Question

I’m sure, this question has been answered somewhere before but I just couldn’t find it.

If within a function a variable has been defined, what is the best practice to save it for later use? 1. Saving it “globally”?
foo = 'bar';
...
function bar(){
...
foo = 'bat';
return foo;
}
...


Here, the variable will be altered later on.
2. Or saving it within a hidden form field within the HTML-DOM?

`Thanxs!

Answer 1

Saving it as a global JavaScript variable is by far the most efficient.

EDIT: If the data you want to save is associated with an element on the page (for example, each row in a table has a bit of data associated with it), and you are using jQuery, there is a data() method which is more efficient than setting an attribute on the element or something similar.