Getters \ setters for dummies

Question

I\'ve been trying to get my head around getters and setters and its not sinking in. I\'ve read JavaScript Getters and Setters and Defining Getters and Setters and just not g

Answer 1

Getters and Setters in JavaScript

Overview

Getters and setters in JavaScript are used for defining computed properties, or accessors. A computed property is one that uses a function to get or set an object value. The basic theory is doing something like this:

var user = { /* ... object with getters and setters ... */ };
user.phone = '+1 (123) 456-7890'; // updates a database
console.log( user.areaCode ); // displays '123'
console.log( user.area ); // displays 'Anytown, USA'

This is useful for automatically doing things behind-the-scenes when a property is accessed, like keeping numbers in range, reformatting strings, triggering value-has-changed events, updating relational data, providing access to private properties, and more.

The examples below show the basic syntax, though they simply get and set the internal object value without doing anything special. In real-world cases you would modify the input and/or output value to suit your needs, as noted above.

get/set Keywords

ECMAScript 5 supports get and set keywords for defining computed properties. They work with all modern browsers except IE 8 and below.

var foo = {
    bar : 123,
    get bar(){ return bar; },
    set bar( value ){ this.bar = value; }
};
foo.bar = 456;
var gaz = foo.bar;

Custom Getters and Setters

get and set aren't reserved words, so they can be overloaded to create your own custom, cross-browser computed property functions. This will work in any browser.

var foo = {
    _bar : 123,
    get : function( name ){ return this[ '_' + name ]; },
    set : function( name, value ){ this[ '_' + name ] = value; }
};
foo.set( 'bar', 456 );
var gaz = foo.get( 'bar' );

Or for a more compact approach, a single function may be used.

var foo = {
    _bar : 123,
    value : function( name /*, value */ ){
        if( arguments.length < 2 ){ return this[ '_' + name ]; }
        this[ '_' + name ] = value;
    }
};
foo.value( 'bar', 456 );
var gaz = foo.value( 'bar' );

Avoid doing something like this, which can lead to code bloat.

var foo = {
    _a : 123, _b : 456, _c : 789,
    getA : function(){ return this._a; },
    getB : ..., getC : ..., setA : ..., setB : ..., setC : ...
};

For the above examples, the internal property names are abstracted with an underscore in order to discourage users from simply doing foo.bar vs. foo.get( 'bar' ) and getting an "uncooked" value. You can use conditional code to do different things depending on the name of the property being accessed (via the name parameter).

Object.defineProperty()

Using Object.defineProperty() is another way to add getters and setters, and can be used on objects after they're defined. It can also be used to set configurable and enumerable behaviors. This syntax also works with IE 8, but unfortunately only on DOM objects.

var foo = { _bar : 123 };
Object.defineProperty( foo, 'bar', {
    get : function(){ return this._bar; },
    set : function( value ){ this._bar = value; }
} );
foo.bar = 456;
var gaz = foo.bar;

__defineGetter__()

Finally, __defineGetter__() is another option. It's deprecated, but still widely used around the web and thus unlikely to disappear anytime soon. It works on all browsers except IE 10 and below. Though the other options also work well on non-IE, so this one isn't that useful.

var foo = { _bar : 123; }
foo.__defineGetter__( 'bar', function(){ return this._bar; } );
foo.__defineSetter__( 'bar', function( value ){ this._bar = value; } );

Also worth noting is that in the latter examples, the internal names must be different than the accessor names to avoid recursion (ie, foo.bar calling foo.get(bar) calling foo.bar calling foo.get(bar)...).

See Also

MDN get, set, Object.defineProperty(), __defineGetter__(), __defineSetter__()
MSDN IE8 Getter Support