this should work:
objHammer1.on('panleft panright', fSwipe1);
Where all you are doing is passing in the function that you want to be the callback and the even will automatically call this function and pass the event object as the first parameter.
A few other things that I notice:
make sure that you include the javascript library for Hammer
Make sure that gSceneActual is defined before it is evaluated at gSceneActual===2
Make sure that jQuery library is included

using objects to get position (x, y) - Javascript

this code works:
var myElement = document.getElementById("red");
setInterval(function() {
console.log("Left:" + myElement.offsetLeft + "px | Top:" + myElement.offsetTop + "px");
}, 1000);
This prints out the position(x, y) every second
But If I try and change it to using objects:
function Enemy(id){
this.id = getElementById(id);
this.getCoordinates = function(){
setInterval(function() {
console.log("Left:" + this.id.offsetLeft + "px | Top:" + this.id.offsetTop + "px");
}, 1000);
}
}
$(document).ready(function(){
var enemy = new Enemy("red");
enemy.getCoordinates();
});
It prints out nothing - and I can't see where my mistake is.
In a setInterval or setTimeout (or any event handler like onclick) the this variable refers to the global object. In a browser that's window.
In modern browsers you can do this:
setInterval((function() {
console.log("Left:" + that.id.offsetLeft + "px");
}).bind(this), 1000); // <------- bind
Otherwise all other solutions are basically similar to your first piece of code.
Note that there is an implementation of bind() in pure js from Mozilla that can be ported to older browsers. Search for it on MDN.
The problem is that the value of "this" is changing within the setInterval. The fix is to change it to:
function Enemy(id){
this.id = document.getElementById(id);
var self = this;
this.getCoordinates = function(){
setInterval(function() {
console.log("Left:" + self.id.offsetLeft + "px | Top:" + self.id.offsetTop + "px");
}, 1000);
}
}
function Enemy(id){
this.id = document.getElementById(id);
this.getCoordinates = function(){
var element = this.id;
setInterval(function() {
console.log("Left:" + element.offsetLeft + "px | Top:" + element.offsetTop + "px");
}, 1000);
}
}
$(document).ready(function(){
var enemy = new Enemy("red");
enemy.getCoordinates();
});
As slebetman said, the 'this' variable is not what you expected. Try saving it in a 'that' variable, which can be accessed in different scopes.
function Enemy(id){
var that = this; // reference to 'this' that can be used in other scopes
that.id = document.getElementById(id);
that.getCoordinates = function(){
setInterval(function() {
console.log("Left:" + that.id.offsetLeft + "px | Top:" + that.id.offsetTop + "px");
}, 1000);
}
return that;
}

