Question

so I find myself in the awkward situation where I have a function in main.js which requires an array that’s populated in second.js…

Simply put, the function in main.js is intended to be reusable:

function chug()
{
    p1.innerHTML = st_a[0];
    p2.innerHTML = st_a[1];
    ...
}

Now, ‘st_a’ is supposed to be resolved as: st_ + , in this case that variable is ‘a’. The idea being the second.js file will have multiple arrays (st_a, st_b, etc.) and depending on the need, the relevant array will be used to populate the paragraph elements (p1, p2, etc.)

Any ideas?

Answer 1

If st_[x] is a global variable, you can use window['st_a'] to reference it. So, you should be able to use something like:

function chug()
{
    var arrid = 'st_'+'a';
    p1.innerHTML = window[arrid][0];
    p2.innerHTML = window[arrid][1];
    //...
}

or use a function to retrieve the array:

function getArr(id){
  return window['st_'+id];
}

Alternatively you could use a container object in second.js with a ‘get’ method, something like:

var myArrays = {
  st_a: [],
  st_b: [],
  st_c: [],
  get: function(id){
    return this['st_'+id];
  }
  /* etc */
}

Now chug could look like:

function chug()
{
    var arr = myArray.get('a');
    p1.innerHTML = arr[0];
    p2.innerHTML = arr[1];
    //...
}