Give an extend capacity to Object class. OOP in javascript is more convenient now ! (I hope)

What’s in there ?

  1. Object.prototype get 2 extra things :
    • Parent : A pointer to parent’s prototype. In the case of Object : Parent = null, because it is the super class
    • parent(): An helper to call parent’s methods.
  2. Object get a static method call extend which allow to extend this super class.

Actually all the futur classes will have thoses methodes and attributes.

Create a class

Use :

var MyClass = ParentClass.extend( prototype );
  • prototype is obviously the prototype of MyClass (i.e an object {} of methods).
  • If you define a constructor, it will be call as the constructor of your class.
  • Even if the prototype is empty, it contains parent()and Parent (see below).
  • Now MyClass can be extanded too.
  • You can pass an empty prototype and define methods after.
var MyClass = ParentClass.extend( {} );
// or
var MyClass = ParentClass.extend();

// add methods :
MyClass.prototype.myMethod = function(){ 
  //... 
};

// WARNING : do not override the prototype because it will break the legacy
MyClass.prototype = {
  myMethod : function(){ 
    // THIS IS BAD :)
  }
};

Example :

var Simpson = Object.extend({
  constructor : function( name ){
    this.name = name;
  },
  sayHello : function(){
    return 'Hello I am ' + name + ' Simpson!';
  }
});

var homer = new Simpson('Homer');

alert( homer.sayHello() ); // Hello I am Homer Simpson!

Access to parent class

Use (inside the class) :

// attribute
this.Parent.myVar ;

// GrandParent attribute
this.Parent.Parent.myVar ;

// call parent method via Parent
this.Parent.myMethod.call(this, param1 , ... );

// or easier with .parent()
this.parent('myMethod', param1 , ...);

Example :

var SimpsonChild = Simpson.extend({
  constructor : function( name , age ){
    this.age = age;

    // call parent constructor
    this.parent('constructor',name);
  },
  //  overriding parent class
  sayHello : function(){
    return this.parent('sayHello') + ' I am only ' + this.age + ' years old.';
  }
});

var bart = new SimpsonChild('Bart',10);

alert ( bart.sayHello() ); // Hello I am Bart Simpson! I am only 8 years old.

download fork on Github