Questions regarding Node.js syntax - node.js

everyone!
I am reading some code in an attempt to learn node.js, it's available here.
Anyways, I have a few questions regarding some of the syntax of JS. The first bits are in index.html
1.
var argv = require("minimist")(process.argv.slice(2), {
default: { albums: true }
});
What is going on after the comma? Are we setting default values? We never declared albums, so then how are we setting a default value?
2.
What do we call it when we have a module, then a statement in parenthesis? Is this part of overriding the constructor?
var sinceDate = require("moment")(argv.sinceDate, "YYYY/MM/DD");
var sinceDate = require("moment")(argv.sinceDate, "YYYY/MM/DD");
if (!sinceDate.isValid()) {
require("debug")("download")(
"invalid sinceDate '" +
argv.sinceDate +
"', date filter disabled (get all)."
);
sinceDate = 0;
}
In get_all.js , it is used in the third line.
var debug = require("debug")("json");
Thanks a bunch!

To understand this you need to first understand in JavaScript function are First-Class Functions, mean functions can be treated as regular variables. Thus you can pass those as arguments to other functions aka callbacks, or you can return a function from a function aka Closure. Also you can store functions into another variables.
For more: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/First-class_Function
Answers to your questions:
1.
var argv = require("minimist")(process.argv.slice(2), {
default: { albums: true }
});
What is going on after the comma? Are we setting default values? We never declared albums, so then how are we setting a default value?
Answer:
Yes we are setting default values, but not for the variables you declared rather you are passing these default values to "minimist" module. This module is probably using albums and what you asked it that the default value for albums is true.
2.
What do we call it when we have a module, then a statement in parenthesis? Is this part of overriding the constructor?
var sinceDate = require("moment")(argv.sinceDate, "YYYY/MM/DD");
var sinceDate = require("moment")(argv.sinceDate, "YYYY/MM/DD");
if (!sinceDate.isValid()) {
require("debug")("download")(
"invalid sinceDate '" +
argv.sinceDate +
"', date filter disabled (get all)."
);
sinceDate = 0;
}
In get_all.js , it is used in the third line.
var debug = require("debug")("json");
Answer:
As we discussed above functions being First-Class Functions. Here the "moment" module is returning a constructor function and you are calling that constructor function just after requiring it. Though it can be done as follow:
var moment = require("moment");
var sinceDate = moment(argv.sinceDate, "YYYY/MM/DD");
In above code, I required moment library once and used it as constructor function for sinceDate.
The same concept is for module debug, its returning a function and you are calling that function just after require with argument json.

Related

node-ffi - Passing string pointer to C library

I have API in C library as bellow
EXPORT void test(char *a) {
// Do something to change value of "a"
}
And I want to passing a pointer of string to that API with node-ffi and ref. I was tried many ways but unsuccessful. Someone else can help me resolve it?
How are you going to prevent a buffer overflow? Most functions which output a string also take a parameter to specify the max length that has been allocated for that string. This issue not withstanding, the following worked for me:
//use ffi and ref to interface with a c style dll
var ffi = require('ffi');
var ref = require('ref');
//load the dll. The dll is located in the current folder and named customlib.dll
var customlibProp = ffi.Library('customlib', {
'myfunction': [ 'void', [ 'char *' ] ]
});
var maxStringLength = 200;
var theStringBuffer = new Buffer(maxStringLength);
theStringBuffer.fill(0); //if you want to initially clear the buffer
theStringBuffer.write("Intitial value", 0, "utf-8"); //if you want to give it an initial value
//call the function
customlibProp.myfunction(theStringBuffer);
//retrieve and convert the result back to a javascript string
var theString = theStringBuffer.toString('utf-8');
var terminatingNullPos = theString.indexOf('\u0000');
if (terminatingNullPos >= 0) {theString = theString.substr(0, terminatingNullPos);}
console.log("The string: ",theString);
I'm also not positive that your c function has the right declaration. The function I was interfacing with had a signature that was like:
void (__stdcall *myfunction)(char *outputString);
Maybe EXPORT will resolve to the same thing, I just haven't done any c programming recently enough to remember.

What is the Best practice of exports function in Nodejs

I am learning nodejs , I find two way to exports our function in Nodejs , but I can not find what is difference between in those
The first is
module.exports.UserService = (function () {
return {
getUser:getUser
}
})()
And another
var getUser=function(searchInfo,res){}
module.exports.getUser=getUser
Is there any disadvantage or advantage of using , or any other best practice for exports function
I always find it better to use the first notation (exporting the object via its reference) because:
it allows you to build the object incrementally, and
allows you to reference the object within itself.
e.g.:
var Obj = {};
Obj.attrs = { "prop1": "val1", "prop2": "val2" };
addSomeProperties(Obj); /* possibly based on Obj.attrs */
module.exports = Obj;

Is it possible to log variable name in JavaScript?

