Question

I recently tried to write shortcuts for build-in object functions in JavaScript.

Here it is:

function changeit(){
    var ge = getElementsByTagName() , doc = document;
    doc.ge('div')[0].innerHTML = 'Changed';
}

I thoughy it would actually work but it didn’t. Is there a way to make it work? I mean calling a built-in object function by a var name, and will it work in all browsers?

Answer 1

The function getElementsByTagName does not exist barely. You have to access it as a property of document, but even then, you have to save the reference to document as well:

var ge = document.getElementsByTagName.bind(document);

Or, you could save the name as a string:

var ge = 'getElementsByTagName';

Then you can do:

document[ge]('div')...

Because obj['foo'] is equal to obj.foo.