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Way to make global private variables in javascript?

Is there a way to create private global variables in JavaScript? I have tried looking around, and I keep bumping into talk of constructors - which don't seem too global.
Thanks

Not sure what your use case is. I'll assume you have a js script file containing some functions and variables and you want to expose some of those globally, but keep the rest private to your script file. You can achieve this with a closure. Basically you create a function that you execute immediately. Inside the function you place your original code. You then export the functions you need into the global scope.
// Define a function, evaluate it inside of parenthesis
// and execute immediately.
(function(export) {
var myPrivateVariable = 10;
function myPrivateFunction(param) {
return param + myPrivateVariable;
}
export.myGlobalFunction = function(someNumber) {
return myPrivateFunction(someNumber);
};
})(this); // The *this* keyword points to *window* which
// is *the* global scope (global object) in a web browser
// Here it is a parameter - the *export* variable inside the function.
// This is executed in the global scope
myGlobalFunction(2); // yields 12 (i.e. 2 + 10)
myPrivateVariable; // Error, doesn't exist in the global scope
myPrivateFunction(2) // Error, doesn't exist in the global scope

To answer your question, no, that is not possible as there are no access modifiers in javascript. A variable declared in global scope is accessible to any function.
As pointed out in the comments to this answer, you can create objects which have private members. Crockford has a page on private members in Javascript. He uses the following code to illustrate his point:
function Container(param) {
// private method
function dec() {
if (secret > 0) {
secret -= 1;
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
this.member = param;
var secret = 3;
var that = this;
// privileged method
this.service = function () {
return dec() ? that.member : null;
};
}
In the above example, param, secret, and that are all private in that they are not accessible from the outside. To be more clear, these variables can only be accessed by privileged or private methods, the difference being that privileged methods can be called from any instance of the object. As is suggested in the comments, this is achievable by using closures.
Quoting from Crockford for a quick explanation on closures, but you can find plenty of related questions.
What this means is that an inner function always has access to the
vars and parameters of its outer function, even after the outer
function has returned.

in order to have private members. you need to use closures.
following code help you understanding the concept.
function CustomArray () {
this.array = [];
var privateData = 'default data';
this.getPrivateData = function () {
return privateData;
};
this.setPrivateData = function (data) {
privateData = data;
};
};
CustomArray.prototype.push = function (data) {
this.array.push(data);
};
CustomArray.prototype.unshift = function (data) {
this.array.unshift(data);
};
CustomArray.prototype.pop = function () {
this.array.pop();
};
CustomArray.prototype.shift = function () {
this.array.shift();
};
CustomArray.prototype.print = function () {
console.log(this.array.join(','));
};
var array = new CustomArray();
array.push(10);
array.push(20);
array.push(30);
array.push(5);
array.unshift(3);
array.unshift(2);
array.unshift(1);
array.unshift(0);
array.pop();
array.shift();
array.print();
console.log(array.getPrivateData());// default data
array.setPrivateData('am new private data');
console.log(array.getPrivateData());//am new private data

Is it possible to restrict the scope of a javascript function?

Suppose I have a variables in the global scope.
Suppose I wish to define a function which I can guarantee will not have access to this variable, is there a way to wrap the function, or call the function, that will ensure this?
In fact, I need any prescribed function to have well defined access to variables, and that access to be defined prior to, and separate from that function definition.
Motivation:
I'm considering the possibility of user submitted functions. I should be able to trust that the function is some variety of "safe" and therefore be happy publishing them on my own site.

Run the code in an iframe hosted on a different Origin. This is the only way to guarantee that untrusted code is sandboxed and prevented from accessing globals or your page's DOM.

Using embedded Web Workers could allow to run safe functions. Something like this allows a user to enter javascript, run it and get the result without having access to your global context.
globalVariable = "I'm global";
document.getElementById('submit').onclick = function() {
createWorker();
}
function createWorker() {
// The text in the textarea is the function you want to run
var fnText = document.getElementById('fnText').value;
// You wrap the function to add a postMessage
// with the function result
var workerTemplate = "\
function userDefined(){" + fnText +
"}\
postMessage(userDefined());\
onmessage = function(e){console.log(e);\
}"
// web workers are normally js files, but using blobs
// you can create them with strings.
var blob = new Blob([workerTemplate], {
type: "text/javascript"
});
var wk = new Worker(window.URL.createObjectURL(blob));
wk.onmessage = function(e) {
// you listen for the return.
console.log('Function result:', e.data);
}
}
<div>Enter a javascript function and click submit</div>
<textarea id="fnText"></textarea>
<button id="submit">
Run the function
</button>
You can try these for example by pasting it in the textarea:
return "I'm a safe function";
You can see that it's safe:
return globalVariable;
You can even have more complex scripts, something like this:
var a = 4, b = 5;
function insideFn(){
// here c is global, but only in the worker context
c = a + b;
}
insideFn();
return c;
See info about webworkers here, especially embedded web workers:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers#Embedded_workers

