How to declare variables in javascript

Question

Sorry for the newb question. But I have been trying for hours.

var dbruns = {}; // namespace

dbruns.dbstuff = {
    var nameslistresult = [];

This gets an error, unexpected identifier. When I put it at the dbruns level

var dbruns = {}; // namespace
var nameslistresult = [];
dbruns.dbstuff = {

It gets past there, but then

console.log(typeof dbruns.nameslistresult);
console.log(typeof dbruns.dbstuff.nameslistresult);

both return undefined.

I really have no idea what is going on here, and any help would be appreciated.

dbruns.dbstuff = {nameslistresult:[] }; or dbruns.dbstuff = {};dbruns.dbstuff.nameslistresult = []; Have you already tried to read documentation or tutorials before "trying for hours"? — Rob W
– Rob W, Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 14:32
Thank you so much! Indeed I did, I didn't see anything about how to define properties. I presumed they were public variables. Since they kind of are. — Shammoo
– Shammoo, Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 17:37
Just to save a bit of face, the thing that drove me to try ever more bizarre attempts at making the code work was because the underlying API was broken. — Shammoo
– Shammoo, Commented Sep 1, 2014 at 15:05

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-31 14:34:24Z

3

You appear to be confusing variables and properties.

This is how you declare a variable (and assign it an empty object as a value using the object literal syntax):

var dbruns = {};

This is how you assign a value to a property of an object:

dbruns.dbstuff = { …

This is how you construct an object literal with predefined properties:

… = {
    nameslistresul: [],
    foo: bar
};

answered Aug 31, 2014 at 14:34

Quentin

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Billy Moon · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-31 14:36:48Z

1

Unfortunately javascript does not have name-spaced blocks, but rather functions act as enclosures.

The first error you are getting is because you are not defining a namespace, but defining a javascript object, and then puting unexpected expressions in there instead of property definitions...

var dbruns = { key: "value", another_key: "another value" } // valid syntax for object definition

If you want nameresults to be a property of dbruns you can do...

var dbruns = {}
dbruns.nameresults = []
dbruns.stuff = {}

Javascript uses prototypal inheritance, and everything in javascript is an object.

answered Aug 31, 2014 at 14:36

Billy Moon

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