Question

I have a simple jQuery ready event that initializes a view by calling the a function in the setupView object.

The question I have is, what is appropriate way to call the function setSomethingImportant from the init function as shown below?

Since the call is made from a different execution context than the init function, this.setSomethingImportant() does not work. However it works if I use setupView.setSomethingImportant(). The problem I have with this is that if the var name (setupView) changes, I will have to change the body of the code as well.

   (function() {        
        $(document).ready(function() {              
            setupView.init();               
        });     
         var setupView = {          
            currentState : "CT",            
            init : function () {
               $("#externalProtocol").change( function () {
                    console.log("Changed =" + $(this).val());
                    setSomethingImportant(); 
                               // Question ? how to call a method in the setupView object   
                });         
             },         
             setSomethingImportant : function () {
                 this.currentState="TC";    
                 console.log("Something has changed :" + this.currentState );
             }      
         }  
 }(jQuery);

Answer 1

Store this into a variable:

var setupView = {
    currentState: "CT",
    init: function() {
        // Keep a reference to 'this'
        var self = this;
        $("#externalProtocol").change(function() {
            console.log("Changed =" + $(this).val());

            // Use the old 'this'
            self.setSomethingImportant();
        });
    },
    setSomethingImportant: function() {
        this.currentState = "TC";
        console.log("Something has changed :" + this.currentState);
    }
};

See the Working demo.