A little late, but maybe it will help you a bit
function RestrictFunction(params) {
params = ( params == undefined ? {} : params );
var scope = ( params.scope == undefined ? window : params.scope );
var data = ( params.data == undefined ? {} : params.data );
var script = ( params.script == undefined ? '' : params.script );
if (typeof params.script == 'function') {
script = params.script.toString();
script = script.substring(script.indexOf("{") + 1, script.lastIndexOf("}"));
}
// example: override native functions that on the white list
var setTimeout = function(_function,_interval) {
// this is important to prevent the user using `this` in the function and access the DOM
var interval = scope.setTimeout( function() {
RestrictFunction({
scope:scope,
data:data,
script:_function
});
} , _interval );
// Auto clear long user intervals
scope.setTimeout( function() {
scope.clearTimeout(interval);
} , 60*1000 );
return interval;
}
// example: create custom functions
var trace = function(str) {
scope.console.log(str);
}
return (function() {
// remove functions, objects and variables from scope
var queue = [];
var WhiteList = [
"Blob","Boolean","Date","String","Number","Object","Array","Text","Function",
"unescape","escape","encodeURI","encodeURIComponent","parseFloat","parseInt",
"isNaN","isFinite","undefined","NaN",
"JSON","Math","RegExp",
"clearTimeout","setTimeout"
];
var properties = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(scope);
for (var k = 0; k<properties.length; k++ ) {
if (WhiteList.indexOf(properties[k])!=-1) continue;
queue.push("var "+properties[k]+" = undefined;");
}
for (var k in scope) {
if (WhiteList.indexOf(k)!=-1) continue;
queue.push("var "+k+" = undefined;");
}
queue.push("var WhiteList = undefined;");
queue.push("var params = undefined;") ;
queue.push("var scope = undefined;") ;
queue.push("var data = undefined;") ;
queue.push("var k = undefined;");
queue.push("var properties = undefined;");
queue.push("var queue = undefined;");
queue.push("var script = undefined;");
queue.push(script);
try {
return eval( '(function(){'+ queue.join("\n") +'}).apply(data);' );
} catch(err) { }
}).apply(data);
}
Example of use
// dummy to test if we can access the DOM
var dummy = function() {
this.notify = function(msg) {
console.log( msg );
};
}
var result = RestrictFunction({
// Custom data to pass to the user script , Accessible via `this`
data:{
prop1: 'hello world',
prop2: ["hello","world"],
prop3: new dummy()
},
// User custom script as string or function
script:function() {
trace( this );
this.msg = "hello world";
this.prop3.notify(this.msg);
setTimeout( function() {
trace(this);
} , 10 );
trace( data );
trace( params );
trace( scope );
trace( window );
trace( XMLHttpRequest );
trace( eval );
return "done!"; // not required to return value...
},
});
console.log( "result:" , result );

You can't restrict the scope of a Function using the "call" or "apply" methods, but you can use a simple trick using "eval" and scoping to essentially hide any specific global variables from the function to be called.
The reason for this is because the function has access to the "global" variables that are declared at the scope that the function itself what declared. So, by copying the code for the method and injecting it in eval, you can essentially change the global scope of the function you are looking to call. The end result is essentially being able to somewhat sandbox a piece of javascript code.
Here's a full code example:
<html>
<head>
<title>This is the page title.</title>
<script>
function displayTitle()
{
alert(document.title);
}
function callMethod(method)
{
var code = "" +
// replace global "window" in the scope of the eval
"var window = {};" +
// replace global "document" in the scope of the eval
"var document = {}; " +
"(" +
// inject the Function you want to call into the eval
method.toString() +
// call the injected method
")();" +
"";
eval(code);
}
callMethod(displayTitle);
</script>
</head>
<body></body>
</html>
The code that gets eval'd looks like this:
var window = {};
var document = {};
(function displayTitle()
{
alert(document.title);
})();

