Question

I’m trying to understand how to best use the JavaScript module pattern. My problem is that it seems there’s no way to refer to the module from within itself, because this is set to the Window object.

I’ve got this simple test code:

var Test = function() {
    var that = this;

    return {
        something: function() {
            console.info(that);
        }
    }
}

var test1 = Test();
test1.something();

var test2 = Test();
test2.something();

Both test1 and test2 print a reference to the Window object instead of the module itself.

Any idea how to change it so that I have a valid this inside the module?

Answer 1

If you did

var test1 = new Test()

You could then do

test1.something(); 

An alternative module structure would be to do something like this:

var myModule = function () {
    var obj = {};
    obj.something = function () { 
         return console.log(obj);
    };
    obj.something2 = function () {
         return console.log(obj === this); // true
    };
    return obj;
};
var test = myModule();
test.something();
test.something2();

Hope this helps