Javascript object encapsulation.

How do we achieve data encapsulation with Javascript objects?

Private member variables in objects.

  • All properties or let us say member variables defined with the "this" keyword inside a function object is of public type, which mean that they can be accessed from outside of a created object.
    function Person(n) {
    // name and getName ar both public
        this.name = n;
        this.getName = function() { return this.name; }
    }
  • All variables, which are defined with the "var" keyword and all the methods that a constructor function contains is private and therefore NOT accessible from outside of a created object. The same applies to all function arguments.
  • One of the most important things in object-oriented programming (OOP) is data encapsulation, which means to make private properties and then define public access methods to change these.
  • All public methods, which are defined inside a function object, have access to all defined private member variables and private methods in a created object.
  • Public methods defined on the outside of a function object can not access private member variables as they are not defined in the same scope as those.

    Example:
    <script type="text/javascript">
      function Rectangle(h,w) {
        var width=w; // Both the 'width' and 'w' is private
        var heigth=h; // Both the 'height' and 'h' is private
        this.setWidth= function(w){ width=w;}
        this.setHeight= function(h){ heigth=h;}
        this.getWidth= function(){ return width;}
        this.getHeight= function(){ return heigth;}
        this.constructor.prototype.getDiagonal=function() {
          return Math.sqrt(heigth*heigth+width*width);
        };
      }
      Rectangle.prototype.getArea=function() {
        // We must use accessors in a prototype kind of method,
        // then these methods can not access the private members
        // of a created object.
        return this.getWidth()*this.getHeight();
      };
      var rect = new Rectangle(60,70);
      rect.setHeight(20);
      document.write("The rectangle area is: "+rect.getArea()+"<br>");
      document.write("The rectangle diagonal is: "+rect.getDiagonal()+"<br>");
    </script>
  • Private methods have no directly access to properties that are defined to be public with "this" keyword in a function object. To achieve this, one can define a variable that has the same reference as "this" refers to.

    Example:
    <script type="text/javascript">
      function Person(n, y) {
        var name=n;
        var year=y;
        // Set a variable to the same as this
        var thisObj=this;
        this.setName= function(n){ name=n;}
        this.getName= function(){ return name;}
        this.setYear= function(y){ year=y;}
        this.getYear= function(){ return year;}
        var born = function() {
          var nYear=new Date().getFullYear();
          // Use the thisObj variable which is the same as this refer to.
          return nYear-thisObj.getYear();
          // The "this" keyword inside this function refers to an object
          // created by the constructor function of this function object.
        }
        this.getBornYear= function() {
          return born();
        }
      }
      var person = new Person("Nikita",60);
      document.write(person.getName()+" was born in "+person.getBornYear()+"<br>");
    </script>

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