Is it possible to log variable name (not value) in JavaScript?
var max_value = 4;
console.log(max_value); // should log "max_value" as a string
UPDATE: I need a testing function that should be able to log any variable name (passed as an argument) as a string, not just this one variable.
There is a solution that can help you. I grabbed this function from this stackoverflow answer, which is able to get the name of the function parameters:
var STRIP_COMMENTS = /((\/\/.*$)|(\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\/))/mg;
var ARGUMENT_NAMES = /([^\s,]+)/g;
function getParamNames(func) {
var fnStr = func.toString().replace(STRIP_COMMENTS, '');
var result = fnStr.slice(fnStr.indexOf('(')+1, fnStr.indexOf(')')).match(ARGUMENT_NAMES);
if(result === null)
result = [];
return result;
}
then all you need to do now, is to use the name of your variable as a parameter of an anonymous function and pass all the function as argument of the getParamNames :
variablesNames = getParamNames(function (max_value, min_value) {});
This will return an array like this :
result => ["max_value", "min_value"];
Let's make it practical, first change the name of the getParamNames function to something easy and small like this :
function __ (func) {
// code here ...
}
second thing, instead of returning an array, just return the first element of the array, change this :
return result;
to this :
return result.shift();
now, you can get the name of your variable like this :
__(function( max_value ){});

Object.defineProperty on any property [duplicate]

