Programmatically add functions to the root node object

Question

In regular browser js, we can do this:

window["fname"] = function(){ /* do something */ };

then we can call fname where ever we want - it is now a global function. Is it possible to do a similar thing in node, where we add functions to a certain object and they can be called as is in the rest of the file:

root["fname"] = function(){ /* do something */ };
fname();

I'm not looking for a something that acts globally over all files, just something that would keep the "global namespace pollution" in this file that I can call all of these functions as is, without resorting to obj.fname.

Here is a similar question: stackoverflow.com/questions/3691453/… Hope it helps. — Pato
– Pato, Commented Sep 5, 2011 at 21:13
Yeah, he can use with, but its evil - yuiblog.com/blog/2006/04/11/with-statement-considered-harmful ;] — Adam Jurczyk
– Adam Jurczyk, Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 11:55
Nope, with is not an option as it does not allow access to other variables which do not need that prefix. See my code to understand what I was trying to do and how it relates to this question. — Callum Rogers
– Callum Rogers, Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 12:28
oh, i see what you want to do... hmmm, i have no idea how to it ^^ Maybe you could try look into codebase of Firebug debugger? — Adam Jurczyk
– Adam Jurczyk, Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 15:32
It works now :p You just need to wrap the "view" in a self running function. — Callum Rogers
– Callum Rogers, Commented Sep 6, 2011 at 17:34

Adam Jurczyk · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-06 11:44:34Z

2

EDIT (for clarity):

As far my test showed - you can't access local scope of a module. It is (or is like) closure, and you cant programatically acces its scope. So your best bet is global (aka root) object, which keeps global vars, BUT it is the same for whole app (so every module has acces to it).

So, the best you is making shortcuts each time:

var foo = myModule.foo;
var boo = myAnotherModule.boo;

Use 'global' as namespace:

global['foo'] = function(){ console.log('foo'); }; // same as global.foo = ...

foo() //prints 'foo' to console

More here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/jb4dy/adding_to_the_global_namespace_in_nodejs/

edited Sep 6, 2011 at 11:44

answered Sep 5, 2011 at 13:25

Adam Jurczyk

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nponeccop Over a year ago

See the related documentation: nodejs.org/docs/v0.5.3/api/globals.html#global . And global.foo = ... is just the same as global['foo'] = ...

Callum Rogers · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-05 14:02:53Z

0

root was the object I wanted:

root["foo"] = function(){ /* blah */ }
foo();

answered Sep 5, 2011 at 14:02

Callum Rogers

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1 Comment

Adam Jurczyk Over a year ago

Yeah, but root is the same object as global (and GLOBAL). You can try executing root===global or look at output of console.log(root), there you have global: [Circular] which states for self refference.

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