Question

Using Ext.js or sencha, what is the point of doing the following:

Ext.apply(app.views, {
        contactsList: new app.views.ContactsList(),
        contactDetail: new app.views.ContactDetail(),
        contactForm: new app.views.ContactForm()
    });

As opposed to this standard javascript:

app.views.contactsList = new app.views.ContactsList();
app.views.contactDetail = new app.views.ContactDetail();
app.views.contactForm = new app.views.ContactForm();

Is there any difference?

Answer 1

It’s mostly there as a convenience method for code that is accepting an object as an argument, and needs to merge it. Merging objects is a common use case in JavaScript, and this type of helper is implemented by most frameworks. ($.extend in jQuery, Object.extend in Prototype, Object.append in MooTools, etc.)

In your case, there is little difference, other than offering a bit more readable code.