I am aware of how to create getters and setters for properties whose names one already knows, by doing something like this:
// A trivial example:
function MyObject(val){
this.count = 0;
this.value = val;
}
MyObject.prototype = {
get value(){
return this.count < 2 ? "Go away" : this._value;
},
set value(val){
this._value = val + (++this.count);
}
};
var a = new MyObject('foo');
alert(a.value); // --> "Go away"
a.value = 'bar';
alert(a.value); // --> "bar2"
Now, my question is, is it possible to define sort of catch-all getters and setters like these? I.e., create getters and setters for any property name which isn't already defined.
The concept is possible in PHP using the __get() and __set() magic methods (see the PHP documentation for information on these), so I'm really asking is there a JavaScript equivalent to these?
Needless to say, I'd ideally like a solution that is cross-browser compatible.
This changed as of the ES2015 (aka "ES6") specification: JavaScript now has proxies. Proxies let you create objects that are true proxies for (facades on) other objects. Here's a simple example that turns any property values that are strings to all caps on retrieval, and returns "missing" instead of undefined for a property that doesn't exist:
"use strict";
if (typeof Proxy == "undefined") {
throw new Error("This browser doesn't support Proxy");
}
let original = {
example: "value",
};
let proxy = new Proxy(original, {
get(target, name, receiver) {
if (Reflect.has(target, name)) {
let rv = Reflect.get(target, name, receiver);
if (typeof rv === "string") {
rv = rv.toUpperCase();
}
return rv;
}
return "missing";
}
});
console.log(`original.example = ${original.example}`); // "original.example = value"
console.log(`proxy.example = ${proxy.example}`); // "proxy.example = VALUE"
console.log(`proxy.unknown = ${proxy.unknown}`); // "proxy.unknown = missing"
original.example = "updated";
console.log(`original.example = ${original.example}`); // "original.example = updated"
console.log(`proxy.example = ${proxy.example}`); // "proxy.example = UPDATED"
Operations you don't override have their default behavior. In the above, all we override is get, but there's a whole list of operations you can hook into.
In the get handler function's arguments list:
target is the object being proxied (original, in our case).
name is (of course) the name of the property being retrieved, which is usually a string but could also be a Symbol.
receiver is the object that should be used as this in the getter function if the property is an accessor rather than a data property. In the normal case this is the proxy or something that inherits from it, but it can be anything since the trap may be triggered by Reflect.get.
This lets you create an object with the catch-all getter and setter feature you want:
"use strict";
if (typeof Proxy == "undefined") {
throw new Error("This browser doesn't support Proxy");
}
let obj = new Proxy({}, {
get(target, name, receiver) {
if (!Reflect.has(target, name)) {
console.log("Getting non-existent property '" + name + "'");
return undefined;
}
return Reflect.get(target, name, receiver);
},
set(target, name, value, receiver) {
if (!Reflect.has(target, name)) {
console.log(`Setting non-existent property '${name}', initial value: ${value}`);
}
return Reflect.set(target, name, value, receiver);
}
});
console.log(`[before] obj.example = ${obj.example}`);
obj.example = "value";
console.log(`[after] obj.example = ${obj.example}`);
The output of the above is:
Getting non-existent property 'example'
[before] obj.example = undefined
Setting non-existent property 'example', initial value: value
[after] obj.example = value
Note how we get the "non-existent" message when we try to retrieve example when it doesn't yet exist, and again when we create it, but not after that.
Answer from 2011 (obsoleted by the above, still relevant to environments limited to ES5 features like Internet Explorer):
No, JavaScript doesn't have a catch-all property feature. The accessor syntax you're using is covered in Section 11.1.5 of the spec, and doesn't offer any wildcard or something like that.
You could, of course, implement a function to do it, but I'm guessing you probably don't want to use f = obj.prop("example"); rather than f = obj.example; and obj.prop("example", value); rather than obj.example = value; (which would be necessary for the function to handle unknown properties).
FWIW, the getter function (I didn't bother with setter logic) would look something like this:
MyObject.prototype.prop = function(propName) {
if (propName in this) {
// This object or its prototype already has this property,
// return the existing value.
return this[propName];
}
// ...Catch-all, deal with undefined property here...
};
But again, I can't imagine you'd really want to do that, because of how it changes how you use the object.
Preface:
T.J. Crowder's answer mentions a Proxy, which will be needed for a catch-all getter/setter for properties which don't exist, as the OP was asking for. Depending on what behavior is actually wanted with dynamic getters/setters, a Proxy may not actually be necessary though; or, potentially, you may want to use a combination of a Proxy with what I'll show you below.
(P.S. I have experimented with Proxy thoroughly in Firefox on Linux recently and have found it to be very capable, but also somewhat confusing/difficult to work with and get right. More importantly, I have also found it to be quite slow (at least in relation to how optimized JavaScript tends to be nowadays) - I'm talking in the realm of deca-multiples slower.)
To implement dynamically created getters and setters specifically, you can use Object.defineProperty() or Object.defineProperties(). This is also quite fast.
The gist is that you can define a getter and/or setter on an object like so:
let obj = {};
let val = 0;
Object.defineProperty(obj, 'prop', { //<- This object is called a "property descriptor".
//Alternatively, use: `get() {}`
get: function() {
return val;
},
//Alternatively, use: `set(newValue) {}`
set: function(newValue) {
val = newValue;
}
});
//Calls the getter function.
console.log(obj.prop);
let copy = obj.prop;
//Etc.
//Calls the setter function.
obj.prop = 10;
++obj.prop;
//Etc.
Several things to note here:
You cannot use the value property in the property descriptor (not shown above) simultaneously with get and/or set; from the docs:
Property descriptors present in objects come in two main flavors: data descriptors and accessor descriptors. A data descriptor is a property that has a value, which may or may not be writable. An accessor descriptor is a property described by a getter-setter pair of functions. A descriptor must be one of these two flavors; it cannot be both.
Thus, you'll note that I created a val property outside of the Object.defineProperty() call/property descriptor. This is standard behavior.
As per the error here, don't set writable to true in the property descriptor if you use get or set.
You might want to consider setting configurable and enumerable, however, depending on what you're after; from the docs:
configurable
true if and only if the type of this property descriptor may be changed and if the property may be deleted from the corresponding object.
Defaults to false.
enumerable
true if and only if this property shows up during enumeration of the properties on the corresponding object.
Defaults to false.
On this note, these may also be of interest:
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(obj): gets all properties of an object, even non-enumerable ones (AFAIK this is the only way to do so!).
Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(obj, prop): gets the property descriptor of an object, the object that was passed to Object.defineProperty() above.
obj.propertyIsEnumerable(prop);: for an individual property on a specific object instance, call this function on the object instance to determine whether the specific property is enumerable or not.
The following could be an original approach to this problem:
var obj = {
emptyValue: null,
get: function(prop){
if(typeof this[prop] == "undefined")
return this.emptyValue;
else
return this[prop];
},
set: function(prop,value){
this[prop] = value;
}
}
In order to use it the properties should be passed as strings.
So here is an example of how it works:
//To set a property
obj.set('myProperty','myValue');
//To get a property
var myVar = obj.get('myProperty');
Edit:
An improved, more object-oriented approach based on what I proposed is the following:
function MyObject() {
var emptyValue = null;
var obj = {};
this.get = function(prop){
return (typeof obj[prop] == "undefined") ? emptyValue : obj[prop];
};
this.set = function(prop,value){
obj[prop] = value;
};
}
var newObj = new MyObject();
newObj.set('myProperty','MyValue');
alert(newObj.get('myProperty'));
You can see it working here.
I was looking for something and I figured out on my own.
/*
This function takes an object and converts to a proxy object.
It also takes care of proxying nested objectsa and array.
*/
let getProxy = (original) => {
return new Proxy(original, {
get(target, name, receiver) {
let rv = Reflect.get(target, name, receiver);
return rv;
},
set(target, name, value, receiver) {
// Proxies new objects
if(typeof value === "object"){
value = getProxy(value);
}
return Reflect.set(target, name, value, receiver);
}
})
}
let first = {};
let proxy = getProxy(first);
/*
Here are the tests
*/
proxy.name={} // object
proxy.name.first={} // nested object
proxy.name.first.names=[] // nested array
proxy.name.first.names[0]={first:"vetri"} // nested array with an object
/*
Here are the serialised values
*/
console.log(JSON.stringify(first)) // {"name":{"first":{"names":[{"first":"vetri"}]}}}
console.log(JSON.stringify(proxy)) // {"name":{"first":{"names":[{"first":"vetri"}]}}}
var x={}
var propName = 'value'
var get = Function("return this['" + propName + "']")
var set = Function("newValue", "this['" + propName + "'] = newValue")
var handler = { 'get': get, 'set': set, enumerable: true, configurable: true }
Object.defineProperty(x, propName, handler)
this works for me

