Using the variable “name” doesn't work with a JS object

Question

The behaviour can be seen in this little snippet (execute it as a global script):

var name = {};
name.FirstName = \'Tom\';
alert(name.FirstName);
         


        

Answer 1

window.name is used to set the name of the window, and since the window name can only be a string, anything you set to window.name is converted to a string. And strings, as primitive values, cannot have properties. The solution is to use a different variable name or a different scope.

Alternatively, you can use window.name as you like if you have this code first. I don't recommend this at all, but, just as a proof of concept:

(function () {
    var _name;
    window.__defineGetter__('name', function () {
        return _name;
    });
    window.__defineSetter__('name', function (v) {
        _name = v;
    });
})();

Additionally, you should use {} in place of new Object. Besides being more concise, it is also more efficient and more explicit.