Question

I’ve wrapped all my functions around an immediately-invoked function expression as shown:

(function(){
  "use strict";

  function toggleComment(parentCommentID) {
    $("form#" + parentCommentID).toggle();
  }

  function scrollBottom() {
    window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);
  }

})();

However, upon calling one of these functions through a link:

<a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="toggleComment(159); return false;">Reply</a>

The Chrome console outputs Uncaught ReferenceError: toggleComment is not defined. Am I mistaken in thinking that an immediately-invoked function expression, as its name suggests, should be invoked immediately and therefore toggleComment should be called? Should I call the function differently?

Answer 1

The function toggleComment is not visible. It’s enclosed in the ready function you’re using; if you want to be able to call it like that (which is not recommended, in most cases), you have to hoist it outside of that function and make it globally accessible.

And this has nothing to do with strict. If you remove the strict line, this problem will still be the same.