Question

Having trouble trying to declare a variable within a var namespace ..
jsFiddle .. http://jsfiddle.net/bobbyrne01/jeh7Y/

Error: SyntaxError: missing : after property id
Line: 23, Column: 8
Source Code:
var startTime = null;

var Utils = {

    var startTime = null;

    getStartTime: function(){

        return startTime;
    },

    setStartTime: function(startTimeTemp){
        startTime = startTimeTemp;
    },
}

Utils.setStartTime(new Date());
alert(Utils.getStartTime());

Answer 1

You are trying declare a variable in an object literal. That is not allowed.

Instead use this idiom:

var Utils = function(startTime) {
    this.getStartTime = function(){
        return startTime;
    };

    this.setStartTime = function(startTimeTemp){
        startTime = startTimeTemp;
    };
}
u = new Utils(new Date());
alert(u.getStartTime());

If javascript is not your first language it may be difficult to understand that startTime ‘stays’ with the instance of Utils. This is because javascript has closure. This may be worth a read.