jquery array constants

Question

how do i create a jquery constants file and access it from other js files?
how do i do this?

I have a list of strings. I need to put them into an array A1. Then i need to create another array A2 for some of the elements in A1. The values for A2 would be elements from A1. It's sort of like grouping the strings in A1 to form A2, but i need access to A1 and A2. What's the best way of doing this with javascript/jquery? I figured if I put them into constants, I wouldn't have to repeat them, should the element values change.

e.g.

A1 = "a", "cat", "hat","b", "bob", "ben", "c", "clay", "course", "d", "e", "done"

A2["a"] = "cat", "hat"
A2["b"] = "bob", "ben"
A2["c"] = "clay", "course"

if "cat" becomes "cot", i don't want to have to change it in multiple places... what's the least messy way to do this and make these arrays available to other js files?

Marcel Beemster · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-07 20:19:26Z

4

Then just create .js file called constants.js with the following in it:

var A1 = ["a", "cat", "hat","b", "bob", "ben", "c", "clay", "course", "d", "e", "done"];
var A2["a"] = ["cat", "hat"];
var A2["b"] = ["bob", "ben"];
var A2["c"] = ["clay", "course"];

And reference it in your pages' HTML before any other script (.js file):

<script type="text/javascript" src="constants.js"><script/>

That way, all of your scripts will have access to the variables in constants.js, and you can go and modify constants.js whenever you want to change those variables.

edited Sep 7, 2014 at 20:19

Marcel Beemster

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answered Mar 17, 2011 at 19:32

mattsven

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Comments

Hristo · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-17 19:47:59Z

1

To answer your first question, this kind of reminds me of enumerated types. The way I would handle your constants would be as such...

var constants = {
    a : "a",
    cat : "cat",
    hat : "hat",
    bob : "bob",
    clay : "clay"
};

... and you can access these by constants.bob, constants.clay, etc... after you include the JavaScript file into your page as is done traditionally:

<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-js-file/constants.js"></script>

As far as your second question, this reminds me of a Hash Table. I'll think about the problem and come back in a bit.

I hope this helps.

edited Mar 17, 2011 at 19:47

answered Mar 17, 2011 at 19:36

Hristo

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4 Comments

newbie_86 Over a year ago

thank you, i like this concept of enums, makes sense, will give it a shot

newbie_86 Over a year ago

how much easier is it to do this server side with ruby on rails?

Hristo Over a year ago

umm... I have absolutely no idea. I have never touched ruby on rails.

newbie_86 Over a year ago

ok, thanks. if anyone else has anything to contribute, please do

MattC · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-13 23:48:47Z

0

To access your constants from another file, a handy jQuery method is 'getScript'. Use the same relative path that you would if accessing the file from your html/jsp/etc files (i.e. the path is NOT relative to where you place the getScript method, but instead relative to your domain path). For example, for app at localhost:8080/myDomain:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $.getScript('/myDomain/myScriptsDir/constants.js');
  ...

then, if you have this in a file called constants.js:

var jsEnum = { //not really an enum, just an object that serves a similar purpose
  FOO : "foofoo",
  BAR : "barbar",
}

You can now print out 'foofoo' with

jsEnum.FOO

answered Jan 13, 2014 at 23:48

MattC

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Comments

Md. Nazrul Islam · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-12 16:33:34Z

0

We can create a constant just like below. It work like a static class

function Helper() { }

Helper.LocationType = {
    Division: "Division",
    Region: "Region",
    Unit: "Unit",
    HeadOffice: "HeadOffice",
    HO: "HO"        
};

We can now access just type Helper.LocationType.Division return Division, Helper.LocationType.Region return Region

answered Nov 12, 2015 at 16:33

Md. Nazrul Islam

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