How to pass variable parameters to an XPages SSJS function?

If I have a function in SSJS and I want to pass one "firm" parameter and a list of others that can change, what's the best way to do that? With some kind of hashMap or JSON or something else?
for example given something like:
myfunction( code:string, paramList:??) {
// do stuff here
}
Basically the function will create a document. And sometimes I'll have certain fields I'll want to pass in right away and populate and other times I'll have different fields I will want to populate.
How would you pass them in and then parse out in the function?
Thanks!
Use the arguments parameter... In JavaScript you are not required to define any of your parameters in the function block itself. So, for example, the following call:
myFunction(arg1, arg2, arg3, arg4);
can legally be passed to the following function:
myFunction () {
// do stuff here...
}
when I do this, I usually place a comment in the parens to indicate I am expecting variable arguments:
myFunction (/* I am expecting variable arguments to be passed here */) {
// do stuff here...
}
Then, you can access those arguments like this:
myFunction (/* I am expecting variable arguments to be passed here */) {
if (arguments.length == 0) {
// naughty naughty, you were supposed to send me things...
return null;
}
myExpectedFirstArgument = arguments[0];
// maybe do something here with myExpectedFirstArgument
var whatEvah:String = myExpectedFirstArgument + ": "
for (i=1;i<arguments.length;i++) {
// now do something with the rest of the arguments, one
// at a time using arguments[i]
whatEvah = whatEvah + " and " + arguments[i];
}
// peace.
return whatEvah;
}
Wallah, variable arguments.
But, more to the point of your question, I don't think you need to actually send variable arguments, nor go through the hassle of creating actual JSON (which is really a string interpretation of a javascript object), just create and send the actual object then reference as an associative array to get your field names and field values:
var x = {};
x.fieldName1 = value1;
x.fieldName2 = value2;
// ... etc ...
then in your function, which now needs only two parameters:
myFunction(arg1, arg2) {
// do whatever with arg1
for (name in arg2) {
// name is now "fieldName1" or "fieldName2"
alert(name + ": " + x[name]);
}
}
Hope this helps.
I would do this with a JSON object as the second parameter...
function myfunction(code:String, data) {
// do stuff here...
var doc:NotesDocument = database.CreateDocument();
if(data) {
for (x in data) {
doc.replaceItemValue(x, data[x]);
}
}
// do more stuff
doc.save(true, false);
}
Then you call the function like this:
nyfunction("somecode", {form:"SomeForm", subject:"Whatever",uname:#UserName()});
Happy coding.
/Newbs
I don't think that is possible in SSJS. I think the best option you have is to pass a hashmap or your own (java) object. I think a custom java object would be the nicest option because you can define some 'structure' on how your function can process it. A hashmap can be easily extended but it is not easy if you have a lot of code that create a lot of different hashmap structures...

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