[jskidd3]

Hi. Below is a small piece of code that I can't get to work. It's actually a smaller version of the full thing, but it does a very similar thing and gives the same error.

The error I'm receiving is:

Uncaught TypeError: Object #<Player> has no method 'move' test.js:6
init test.js:6
(anonymous function)

I'd really appreciate it if somebody could let me know where I'm going wrong.

Thanks,
Joel.

var player;

init();

function init() {
	player = new Player();
	player.move();
}

function Player() {
	this.width = 10;
	this.height = 10;
}

Player.prototype.move = function() {
	alert("Hello, I've moved");
};

[Dormilich]

why do you call the function before you even define it?

well that itself is not the problem due to function hoisting. but since the prototypal inheritance statement is not hoisted, the Player Constructor does not know the move() method on instantiation.

[jskidd3]

Ok sorry could you say that again but in much noobier language? I'm pretty new to Javascript and to be honest what you just said I didn't understand a word of

[Dormilich]

ok.

what you have written:

var player;

init();

function init() {
	player = new Player();
	player.move();
}

function Player() {
	this.width = 10;
	this.height = 10;
}

Player.prototype.move = function() {
	alert("Hello, I've moved");
};

how Java​Script actually executes the code:

var player;
// note how the function declarations have been put before the call to init()
function init() {
	player = new Player();
	player.move();
}

function Player() {
	this.width = 10;
	this.height = 10;
}

init();

Player.prototype.move = function() {
	alert("Hello, I've moved");
};

[jskidd3]

Much better, thanks very much! =)

[Dormilich]

if you want to do a more modern (and less error prone) approach, look into Object.create().

e.g.

function playerFactory() 
{
  var methods = {
    move: function move() {
      alert("Hello, I've moved");
    }
  };
  var props = {
    width: {
      value: 10,
      writable: true // or whatever options you like
    },
    height: {
      value: 10
      writable: true 
    }
  };
  return Object.create(methods, props);
}

var player = playerFactory();

This post has been edited by Dormilich: 18 February 2013 - 06:10 AM