You can use WebWorkers to isolate your code:
Create a completely separate and parallel execution environment (i.e. a separate thread or process or equivalent construct), and run the rest of these steps asynchronously in that context.
Here is a simple example:
someGlobal = 5;
//As a worker normally take another JavaScript file to execute we convert the function in an URL: http://stackoverflow.com/a/16799132/2576706
function getScriptPath(foo) {
return window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([foo], {
type: 'text/javascript'
}));
}
function protectCode(code) {
var worker = new Worker(getScriptPath(code));
}
protectCode('console.log(someGlobal)'); // prints 10
protectCode('console.log(this.someGlobal)');
protectCode('console.log(eval("someGlobal"))');
protectCode('console.log(window.someGlobal)');
This code will return:
Uncaught ReferenceError: someGlobal is not defined
undefined
Uncaught ReferenceError: someGlobal is not defined and
Uncaught ReferenceError: window is not defined
so you code is now safe.

EDIT: This answer does not hide the window.something variables. But it has a clean way to run user-defined code. I am trying to find a way to mask the window variables
You can use the javascript function Function.prototype.bind() to bind the user submitted function to a custom scope variable of your choosing, in this custom scope you can choose which variables to share with the user defined function, and which to hide. For the user defined functions, the code will be able to access the variables you shared using this.variableName. Here is an example to elaborate on the idea:
// A couple of global variable that we will use to test the idea
var sharedGlobal = "I am shared";
var notSharedGlobal = "But I will not be shared";
function submit() {
// Another two function scoped variables that we will also use to test
var sharedFuncScope = "I am in function scope and shared";
var notSharedFuncScope = "I am in function scope but I am not shared";
// The custom scope object, in here you can choose which variables to share with the custom function
var funcScope = {
sharedGlobal: sharedGlobal,
sharedFuncScope: sharedFuncScope
};
// Read the custom function body
var customFnText = document.getElementById("customfn").value;
// create a new function object using the Function constructor, and bind it to our custom-made scope object
var func = new Function(customFnText).bind(funcScope);
// execute the function, and print the output to the page.
document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = JSON.stringify(func());
}
// sample test function body, this will test which of the shared variables does the custom function has access to.
/*
return {
sharedGlobal : this.sharedGlobal || null,
sharedFuncScope : this.sharedFuncScope || null,
notSharedGlobal : this.notSharedGlobal || null,
notSharedFuncScope : this.notSharedFuncScope || null
};
*/
<script type="text/javascript" src="app.js"></script>
<h1>Add your custom body here</h1>
<textarea id="customfn"></textarea>
<br>
<button onclick="submit()">Submit</button>
<br>
<div id="output"></div>
The example does the following:
Accept a function body from the user
When the user clicks submit, the example creates a new function object from the custom body using the Function constructor. In the example we create a custom function with no parameters, but params can be added easily as the first input of the Function constructor
The function is executed, and its output is printed on the screen.
A sample function body is included in comments, that tests which of the variables does the custom function has access to.

Create a local variable with the same name.
If you have a global variable like this:
var globalvar;
In your function:
function noGlobal(); {
var globalvar;
}
If the function refers to globalvar, it will refers to the local one.

In my knowledge, in Javascript, any variable declared outside of a function belongs to the global scope, and is therefore accessible from anywhere in your code.
Each function has its own scope, and any variable declared within that function is only accessible from that function and any nested functions. Local scope in JavaScript is only created by functions, which is also called function scope.
Putting a function inside another function could be one possibility where you could achieve reduced scope ( ie nested scope)

