Question

Hey guys I’m having an issue with this statement in Internet Explorer,
I was wondering if there is a saner way to do it?

var NEWVARIABLE = NEWVARIABLE || {};
NEWVARIABLE.Tools = NEWVARIABLE.Tools || {};

Its giving me the error that NEWVARIABLE does not exist

Answer 1

You’ve accepted an answer, but it contains a misleading statement:

You cannot use (or test) a variable that’s not been defined. That’s what you’re doing

The variable is declared, so it isn’t what you are doing.

In the OP, the code:

> var NEWVARIABLE = NEWVARIABLE || {};
> NEWVARIABLE.Tools = NEWVARIABLE.Tools || {};

contains no syntax errors, the only case where it will throw an error is if NEWVARIABLE already exists and has a Tools property that throws an error when attempting to access or assign to it (as may happen with certain host objects).

If NEWVARIABLE has previously been assigned a native object or primitive value, it will not throw an error, though the result may not be what you expect.