Append onclick method using for loop

Question

I\'m appending onclick events to elements that I\'m creating dynamically. I\'m using the code below, this is the important part only.

Test.prototype.Show= functi         


        

Answer 1

It's a classical problem. When the callback is called, the loop is finished so the value of i is content.length.

Use this for example :

Test.prototype.Show= function (contents) {
    for (var i = 0; i < contents.length; i++) { // no need to have <= and -1
         (function(i){ // creates a new variable i
           var menulink = document.createElement('a');
           menulink.href = "javascript:;";
           menulink.onclick = function () { return that.ClickContent.apply(that, [contents[i]]); };
         })(i);
    }
}

This immediately called function creates a scope for a new variable i, whose value is thus protected.

Better still, separate the code making the handler into a function, both for clarity and to avoid creating and throwing away builder functions unnecessarily:

Test.prototype.Show = function (contents) {
    for (var i = 0; i <= contents.length - 1; i++) {
        var menulink = document.createElement('a');
        menulink.href = "javascript:;";
        menulink.onclick = makeHandler(i);
    }

    function makeHandler(index) {
        return function () {
            return that.ClickContent.apply(that, [contents[index]]);
        };
    }
};

A way to avoid this problem altogether, if you don't need compatibility with IE8, is to introduce a scope with forEach, instead of using a for loop:

Test.prototype.Show = function (contents) {
  contents.forEach(function(content) {
    var menulink = document.createElement('a');
    menulink.href = "javascript:;";
    menulink.onclick = function() {
      return that.ClickContent.call(that, content);
    };
  });
}