if you are talking about a function that is exposed to you by loading a third party script, you are pretty much out of luck. that's because the scope for the function is defined in the source file it's defined in. sure, you can bind it to something else, but in most cases, that's going to make the function useless if it needs to call other functions or touch any data inside it's own source file - changing it's scope is only really feasible if you can predict what it needs to be able to access, and have access to that yourself - in the case of a third party script that touches data defined inside a closure, object or function that's not in your scope, you can't emulate what might need.
if you have access to the source file then it's pretty simple - look at the source file, see if it attempts to access the variable, and edit the code so it can't.
but assuming you have the function loaded, and it doesn't need to interact with anything other than "window", and for academic reasons you want to do this, here is one way - make a sandbox for it to play in. here's a simple shim wrapper that excludes certain items by name
function suspectCode() {
console.log (window.document.querySelector("#myspan").innerText);
console.log('verbotten_data:',typeof verbotten_data==='string'?verbotten_data:'<BANNED>');
console.log('secret_data:',typeof secret_data==='string'?secret_data:'<BANNED>'); // undefined === we can't
console.log('window.secret_data:',typeof window.secret_data==='string'?window.secret_data:'<BANNED>');
secret_data = 'i changed the secret data !';
console.log('secret_data:',typeof secret_data==='string'?secret_data:'<BANNED>'); // undefined === we can't
console.log('window.secret_data:',typeof window.secret_data==='string'?window.secret_data:'<BANNED>');
}
var verbotten_data = 'a special secret';
window.secret_data = 'special secret.data';
console.log("first call the function directly");
suspectCode() ;
console.log("now run it in a sandbox, which banns 'verbotten_data' and 'secret_data'");
runFunctionInSandbox (suspectCode,[
'verbotten_data','secret_data',
// we can't touch items tied to stack overflows' domain anyway so don't clone it
'sessionStorage','localStorage','caches',
// we don't want the suspect code to beable to run any other suspect code using this method.
'runFunctionInSandbox','runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox','executeSandboxedScript','shim',
]);
function shim(obj,forbidden) {
const valid=Object.keys(obj).filter(function(key){return forbidden.indexOf(key)<0;});
var shimmed = {};
valid.forEach(function(key){
try {
shimmed[key]=obj[key];
} catch(e){
console.log("skipping:",key);
}
});
return shimmed;
}
function fnSrc (fn){
const src = fn.toString();
return src.substring(src.indexOf('{')+1,src.lastIndexOf('}')-1);
}
function fnArgs (fn){
let src = fn.toString();
src = src.substr(src.indexOf('('));
src = src.substr(0,src.indexOf(')')-1);
src = src.substr(1,src.length-2);
return src.split(',');
}
function runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox(fn,forbidden) {
const playground = shim(window,forbidden);
playground.window = playground;
let sandboxed_code = fn.bind(playground,playground.window);
sandboxed_code();
}
function runFunctionInSandbox(fn,forbidden) {
const src = fnSrc(fn);
const args = fnArgs(fn);
executeSandboxedScript(src,args,forbidden);
}
function executeSandboxedScript(sourceCode,arg_names,forbidden) {
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.onload = script.onerror = function(){ this.remove(); };
script.src = "data:text/plain;base64," + btoa(
[
'runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox(function(',
arg_names,
['window'].concat(forbidden),
'){ ',
sourceCode,
'},'+JSON.stringify(forbidden)+')'
].join('\n')
);
document.body.appendChild(script);
}
<span id="myspan">Page Access IS OK<span>
or a slightly more involved version that allows arguments to be passed to the function
function suspectCode(argument1,argument2) {
console.log (window.document.querySelector("#myspan").innerText);
console.log(argument1,argument2);
console.log('verbotten_data:',typeof verbotten_data==='string'?verbotten_data:'<BANNED>');
console.log('secret_data:',typeof secret_data==='string'?secret_data:'<BANNED>'); // undefined === we can't
console.log('window.secret_data:',typeof window.secret_data==='string'?window.secret_data:'<BANNED>');
secret_data = 'i changed the secret data !';
console.log('secret_data:',typeof secret_data==='string'?secret_data:'<BANNED>'); // undefined === we can't
console.log('window.secret_data:',typeof window.secret_data==='string'?window.secret_data:'<BANNED>');
}
var verbotten_data = 'a special secret';
window.secret_data = 'special secret.data';
console.log("first call the function directly");
suspectCode('hello','world') ;
console.log("now run it in a sandbox, which banns 'verbotten_data' and 'secret_data'");
runFunctionInSandbox (suspectCode,['hello','sandboxed-world'],
[
'verbotten_data','secret_data',
// we can't touch items tied to stack overflows' domain anyway so don't clone it
'sessionStorage','localStorage','caches',
// we don't want the suspect code to beable to run any other suspect code using this method.
'runFunctionInSandbox','runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox','executeSandboxedScript','shim',
]);
function shim(obj,forbidden) {
const valid=Object.keys(obj).filter(function(key){return forbidden.indexOf(key)<0;});
var shimmed = {};
valid.forEach(function(key){
try {
shimmed[key]=obj[key];
} catch(e){
console.log("skipping:",key);
}
});
return shimmed;
}
function fnSrc (fn){
const src = fn.toString();
return src.substring(src.indexOf('{')+1,src.lastIndexOf('}')-1);
}
function fnArgs (fn){
let src = fn.toString();
src = src.substr(src.indexOf('('));
src = src.substr(0,src.indexOf(')'));
src = src.substr(1,src.length);
return src.split(',');
}
function runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox(fn,args,forbidden) {
const playground = shim(window,forbidden);
playground.window = playground;
let sandboxed_code = fn.bind(playground,playground.window);
sandboxed_code.apply(this,new Array(forbidden.length).concat(args));
}
function runFunctionInSandbox(fn,args,forbidden) {
const src = fnSrc(fn);
const arg_names = fnArgs(fn);
executeSandboxedScript(src,args,arg_names,forbidden);
}
function executeSandboxedScript(sourceCode,args,arg_names,forbidden) {
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.onload = script.onerror = function(){ this.remove(); };
let id = "exec"+Math.floor(Math.random()*Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER).toString();
window.execArgs=window.execArgs||{};
window.execArgs[id]=args;
let script_src = [
'runSanitizedFunctionInSandbox(function(',
['window'].concat(forbidden),
(arg_names.length===0?'':','+arg_names.join(","))+'){',
sourceCode,
'},',
'window.execArgs["'+id+'"],',
JSON.stringify(forbidden)+');',
'delete window.execArgs["'+id+'"];'
].join('\n');
let script_b64 = btoa(script_src);
script.src = "data:text/plain;base64," +script_b64;
document.body.appendChild(script);
}
<span id="myspan">hello computer...</span>

