Access local variable in another function without using global

Question

I need to match the value of multiple textareas to the properties of an object. It should only be a match if :

the value of the textarea being used is equal to the person's name contained in the object and
if the index of the textarea is equal to the person's ID. (Cf boolean in my fiddle : https://jsfiddle.net/Lau1989/hxcpstty/1/)

To do this I need to access the object test = {} from this function :

function make_test(name, job, ID) {
    var test = {}; //local variable to be used in 'function suggest(index)'
    test.name = name;
    test.job = job;
    test.ID = ID;
    return test;
}
new make_test("Paul", "manager", 1);
new make_test("John", "employee", 2);
new make_test("Jan", "employee", 2);

Inside this one :

function suggest(index) {
    if (test.ID === index && test.name == thisInput.value) {
        thisOutput.innerHTML = "Has job : " + test.job;  //should access 'test' properties : test.name, test.job, test.ID
    }
}

Problem is that declaring test = {}; as a global variable will only allow function suggest(index) to find 'Jan' because it is the last one I declared. But if I declare var test = {}; as a local variable it won't work at all because function suggest(index) can't access var test = {}; from outside.

This is where I'm stuck. My goal is to access var test = {}; within suggest() to get every person's job depending on their name and ID.

Thanks for your help

You need an array to hold references to all of the people, or, if employee ID is unique (which it is not in your example) you could use an object instead of an array. Also, you don't need new when calling the function. So: var employees = []; employees.push(make_test(...));. — nnnnnn
– nnnnnn, Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 1:19
@Jecoms It was suggested that OP ask another Question as to suggest function stackoverflow.com/questions/39968429/… — guest271314
– guest271314, Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 1:23
@nnnnnn :That's what I tried to do at first, but then they won't have the other two properties I need to match them (job and ID) unless I push objects in the array ? I initially wanted to avoid using array of objects since iterating through the array plus the object will print multiple times the same results. I may be wrong though, since I'm still trying to expand my knowledge in javascript — Lau
– Lau, Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 1:27

nnnnnn · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-11 01:30:45Z

2

Given that your employee IDs don't seem to be unique, I'd suggest you store all the people in an array, then in your suggest() function you can search through the array to check for a match (click Run code snippet to try it out):

function make_test(name, job, ID) {
  var test = {};
  test.name = name;
  test.job = job;
  test.ID = ID;
  return test;
}

var people = [];

people.push(make_test("Paul", "manager", 1));
people.push(make_test("John", "employee", 2));
people.push(make_test("Jan", "employee", 2));

function suggest(index) {
  var thisInput = document.getElementById("textarea" + index);
  var thisOutput = document.getElementById("output" + index);

  thisOutput.innerHTML = "Has job:";

  for (var i = 0; i < people.length; i++) {
    if (people[i].ID === index && people[i].name == thisInput.value) {
      thisOutput.innerHTML = "Has job: " + people[i].job; //should access 'test' properties : test.name, test.job, test.ID
      break;
    }
  }
}

<table>
  <tr>
    <td><textarea onkeyup="suggest(1)" name="response" id="textarea1" cols="30" rows="5"></textarea></td>
    <td><div id="output1">Has job :</div></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><textarea onkeyup="suggest(2)" name="response" id="textarea2" cols="30" rows="5"></textarea></td>
    <td><div id="output2">Has job :</div></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Note that it doesn't make sense to call your make_test() function with new, because you manually create a new object inside the function.

answered Oct 11, 2016 at 1:30

nnnnnn

150k30 gold badges210 silver badges247 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Lau Over a year ago

Thanks, your solution is perfect ! I also learned new tricks which will help me to debug further problems.

nnnnnn Over a year ago

You're welcome. There are ways this can be made tidier, but I thought I'd stick with a basic implementation that only modifies your existing code just enough to get you up and running.

guest271314 · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-11 01:40:48Z

As suggested by @nnnnnn, you can store object returned by make_test in an array; pass array to suggest, use Array.prototype.forEach() to iterate array

window.onload = function() {

  function make_test(name, job, ID) {
    var test = {}; //local variable to be used in 'function suggest(index)'
    test.name = name;
    test.job = job;
    test.ID = ID;
    return test;
  }

  var thisInput = document.querySelector("input");

  var thisOutput = document.querySelector("output");

  var arr = [];

  arr.push(make_test("Paul", "manager", 1),
    new make_test("John", "employee", 2),
    new make_test("Jan", "employee", 2));

  function suggest(index, arr) {
    arr.forEach(function(test) {
      if (test.ID === index && test.name == thisInput.value) {
        thisOutput.innerHTML = "Has job : " + test.job;
      }
    })
  }

  suggest(1, arr);

}

<input type="text" value="Paul">
<output></output>

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Access local variable in another function without using global

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related