I have an inherited class, and need the parent to have a virtual method, which is overridden in the child class. This method is called from the base constructor, and needs access to instance properties, so it needs to be a lambda function, so "this" is "_this". The problem is, overriding a lambda method does not work for me like overriding a non-lambda does. Is this possible? If not, I'd like to understand why.
Also, will "this" always be the same as "_this" when the method is only called from the constructor?
class Base {
protected prop = null;
constructor() {
this.init();
this.initLambda();
}
init() {
console.log("Base init");
}
initLambda = () => {
console.log("Base initLambda");
}
}
class Derived extends Base {
constructor() {
super();
}
init() {
console.log("Derived init");
}
initLambda = () => {
//let x = this.prop;
console.log("Derived initLambda");
}
}
Output:
Derived init
Base initLambda
Well, you can't have that.
There's an issue that was opened but it was closed as "by design".
You should use regular methods:
class Base {
protected prop = null;
constructor() {
this.init();
this.initLambda();
}
init() {
console.log("Base init");
}
initLambda() {
console.log("Base initLambda");
}
}
class Derived extends Base {
constructor() {
super();
}
init() {
console.log("Derived init");
}
initLambda() {
console.log("Derived initLambda");
}
}
And then it will work.
As for keeping the right this
, you can always pass a call to the method as an arrow function:
doit() {
setTimeout(() => this.init(), 1);
}
Or use the Function.prototype.bind function:
setTimeout(this.init.bind(this));
Also, the _this
thing that the typescript compiler produces is just a hack to polyfil the arrow functions for ES5, but if you change the target to ES6 then it won't use it.
Edit:
You can save the bound methods as members:
class Base {
...
public boundInit: () => void;
constructor() {
...
this.boundInit = this.initLambda.bind(this);
setTimeout(this.boundInit, 500);
}
...
With that, when I do new Derived()
this is what I get:
Derived init
Derived initLambda // after 200 millis
The problem is that your lambda is a property.
When compiled to javascript, the Base
class becomes
var Base = (function () {
function Base() {
this.prop = null;
this.initLambda = function () {
console.log("Base initLambda");
};
this.init();
this.initLambda();
}
Base.prototype.init = function () {
console.log("Base init");
};
return Base;
}());
As you can see initLambda
is defined inside the constructor of Base
, so there is no way you can override that.
Calling super()
calls the Base
constructor which defines the this.initLambda
with the code in Base
and runs it. Hence your result.
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