Javascript array of strings

Question

so I encountered weird problem here. I have an array status=new Array(). Then I iterate from 0 to N-1, and assign status[i]="idle"; I tried to do alert to check the values, and they are all assigned to a character coma ,. Anyone knows what's wrong?

var status=new Array();
window.onload = function() {
    for(var i=0;i<5;i++) {
        status[i]="idle";
        alert(status[i]);
    }
}

T.J. Crowder · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-11 09:33:57Z

7

Use a different variable name (or better yet, don't use global variables at all). There's a window.status property already, and apparently something isn't letting you shadow it with your own (which surprises me slightly; I wonder if the array is being coerced to a string on assignment or something). At global scope, var creates properties on the window object, which is why window.status is relevant.

This example (source) replicates your problem (for me, using Chrome), and this example (source) with just a changed name shows the correct series of alerts.

Note that this is browser-specific. On Firefox, even your old code shows me the correct series of alerts. E.g., Firefox is allowing us to redefine window.status, but Chrome isn't.

edited May 11, 2012 at 9:33

answered May 11, 2012 at 9:26

T.J. Crowder

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4 Comments

gopi1410 Over a year ago

Yeah, there's a window.status property which may be overshadowing it. But when I just copied it to a fiddle, it works fine for me. Here's the link: jsfiddle.net/wGzv9

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@gopi1410: It seems to be browser-specific. I get a series of "undefined" alerts in Chrome, but the correct "idle" alerts in Firefox. Other browsers probably do other things. At the end of the day, probably best to avoid the global. :-)

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@gopi1410: Re your fiddle: jsFiddle wraps your code in a function by default, so var status in your fiddle isn't creating a global variable. If you do a "view frame source" on the result pane, you'll see what I mean.

gopi1410 Over a year ago

@T.J.Crowder oh, got it! I was wondering it works fine for me in chrome too, now I see. Thanks. :)

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