I verified #josh3736's answer but he didn't leave an example
Here's one to verify it works
parent.html
<h1>parent</h1>
<script>
abc = 'parent';
function foo() {
console.log('parent foo: abc = ', abc);
}
</script>
<iframe></iframe>
<script>
const iframe = document.querySelector('iframe');
iframe.addEventListener('load', function() {
console.log('-calling from parent-');
iframe.contentWindow.foo();
});
iframe.src = 'child.html';
</script>
child.html
<h1>
child
</h1>
<script>
abc = 'child';
function foo() {
console.log('child foo: abc = ', abc);
}
console.log('-calling from child-');
parent.foo();
</script>
When run it prints
-calling from child-
parent foo: abc = parent
-calling from parent-
child foo: abc = child
Both child and parent have a variable abc and a function foo.
When the child calls into the parent's foo that function in the parent sees the parent's global variables and when the parent calls the child's foo that function sees the child's global variables.
This also works for eval.
parent.html
<h1>parent</h1>
<iframe></iframe>
<script>
const iframe = document.querySelector('iframe');
iframe.addEventListener('load', function() {
console.log('-call from parent-');
const fn = iframe.contentWindow.makeFn(`(
function() {
return abc;
}
)`);
console.log('from fn:', fn());
});
iframe.src = 'child.html';
</script>
child.html
<h1>
child
</h1>
<script>
abc = 'child';
function makeFn(s) {
return eval(s);
}
</script>
When run it prints
-call from parent-
from fn: child
showing that it saw the child's abc variable not the parent's
note: if you create iframes programmatically they seem to have to be added to the DOM or else they won't load. So for example
function loadIFrame(src) {
return new Promise((resolve) => {
const iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.addEventListener('load', resolve);
iframe.src = src;
iframe.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(iframe); // iframes don't load if not in the document?!?!
});
}
Of course in the child above we saw that the child can reach into the parent so this code is NOT SANDBOXED. You'd probably have to add some stuff to hide the various ways to access the parent if you want make sure the child can't get back but at least as a start you can apparently use this technique to give code a different global scope.
Also note that of course the iframes must be in the same domain as the parent.

