Constructors in JavaScript objects

Question

Can JavaScript classes/objects have constructors? How are they created?

Answer 1

just to offer up some variety. ds.oop is a nice way to declare classes with constructors in javascript. It supports every possible type of inheritance (Including 1 type that even c# does not support) as well as Interfaces which is nice.

var Color = ds.make.class({
    type: 'Color',
    constructor: function (r,g,b) { 
        this.r = r;                     /* now r,g, and b are available to   */
        this.g = g;                     /* other methods in the Color class  */
        this.b = b;                     
    }
});
var red = new Color(255,0,0);   // using the new keyword to instantiate the class

Answer 2

http://www.jsoops.net/ is quite good for oop in Js. If provide private, protected, public variable and function, and also Inheritance feature. Example Code:

var ClassA = JsOops(function (pri, pro, pub)
{// pri = private, pro = protected, pub = public

    pri.className = "I am A ";

    this.init = function (var1)// constructor
    {
        pri.className += var1;
    }

    pub.getData = function ()
    {
        return "ClassA(Top=" + pro.getClassName() + ", This=" + pri.getClassName()
        + ", ID=" + pro.getClassId() + ")";
    }

    pri.getClassName = function () { return pri.className; }
    pro.getClassName = function () { return pri.className; }
    pro.getClassId = function () { return 1; }
});

var newA = new ClassA("Class");

//***Access public function
console.log(typeof (newA.getData));
// function
console.log(newA.getData());
// ClassA(Top=I am A Class, This=I am A Class, ID=1)

//***You can not access constructor, private and protected function
console.log(typeof (newA.init));            // undefined
console.log(typeof (newA.className));       // undefined
console.log(typeof (newA.pro));             // undefined
console.log(typeof (newA.getClassName));    // undefined

Answer 3

In most cases you have to somehow declare the property you need before you can call a method that passes in this information. If you do not have to initially set a property you can just call a method within the object like so. Probably not the most pretty way of doing this but this still works.

var objectA = {
    color: ''; 
    callColor : function(){
        console.log(this.color);
    }
    this.callColor(); 
}
var newObject = new objectA(); 

Answer 4

While using Blixt's great template from above, I found out that it doesn't work well with multi-level inheritance (MyGrandChildClass extending MyChildClass extending MyClass) – it cycles on calling first parent's constructor over and over. So here is a simple workaround – if you need multi-level inheritance, instead of using this.constructor.super.call(this, surName); use chainSuper(this).call(this, surName); with the chain function defined like this:

function chainSuper(cls) {
  if (cls.__depth == undefined) cls.__depth = 1; else cls.__depth++;
  var depth = cls.__depth;
  var sup = cls.constructor.super;
  while (depth > 1) {
    if (sup.super != undefined) sup = sup.super;
    depth--;
  }
  return sup;
}

Answer 5

It seems to me most of you are giving example of getters and setters not a constructor, ie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructor_(object-oriented_programming).

lunched-dan was closer but the example didn't work in jsFiddle.

This example creates a private constructor function that only runs during the creation of the object.

var color = 'black';

function Box()
{
   // private property
   var color = '';

   // private constructor 
   var __construct = function() {
       alert("Object Created.");
       color = 'green';
   }()

   // getter
   this.getColor = function() {
       return color;
   }

   // setter
   this.setColor = function(data) {
       color = data;
   }

}

var b = new Box();

alert(b.getColor()); // should be green

b.setColor('orange');

alert(b.getColor()); // should be orange

alert(color); // should be black

If you wanted to assign public properties then the constructor could be defined as such:

var color = 'black';

function Box()
{
   // public property
   this.color = '';

   // private constructor 
   var __construct = function(that) {
       alert("Object Created.");
       that.color = 'green';
   }(this)

   // getter
   this.getColor = function() {
       return this.color;
   }

   // setter
   this.setColor = function(color) {
       this.color = color;
   }

}

var b = new Box();

alert(b.getColor()); // should be green

b.setColor('orange'); 

alert(b.getColor()); // should be orange

alert(color); // should be black

Answer 6

Yes, you can define a constructor inside a class declaration like this:

class Rectangle {
  constructor(height, width) {
    this.height = height;
    this.width = width;
  }
}