I want a function to be able to take in various types. AS3 doesn't support overloading directly... so I can't do the following:
//THIS ISN'T SUPPORTED BY AS3
function someFunction(xx:int, yy:int, someBoolean:Boolean = true){
//blah blah blah
}
function someFunction(arr:Array, someBoolean:Boolean = true){
someFunction(arr[0], arr[1], someBoolean);
}
How can I work around it and still have a function that is able to take arguments of various types?
If you just want to be able to accept any type, you can use *
to allow any type:
function someFunction( xx:*, yy:*, flag:Boolean = true )
{
if (xx is Number) {
...do stuff...
} else if (xx is String) {
...do stuff...
} else {
...do stuff...
}
}
If you have a large number of various parameters where order is unimportant, use an options object:
function someFunction( options:Object )
{
if (options.foo) doFoo();
if (options.bar) doBar();
baz = options.baz || 15;
...etc...
}
If you have a variable number of parameters, you can use the ...
(rest) parameter:
function someFunction( ... args)
{
switch (args.length)
{
case 2:
arr = args[0];
someBool = args[1];
xx = arr[0];
yy = arr[1];
break;
case 3:
xx = args[0];
yy = args[1];
someBool = args[2];
break;
default:
throw ...whatever...
}
...do more stuff...
}
For cases where you need to call a common function to a number of classes, you should specify the interface common to each class:
function foo( bar:IBazable, flag:Boolean )
{
...do stuff...
baz = bar.baz()
...do more stuff...
}
Could just have:
function something(...args):void
{
trace(args[0], args[1]);
}
This way you can easily loop through your arguments and such too (and even check the argument type):
function something(...args):void
{
for each(var i:Object in args)
{
trace(typeof(i) + ": " + i);
}
}
something("hello", 4, new Sprite()); // string: hello
// number: 4
// object: [object Sprite]