Avoiding use of eval() to dynamically build event handlers

I'm struggling with managing dynamically built event handlers in javascript.
In several places, I build forms, or controls in which specific events (mainly mouseovers, mouse-outs, clicks) need to be handled.
The trick is that in a significant number of cases, the event handler itself needs to incorporate data that is either generated by, or is passed-into the function that is building the form or control.
As such, I've been using "eval()" to construct the events and incorporate the appropriate data, and this has worked somewhat well.
The problem is I keep seeing/hearing things like "You should never use eval()!" as well as a couple of increasingly ugly implementations where my dynamically-built event handler needs to dynamically build other event handlers and the nested evals are pretty obtuse (to put it mildly).
So I'm here, asking if someone can please show me the better way (native javascript only please, I'm not implementing any third-party libraries!).
Here's a crude example to illustrate what I'm talking about:
function CreateInput(controlName,type,activeStyle,dormantStyle,whenClicked)
{
var inp = document.createElement('input');
inp.id = controlName;
inp.type = type;
inp.style.cssText = dormantStyle;
eval("inp.onfocus = function() { this.style.cssText = '" + activeStyle + "'; }");
eval("inp.onblur = function() { this.style.cssText = '" + dormantStyle + "'; }");
eval("inp.onclick = function() { " + whenClicked + "; }");
return inp;
}
This function obviously would let me easily create lots of different INPUT tags and specify a number of unique attributes and event actions, with just a single function call for each. Again, this is an extremely simplified example, just to demonstrate what I'm talking about, in some cases with the project I'm on currently, the events can incorporate dozens of lines, they might even make dynamic ajax calls based on a passed parameter or other dynamically generated data. In more extreme cases I construct tables, whose individual rows/columns/cells may need to process events based on the dynamically generated contents of the handler, or the handler's handler.
Initially, I had built functions like the above as so:
function CreateInput(controlName,type,activeStyle,dormantStyle,whenClicked)
{
var inp = document.createElement('input');
inp.id = controlName;
inp.type = type;
inp.style.cssText = dormantStyle;
inp.onfocus = function() { this.style.cssText = activeStyle; };
inp.onblur = function() { this.style.cssText = dormantStyle; };
eval("inp.onclick = function() { " + whenClicked + "; }");
return inp;
}
...but I found that whatever the last assigned value had been for "activeStyle", and "dormantStyle" became the value used by all of the handlers thusly created (instead of each retaining its own unique set of styles, for example). That is what lead me to using eval() to "lock-in" the values of the variables when the function was created, but this has lead me into nightmares such as the following:
(This is a sample of one dynamically-built event-handler that I'm currently working on and which uses a nested eval() function):
eval("input.onkeyup = function() { " +
"InputParse(this,'ucwords'); " +
"var tId = '" + myName + This.nodeName + "SearchTable" + uidNo + "'; " +
"var table = document.getElementById(tId); " +
"if (this.value.length>2) { " +
"var val = (this.value.indexOf(',') >=0 ) ? this.value.substr(0,this.value.indexOf(',')) : this.value; " +
"var search = Global.LoadData('?fn=citySearch&limit=3&value=' + encodeURI(val)); " +
"if (table) { " +
"while (table.rows.length>0) { table.deleteRow(0); } " +
"table.style.display='block'; " +
"} else { " +
"table = document.createElement('table'); " +
"table.id = tId; " +
"ApplyStyleString('" + baseStyle + ";position=absolute;top=20px;left=0px;display=block;border=1px solid black;backgroundColor=rgba(224,224,224,0.90);zIndex=1000;',table); " +
"var div = document.getElementById('" + divName + "'); " +
"if (div) { div.appendChild(table); } " +
"} " +
"if (search.rowCount()>0) { " +
"for (var i=0; i<search.rowCount(); i++) { " +
"var tr = document.createElement('tr'); " +
"tr.id = 'SearchRow' + i + '" + uidNo + "'; " +
"tr.onmouseover = function() { ApplyStyleString('cursor=pointer;color=yellow;backgroundColor=rgba(40,40,40,0.90);',this); }; " +
"tr.onmouseout = function() { ApplyStyleString('cursor=default;color=black;backgroundColor=rgba(224,224,224,0.90);',this); }; " +
"eval(\"tr.onclick = function() { " +
"function set(id,value) { " +
"var o = document.getElementById(id); " +
"if (o && o.value) { o.value = value; } else { alert('Could not find ' + id); } " +
"} " +
"set('" + myName + This.nodeName + "CityId" + uidNo + "','\" + search.id(i)+ \"'); " +
"set('" + myName + This.nodeName + "ProvId" + uidNo + "','\" + search.provId(i)+ \"'); " +
"set('" + myName + This.nodeName + "CountryId" + uidNo + "','\" + search.countryId(i) + \"'); " +
"set('" + input.id + "','\" + search.name(i)+ \"'); " +
"}\"); " +
"var td = document.createElement('td'); " +
"var re = new RegExp('('+val+')', 'gi'); " +
"td.innerHTML = search.name(i).replace(re,'<span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">$1</span>') + ', ' + search.provinceName(i) + ', ' + search.countryName(i); " +