Here's another answer. This one's based on how chained scopes work in javascript. It also uses Function(), which produces faster code than eval.
/** This takes a string 'expr', e.g. 'Math.max(x,1)' and returns a function (x,y)=>Math.max(x,1).
* It protects against malicious input strings by making it so that, for the function,
* (1) no names are in scope other than the parameters 'x' and 'y' and a whitelist
* of other names like 'Math' and 'Array'; (2) also 'this' binds to the empty object {}.
* I don't think there's any way for malicious strings to have any effect.
* Warning: if you add something into the global scope after calling make_fn but
* before executing the function you get back, it won't protect that new thing.
*/
function make_fn(expr) {
const whitelist = ['Math', 'Array']; // Warning: not 'Function'
let scope = {};
for (let obj = this; obj; obj = Object.getPrototypeOf(obj)) {
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(obj).forEach(name => scope[name] = undefined);
}
whitelist.forEach(name => scope[name] = this[name]);
const fn = Function("scope","x","y","with (scope) return "+expr).bind({});
return (x,y) => fn(scope,x,y);
}
This is how it behaves: https://jsfiddle.net/rkq5otme/
make_fn("x+y")(3,5) ==> 8
make_fn("Math.max(x,y)")(3,5) ==> 5
make_fn("this")(3,5) ==> {}
make_fn("alert('oops')") ==> TypeError: alert is not a function
make_fn("trace((function(){return this}()))")(3,5) ==> ReferenceError: trace is not defined
Explanation. Consider a simpler version
Function("x", "return Math.max(x, window, this);")
This creates a function with the specified body which has two chained scopes: (1) the function scope which binds x, (2) the global scope. Let's spell out how the symbols Math, x, window and this are all resolved.
x is bound to the property in the function scope
window is bound to the property in the next chained scope, global, i.e. window['window'].
We don't want this! To prevent it, we create our own scope object scope = {window:undefined,...} and write with (scope) return Math.max(x,window,this). The with statement is only allowed in non-strict code. It adds an additional scope, so the chain is now: (0) the specified scope object we created, (1) the function scope which binds x, (2) the global scope. Because name 'window' is found in our scope object, it can never bind to the one in global scope.
Math will suffer the same fate.
We want to whitelist it! So we make our scope object {Math:global.Math, window:undefined, ...}
this is bound upon invocation of the function to the global object, window.
We don't want this! To prevent it, we call .bind({}) on the function, which wraps the function in a wrapper which sets this={}. Alas bind(null) didn't seem to bind.
Note: there's another possible construction of the scope object, using Proxy. It doesn't seem particularly better.
const scope = new Proxy({}, {
has: (obj, key) => !['x','y'].includes(key),
get: (obj, key) => (whitelist.includes(key)) ? this[key] : undefined,
set: (obj, key, value) => {},
deleteProperty: (obj, key) => {},
enumerate: (obj, key) => [],
ownKeys: (obj, key) => [],
defineProperty: (obj, key, desc) => {},
getOwnPropertyDescriptor: (obj, key) => undefined,
});

How to cache/precalculate something(without global variable)?

What I want to do is to sending data between two handlers.
element.onmousedown = function() {
data = precalculate();
}
element.onmouseup = function() {
dosomething(data);
}
if the data is a global variable it works. People says global variable is evil. But I don't know how to do without it.
or I misunderstood "global variable"?

Just scope the variable if you don't want/need it to be global:
(function() {
var data;
element.onmousedown = function() {
data = precalculate();
}
element.onmouseup = function() {
dosomething(data);
}
})();
EDIT: To clarify, the only way to create a new variable scope in javascript is in a function.
Any variable declared with var inside a function is inaccessible to the outer scope.
In the code above, I created an IIFE (immediately invoked function expression), which is simply a function that is invoked as soon as it is created, and I placed your data variable (along with the handler assignments) inside of it.
Because the handlers were created in a scope that has access to the data variable, they retain their access to that variable.
To give another example:
var a = "a"; // global variable
(function() {
var b = "b"; // new variable in this scope
(function() {
var c = "c"; // new variable in this scope
// in this function, you have access to 'a', 'b' and 'c'
})();
// in this function you have access to 'a' and 'b' variables, but not 'c'
})();
// globally, you have access to the 'a' variable, but not 'b' or 'c'

In this case a global variable would make sense. Another possibility is to attach the value to the DOM element:
element.onmousedown = function() {
// 'this' should point to the element being mouse downed
this.data = precalculate();
};
element.onmouseup = function() {
// 'this' should point to the element being mouse upped
var data = this.data;
dosomething(data);
};

You misunderstood "global variable is evil".
In fact, what really happened is that someone wanted to be "part of the crowd", and so told you a sweeping generalisation, when in fact they should have said "only use global variables where appropriate".
Well, they are appropriate here, my friend.

