Is there a standard function to check for null, undefined, or blank variables in JavaScript?

Question

Is there a universal JavaScript function that checks that a variable has a value and ensures that it\'s not undefined or null? I\'ve got this code,

Answer 1

This will check if variable of indeterminate nesting is undefined

function Undef(str) 
{
  var ary = str.split('.');
  var w = window;
  for (i in ary) {
    try      { if (typeof(w = w[ary[i]]) === "undefined") return true; }
    catch(e) { return true; }
  }
  return false;
}

if (!Undef("google.translate.TranslateElement")) {

The above checks if the Google translate function TranslateElement exists. This is equivalent to:

if (!(typeof google === "undefined" 
 || typeof google.translate === "undefined" 
 || typeof google.translate.TranslateElement === "undefined")) {