Is there a standard function to check for null, un

Question

Is there a universal JavaScript function that checks that a variable has a value and ensures that it's not undefined or null? I've got this code, but I'm not sure if it covers all cases:

function isEmpty(val){
    return (val === undefined || val == null || val.length <= 0) ? true : false;
}

Answer 1

If the variable hasn't been declared, you wont be able to test for undefined using a function because you will get an error.

if (foo) {}
function (bar) {}(foo)

Both will generate an error if foo has not been declared.

If you want to test if a variable has been declared you can use

typeof foo != "undefined"

if you want to test if foo has been declared and it has a value you can use

if (typeof foo != "undefined" && foo) {
    //code here
}

Answer 2

function isEmpty(val){
    return !val;
}

but this solution is over-engineered, if you dont'want to modify the function later for busines-model needings, then is cleaner to use it directly in code:

if(!val)...

Answer 3

To check Default Value

function typeOfVar (obj) {
      return {}.toString.call(obj).split(' ')[1].slice(0, -1).toLowerCase();
}
function isVariableHaveDefaltVal(variable) {
    if ( typeof(variable) === 'string' ) {  // number, boolean, string, object 
        console.log(' Any data Between single/double Quotes is treated as String ');        
        return (variable.trim().length === 0) ? true : false;
    }else if ( typeof(variable) === 'boolean' ) {
      console.log('boolean value with default value \'false\'');
        return (variable === false) ? true : false;
    }else if ( typeof(variable) === 'undefined' ) {
        console.log('EX: var a; variable is created, but has the default value of undefined.'); 
        return true;
    }else if ( typeof(variable) === 'number' ) { 
        console.log('number : '+variable);
        return (variable === 0 ) ? true : false;
    }else if ( typeof(variable) === 'object' ) {
   //   -----Object-----
        if (typeOfVar(variable) === 'array' && variable.length === 0) {
            console.log('\t Object Array with length = ' + [].length); // Object.keys(variable)
            return true;
        }else if (typeOfVar(variable) === 'string' && variable.length === 0 ) {
            console.log('\t Object String with length = ' + variable.length);
            return true;
        }else if (typeOfVar(variable) === 'boolean' ) {
            console.log('\t Object Boolean = ' + variable);
            return (variable === false) ? true : false;
        }else if (typeOfVar(variable) === 'number' ) {
            console.log('\t Object Number = ' + variable);
            return (variable === 0 ) ? true : false;
        }else if (typeOfVar(variable) === 'regexp' && variable.source.trim().length === 0 ) {
       console.log('\t Object Regular Expression : ');
        return true;
        }else if (variable === null) {
       console.log('\t Object null value');
        return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}
var str = "A Basket For Every Occasion";
str = str.replace(/\s/g, "-");
//The "g" flag in the regex will cause all spaces to get replaced.

check Result:

isVariableHaveDefaltVal(' '); // string          
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(false); // boolean       
var a;           
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(a);               
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(0); // number             
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(parseInt('')); // NAN isNAN(' '); - true         
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(null);              
isVariableHaveDefaltVal([]);               
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(/ /);              
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(new Object(''));               
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(new Object(false));            
isVariableHaveDefaltVal(new Object(0)); 
typeOfVar( function() {} );

I used @Vix function() to check the object of which type.

using instansof «

var prototypes_or_Literals = function (obj) {
    switch (typeof(obj)) {
        // object prototypes
        case 'object':
            if (obj instanceof Array)
                return '[object Array]';
            else if (obj instanceof Date)
                return '[object Date]';
            else if (obj instanceof RegExp)
                return '[object regexp]';
            else if (obj instanceof String)
                return '[object String]';
            else if (obj instanceof Number)
                return '[object Number]';

            else
                return 'object';
        // object literals
        default:
            return typeof(obj);
    }   
};
output test «
prototypes_or_Literals( '' ) // "string"
prototypes_or_Literals( new String('') ) // "[object String]"
Object.prototype.toString.call("foo bar") //"[object String]"        

Answer 4

var myNewValue = myObject && myObject.child && myObject.child.myValue;

This will never throw an error. If myObject, child, or myValue is null then myNewValue will be null. No errors will be thrown

Answer 5

This condition check

if (!!foo) {
    //foo is defined
}

is all you need.

Answer 6

This will check if variable of indeterminate nesting is undefined

function Undef(str) 
{
  var ary = str.split('.');
  var w = window;
  for (i in ary) {
    try      { if (typeof(w = w[ary[i]]) === "undefined") return true; }
    catch(e) { return true; }
  }
  return false;
}

if (!Undef("google.translate.TranslateElement")) {

The above checks if the Google translate function TranslateElement exists. This is equivalent to:

if (!(typeof google === "undefined" 
 || typeof google.translate === "undefined" 
 || typeof google.translate.TranslateElement === "undefined")) {