JQuery makes this possible by using the .data() function:
http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.data/

You can get away with using global variables as long as you keep them to a minimum, for example you can place stuff in a single global namespace:
App = {};
element.onmousedown = function() {
App.data = "hello";
}
element.onmouseup = function() {
console.log(App.data);
}

Another more general solution is to create functions that cache their results using a technique that is called memoization. There's plenty of stuff if you search.
The following code does exactly that :
Function.prototype.memoize = function() {
var fn = this;
this.memory = {};
return function() {
var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
return fn.memory[args] ? fn.memory[args] : fn.memory[args] = fn.apply(this, arguments);
};
};
e.g. You have an expensive function called exfunc..
newFunc = exfunc.memoize();
The above statement creates a new function called newFunc that caches the result of the original function so that the first time the actual code is being executed and all subsequent calls are retrieved from a local cache.
This mostly works with functions whose return value does not depend on global state.
More info :
http://osteele.com/archives/2006/04/javascript-memoization

var vs this in Javascript object

I'm developing a web framework for node.js. here is the code;
function Router(request, response) {
this.routes = {};
var parse = require('url').parse;
var path = parse(request.url).pathname,
reqRoutes = this.routes[request.method],
reqRoutesLen = reqRoutes.length;
..... // more code
};
Should I change all the var to this, like so:
function Router(request, response) {
this.routes = {};
this.parse = require('url').parse;
this.path = this.parse(request.url).pathname;
this.reqRoutes = this.routes[request.method];
this.reqRoutesLen = this.reqRoutes.length;
..... // more code
};
Any comments?

Add properties to this when you want the properties to persist with the life of the object in question. Use var for local variables.
edit — as Bergi notes in a comment, variables declared with var don't necessarily vanish upon return from a function invocation. They are, and remain, directly accessible only to code in the scope in which they were declared, and in lexically nested scopes.

It on depends what you want to do.
If you declare the variables with var, then they are local to the function and cannot be accessed outside.
If you assign the variables to this, then they will be set as properties of the context object the function is called on.
So if e.g. if you write:
var obj = new Router();
then obj will have all the variables as properties and you can changed them. If you call
somobject.Router()
then all the variables will be set as properties of someobject.

You can think of properties hung from this sort of like instance variables in other languages (sort of).
It looks like you're creating a constructor function and will likely add some prototype methods. If that's the case, and you need access to routes, you've got it, but not path.
Router.prototype = {
doSomething: function(){
this.routes; // available
path; // not available
}
}

Using var in the constructor is usually used for private variable while using this. is used for public variable.
Example with this. :
function Router() {
this.foo = "bar";
this.foobar = function () {
return this.foo;
}
}
var r = new Router();
r.foo // Accessible
Example with var :
function Router() {
var _foo = "bar";
this.foobar = function () {
return _foo;
}
}
var r = new Router();
r._foo // Not accessible

How to create private variables within a namespace?

For my web application, I am creating a namespace in JavaScript like so:
var com = {example: {}};
com.example.func1 = function(args) { ... }
com.example.func2 = function(args) { ... }
com.example.func3 = function(args) { ... }
I also want to create "private" (I know this doesn't exist in JS) namespace variables but am not sure what's the best design pattern to use.
Would it be:
com.example._var1 = null;
Or would the design pattern be something else?

Douglas Crockford popularized so called Module Pattern where you can create objects with "private" variables:
myModule = function () {
//"private" variable:
var myPrivateVar = "I can be accessed only from within myModule."
return {
myPublicProperty: "I'm accessible as myModule.myPublicProperty"
}
};
}(); // the parens here cause the anonymous function to execute and return
But as you said Javascript doesn't truly have private variables and I think this is somewhat of a cludge, which break other things. Just try to inherit from that class, for example.

Closures are frequently used like this to simulate private variables:
var com = {
example: (function() {
var that = {};
// This variable will be captured in the closure and
// inaccessible from outside, but will be accessible
// from all closures defined in this one.
var privateVar1;
that.func1 = function(args) { ... };
that.func2 = function(args) { ... } ;
return that;
})()
};

After 7 years this might come quite late, but I think this might be useful for other programmers with a similar problem.
A few days ago I came up with the following function:
{
let id = 0; // declaring with let, so that id is not available from outside of this scope
var getId = function () { // declaring its accessor method as var so it is actually available from outside this scope
id++;
console.log('Returning ID: ', id);
return id;
}
}
This might only be useful if you are in a global scope and want to declare a variable that is not accessible from anywhere except your function that sets the value of id one up and returns its value.