Question

I have a Javascript “class” defined like so:

var Welcomer = function(name) {
  var pName = name;
  var pMessage = function() {
    return "Hi, " + pName + "!";
  };

  return {
    sayHi: function() {
      alert(pMessage());
    }
  };
};

new Welcomer('Sue').sayHi();

Is there a way to “subclass” Welcomer in such a way that I can redefine the public methods and have access to the private methods and variables? The following will give me access to the public methods, but not to the private ones:

var UnhappyWelcomer = function(name) {
  var pSadMessage = function() {
    // won't work, b/c I don't have access to pMessage
    return pMessage() + " Miserable day, innit?";
  };

  return {
    sayHi: function() {
      alert(pSadMessage());
    }
  };
};
UnhappyWelcomer.prototype = Welcomer(); // failed attempt at inheritance

new UnhappyWelcomer().sayHi();

Answer 1

The simple answer to your question is No.

You can’t do anything to gain access to those var defined things, unless your function is in the same scope, or you somehow ‘make public’ the information (by returning it, or setting it on this).

If you have access to edit the original function though, you could rewrite things in such a way that those functions could be “passed” into an extending function, which can alter the “protected” scope of the object. The following code should give a good idea of what I am proposing.

var Welcomer = function(name) {
  var _protected = {
    name: name,
    message: function() {
      return "Hi, " + _protected.name + "!";
    }
  };

  return {
    extendWith: function(extender) {
      extender.call(this, _protected);
      return this;
    },
    sayHi: function() {
      alert(_protected.message());
    }
  };
};

var UnhappyWelcomer = function(name) {
  var self = Welcomer(name).extendWith(function(_protected) {
    _protected.sadMessage = function() {
       return _protected.message() + " Miserable day, innit?";
    };
    // extending the public while still having scope to _protected...
    this.sayHi = function() {
      alert(_protected.sadMessage());
    };
  });
  return self;
};

UnhappyWelcomer('bob').sayHi();