Question

I want to do:

mkArray(xml, "artist", "namespace.newarray");

function mkArray(xml, tag, store){
    store = [];
    $(xml).find(tag).each(function(i,v){
        store.push($(this).text());
    });
    console.log(store);
}

But of course this overwrites what store is, rather than using it as a reference to a property of namespace. What’s the correct way of going about it? I thought window[store] would work, but didn’t have any luck.

Answer 1

In general, it’s better to avoid functions that have side effects, e.g. change their arguments. If your function is supposed to create something, just return this “something”:

// good way

function mkArray(xml, tag) {
   var store = [];
   // populate store...
   return store;
}

myStore = mkArray(xml, tag);

If, for some reason, that doesn’t work for you, you can also modify the function argument, but the object itself should be created in the calling code:

// worse, but possible 

function mkArray(xml, tag, store) {
   // populate store...
}

myStore = [];
mkArray(xml, tag, myStore);