javascript access control: private variables

lixo.org :: JavaScript: Put everything in a namespace

var Article = Article ? Article : new Object();
Article.title = “Report: School Shootings Help Prepare Students For Being Shot In Real World”;
Article.save = function() {
  alert(”Saving ” + this.title);
}

use the object literal notation directly:

var Article = Article ? Article : {
  title: “Report: School Shootings Help Prepare Students For Being Shot In Real World”,
  save: function() {
    alert(”Saving ” + this.title) 
  }
}

These two last examples are great if you’re not that concerned about exposing the ‘title’ attribute to the rest of the world. If there is a chance that problems could arise if some other piece of code changed it directly, there is a solution:

var Article = Article ? Article : function() {
  var private = {
    title: “Report: School Shootings Help Prepare Students For Being Shot In Real World”
  };

  var public = {
    getTitle: function() {
      return private.title;
    },

    save: function() {
      alert(”Saving ” + this.getTitle());
    }  
  }

  return public;
}();

by creating an anonymous function that returns the object I want to define, and then immediately calling it (note the ‘()’ at the last line), I can hide whatever I don’t want other parts of the code to see - it’s all tucked away in the local context of that anonymous function.