"tr.appendChild(td); " +
"table.appendChild(tr); " +
"} " +
"} else { " +
"var tr = document.createElement('tr'); " +
"var td = document.createElement('td'); " +
"td.innerHTML = 'No matches found...';" +
"tr.appendChild(td); " +
"table.appendChild(tr); " +
"} " +
"} else { " +
"if (table) table.style.display = 'none'; " +
"} " +
"} ");
Currently, I'm having problems getting the nested eval() to bind the ".onclick" event to the table-row, and, as you can see, figuring out the code is getting pretty hairy (debugging too, for all the known reasons)... So, I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of being able to accomplish these same goals while avoiding the dreaded use of the "eval()" statement!
Thanks!
And this, among many other reasons, is why you should never use eval. (What if those values you're "baking" in contain quotes? Oops.) And more generally, try to figure out why the right way doesn't work instead of beating the wrong way into submission. :)
Also, it's not a good idea to assign to on* attributes; they don't scale particularly well. The new hotness is to use element.addEventListener, which allows multiple handlers for the same event. (For older IE, you need attachEvent. This kind of IE nonsense is the primary reason we started using libraries like jQuery in the first place.)
The code you pasted, which uses closures, should work just fine. The part you didn't include is that you must have been doing this in a loop.
JavaScript variables are function-scoped, not block-scoped, so when you do this:
var callbacks = [];
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
callbacks.push(function() { alert(i) });
}
for (var index in callbacks) {
callbacks[index]();
}
...you'll get 9 ten times. Each run of the loop creates a function that closes over the same variable i, and then on the next iteration, the value of i changes.
What you want is a factory function: either inline or independently.
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
(function(i) {
callbacks.push(function() { alert(i) });
})(i);
}
This creates a separate function and executes it immediately. The i inside the function is a different variable each time (because it's scoped to the function), so this effectively captures the value of the outer i and ignores any further changes to it.
You can break this out explicitly:
function make_function(i) {
return function() { alert(i) };
}
// ...
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
callbacks.push(make_function(i));
}
Exactly the same thing, but with the function defined independently rather than inline.
This has come up before, but it's a little tricky to spot what's causing the surprise.
Even your "right way" code still uses strings for the contents of functions or styles. I would pass that click behavior as a function, and I would use classes instead of embedding chunks of CSS in my JavaScript. (I doubt I'd add an ID to every single input, either.)
So I'd write something like this:
function create_input(id, type, active_class, onclick) {
var inp = document.createElement('input');
inp.id = id;
inp.type = type;
inp.addEventListener('focus', function() {
this.className = active_class;
});
inp.addEventListener('blur', function() {
this.className = '';
});
inp.addEventListener('click', onclick);
return inp;
}
// Called as:
var textbox = create_input('unique-id', 'text', 'focused', function() { alert("hi!") });
This has some problems still: it doesn't work in older IE, and it will remove any class names you try to add later. Which is why jQuery is popular:
function create_input(id, type, active_class, onclick) {
var inp = $('<input>', { id: id, type: type });
inp.on('focus', function() {
$(this).addClass(active_class);
});
inp.on('blur', function() {
$(this).removeClass(active_class);
});
inp.on('click', onclick);
return inp;
}
Of course, even most of this is unnecessary—you can just use the :focus CSS selector, and not bother with focus and blur events at all!
You don't need eval to "lock in" a value.
It's not clear from the posted code why you're seeing the values change after CreateInput returns. If CreateInput implemented a loop, then I would expect the last values assigned to activeStyle and dormantStyle to be used. But even calling CreateInput from a loop will not cause the misbehavior you describe, contrary to the commenter.
Anyway, the solution to this kind of stale data is to use a closure. JavaScript local variables are all bound to the function call scope, no matter if they're declared deep inside the function or in a loop. So you add a function call to force new variables to be created.
function CreateInput(controlName,type,activeStyle,dormantStyle,whenClicked)
{
while ( something ) {
activeStyle += "blah"; // modify local vars
function ( activeStyle, dormantStyle ) { // make copies of local vars
var inp = document.createElement('input');
inp.id = controlName;
inp.type = type;
inp.style.cssText = dormantStyle;
inp.onfocus = function() { this.style.cssText = activeStyle; };
inp.onblur = function() { this.style.cssText = dormantStyle; };
inp.onclick = whenClicked;
}( activeStyle, dormantStyle ); // specify values for copies
}
return inp;
}

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