How to turn a String into a JavaScript function ca

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• How to execute a JavaScript function when I have its name as a string 31 answers

I got a string like:

settings.functionName + '(' + t.parentNode.id + ')';

that I want to translate into a function call like so:

clickedOnItem(IdofParent);

This of course will have to be done in JavaScript. When I do an alert on settings.functionName + '(' + t.parentNode.id + ')'; it seems to get everything correct. I just need to call the function that it would translate into.

Legend:

settings.functionName = clickedOnItem

t.parentNode.id = IdofParent

Answer 1

JavaScript has an eval function that evaluates a string and executes it as code:

eval(settings.functionName + '(' + t.parentNode.id + ')');

Answer 2

Seeing as I hate eval, and I am not alone:

var fn = window[settings.functionName];
if(typeof fn === 'function') {
    fn(t.parentNode.id);
}

Edit: In reply to @Mahan's comment: In this particular case, settings.functionName would be "clickedOnItem". This would, at runtime translate var fn = window[settings.functionName]; into var fn = window["clickedOnItem"], which would obtain a reference to function clickedOnItem (nodeId) {}. Once we have a reference to a function inside a variable, we can call this function by "calling the variable", i.e. fn(t.parentNode.id), which equals clickedOnItem(t.parentNode.id), which was what the OP wanted.

More full example:

/* Somewhere: */
window.settings = {
  /* [..] Other settings */
  functionName: 'clickedOnItem'
  /* , [..] More settings */
};

/* Later */
function clickedOnItem (nodeId) {
  /* Some cool event handling code here */
}

/* Even later */
var fn = window[settings.functionName]; 
/* note that settings.functionName could also be written
   as window.settings.functionName. In this case, we use the fact that window
   is the implied scope of global variables. */
if(typeof fn === 'function') {
    fn(t.parentNode.id);
}

Answer 3

If settings.functionName is already a function, you could do this:

settings.functionName(t.parentNode.id);

Otherwise this should also work if settings.functionName is just the name of the function:

if (typeof window[settings.functionName] == "function") {
    window[settings.functionName](t.parentNode.id);
}

Answer 4

eval() is the function you need to do that, but I'd advise trying one of these things to minimize the use of eval. Hopefully one of them will make sense to you.

Store the function

Store the function as a function, not as a string, and use it as a function later. Where you actually store the function is up to you.

var funcForLater = clickedOnItem;

// later is now
funcForLater(t.parentNode.id);

or

someObject.funcForLater = clickedOnItem;    
// later is now    
(someObject.funcForLater)(t.parentNode.id);

Store function name

Even if you have to store the function name as a string, you can minimize complexity by doing

(eval(settings.functionName))(t.parentNode.id);

which minimizes the amount of Javascript you have to construct and eval.

Dictionary of handlers

Put all of the action functions you might need into an object, and call them dictionary-style using the string.

// global
itemActions = { click: clickedOnItem, rightClick: rightClickedOnItem /* etc */ };

// Later...
var actionName = "click"; // Or wherever you got the action name
var actionToDo = itemActions[actionName];
actionToDo(t.parentNode.id);

(Minor note: If instead here you used syntax itemActions[actionName](t.parentNode.id); then the function would be called as a method of itemActions.)

Answer 5

I prefer to use something like this:

window.callbackClass['newFunctionName'] = function(data) { console.log(data) };
...
window.callbackClass['newFunctionName'](data);

Answer 6

Here is a more generic way to do the same, while supporting scopes :

// Get function from string, with or without scopes (by Nicolas Gauthier)
window.getFunctionFromString = function(string)
{
    var scope = window;
    var scopeSplit = string.split('.');
    for (i = 0; i < scopeSplit.length - 1; i++)
    {
        scope = scope[scopeSplit[i]];

        if (scope == undefined) return;
    }

    return scope[scopeSplit[scopeSplit.length - 1]];
}

Hope it can help some people out.