Question

In a CMS I’m building I want to have my own javascript namespaced object $cms. This object should have a method/function hasIdentity that returns the status of whether the user is logged in.

Is there a way that I can have this method/function return the status without having to resort to either:

• AJAX
• a global var
• or rewriting the following script from within PHP

This is what I have so var:

var $cms = {
    hasIdentity: function()
    {
        return /* the status provided by PHP */;
    }
};

It’s a bit of a esthetic matter perhaps, but I don’t want to resort to this:

// write this global var;
var $isLoggedIn = false;

var $cms = {
    hasIdentity: function()
    {
        return $isLoggedIn;
    }
};

Or this:

var $cms = {
    hasIdentity: function()
    {
        $isLoggedIn = this.do.some.ajax.call();
        return $isLoggedIn;
    }
};

I was maybe thinking more of a sort of OOP approach, something like constructing the $cms object by writing it from within PHP:

<script type="text/javascript">
  $cms = new $cms( <?php echo $loggedIn ? 'true', 'false' ?> );
</script>

Now, I believe I can’t use the new keyword like that in Javascript, but I hope you catch my drift, and see where I want to go with this.

Answer 1

You could also do:

$cms.isLoggedIn = <?php echo $loggedIn ? 'true', 'false' ?>;

That because your $cms object is not a constructor function. If it were, you would have been able to new it.

var CMS = function (loggedIn) {
    this.loggedIn = loggedIn;
};

CMS.prototype.hasIdentity = function () {
    return this.loggedIn;
};

$cms = new CMS(<?php echo $loggedIn ? 'true', 'false' ?>);