Get the name of an object's type

Question

Is there a JavaScript equivalent of Java\'s class.getName()?

Answer 1

Here is a solution that I have come up with that solves the shortcomings of instanceof. It can check an object's types from cross-windows and cross-frames and doesn't have problems with primitive types.

function getType(o) {
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(o).match(/^\[object\s(.*)\]$/)[1];
}
function isInstance(obj, type) {
    var ret = false,
    isTypeAString = getType(type) == "String",
    functionConstructor, i, l, typeArray, context;
    if (!isTypeAString && getType(type) != "Function") {
        throw new TypeError("type argument must be a string or function");
    }
    if (obj !== undefined && obj !== null && obj.constructor) {
        //get the Function constructor
        functionConstructor = obj.constructor;
        while (functionConstructor != functionConstructor.constructor) {
            functionConstructor = functionConstructor.constructor;
        }
        //get the object's window
        context = functionConstructor == Function ? self : functionConstructor("return window")();
        //get the constructor for the type
        if (isTypeAString) {
            //type is a string so we'll build the context (window.Array or window.some.Type)
            for (typeArray = type.split("."), i = 0, l = typeArray.length; i < l && context; i++) {
                context = context[typeArray[i]];
            }
        } else {
            //type is a function so execute the function passing in the object's window
            //the return should be a constructor
            context = type(context);
        }
        //check if the object is an instance of the constructor
        if (context) {
            ret = obj instanceof context;
            if (!ret && (type == "Number" || type == "String" || type == "Boolean")) {
                ret = obj.constructor == context
            }
        }
    }
    return ret;
}

isInstance requires two parameters: an object and a type. The real trick to how it works is that it checks if the object is from the same window and if not gets the object's window.

Examples:

isInstance([], "Array"); //true
isInstance("some string", "String"); //true
isInstance(new Object(), "Object"); //true

function Animal() {}
function Dog() {}
Dog.prototype = new Animal();

isInstance(new Dog(), "Dog"); //true
isInstance(new Dog(), "Animal"); //true
isInstance(new Dog(), "Object"); //true
isInstance(new Animal(), "Dog"); //false

The type argument can also be a callback function which returns a constructor. The callback function will receive one parameter which is the window of the provided object.

Examples:

//"Arguments" type check
var args = (function() {
    return arguments;
}());

isInstance(args, function(w) {
    return w.Function("return arguments.constructor")();
}); //true

//"NodeList" type check
var nl = document.getElementsByTagName("*");

isInstance(nl, function(w) {
    return w.document.getElementsByTagName("bs").constructor;
}); //true

One thing to keep in mind is that IE < 9 does not provide the constructor on all objects so the above test for NodeList would return false and also a isInstance(alert, "Function") would return false.