Mutable variable is accessible from closure. How can I fix this?

Question

I am using Typeahead by twitter. I am running into this warning from Intellij. This is causing the "window.location.href" for each link to be the last item in my list of items.

How can I fix my code?

Below is my code:

AutoSuggest.prototype.config = function () {
    var me = this;
    var comp, options;
    var gotoUrl = "/{0}/{1}";
    var imgurl = '<img src="/icon/{0}.gif"/>';
    var target;

    for (var i = 0; i < me.targets.length; i++) {
        target = me.targets[i];
        if ($("#" + target.inputId).length != 0) {
            options = {
                source: function (query, process) { // where to get the data
                    process(me.results);
                },

                // set max results to display
                items: 10,

                matcher: function (item) { // how to make sure the result select is correct/matching
                    // we check the query against the ticker then the company name
                    comp = me.map[item];
                    var symbol = comp.s.toLowerCase();
                    return (this.query.trim().toLowerCase() == symbol.substring(0, 1) ||
                        comp.c.toLowerCase().indexOf(this.query.trim().toLowerCase()) != -1);
                },

                highlighter: function (item) { // how to show the data
                    comp = me.map[item];
                    if (typeof comp === 'undefined') {
                        return "<span>No Match Found.</span>";
                    }

                    if (comp.t == 0) {
                        imgurl = comp.v;
                    } else if (comp.t == -1) {
                        imgurl = me.format(imgurl, "empty");
                    } else {
                        imgurl = me.format(imgurl, comp.t);
                    }

                    return "\n<span id='compVenue'>" + imgurl + "</span>" +
                        "\n<span id='compSymbol'><b>" + comp.s + "</b></span>" +
                        "\n<span id='compName'>" + comp.c + "</span>";
                },

                sorter: function (items) { // sort our results
                    if (items.length == 0) {
                        items.push(Object());
                    }

                    return items;
                },
// the problem starts here when i start using target inside the functions
                updater: function (item) { // what to do when item is selected
                    comp = me.map[item];
                    if (typeof comp === 'undefined') {
                        return this.query;
                    }

                    window.location.href = me.format(gotoUrl, comp.s, target.destination);

                    return item;
                }
            };

            $("#" + target.inputId).typeahead(options);

            // lastly, set up the functions for the buttons
            $("#" + target.buttonId).click(function () {
                window.location.href = me.format(gotoUrl, $("#" + target.inputId).val(), target.destination);
            });
        }
    }
};

With @cdhowie's help, some more code: i will update the updater and also the href for the click()

updater: (function (inner_target) { // what to do when item is selected
    return function (item) {
        comp = me.map[item];
        if (typeof comp === 'undefined') {
            return this.query;
        }

        window.location.href = me.format(gotoUrl, comp.s, inner_target.destination);
        return item;
}}(target))};

Answer 1

You need to nest two functions here, creating a new closure that captures the value of the variable (instead of the variable itself) at the moment the closure is created. You can do this using arguments to an immediately-invoked outer function. Replace this expression:

function (item) { // what to do when item is selected
    comp = me.map[item];
    if (typeof comp === 'undefined') {
        return this.query;
    }

    window.location.href = me.format(gotoUrl, comp.s, target.destination);

    return item;
}

With this:

(function (inner_target) {
    return function (item) { // what to do when item is selected
        comp = me.map[item];
        if (typeof comp === 'undefined') {
            return this.query;
        }

        window.location.href = me.format(gotoUrl, comp.s, inner_target.destination);

        return item;
    }
}(target))

Note that we pass target into the outer function, which becomes the argument inner_target, effectively capturing the value of target at the moment the outer function is called. The outer function returns an inner function, which uses inner_target instead of target, and inner_target will not change.

(Note that you can rename inner_target to target and you will be okay -- the closest target will be used, which would be the function parameter. However, having two variables with the same name in such a tight scope could be very confusing and so I have named them differently in my example so that you can see what's going on.)

Answer 2

I liked the paragraph Closures Inside Loops from Javascript Garden

It explains three ways of doing it.

The wrong way of using a closure inside a loop

for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log(i);  
    }, 1000);
}

Solution 1 with anonymous wrapper

for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    (function(e) {
        setTimeout(function() {
            console.log(e);  
        }, 1000);
    })(i);
}

Solution 2 - returning a function from a closure

for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    setTimeout((function(e) {
        return function() {
            console.log(e);
        }
    })(i), 1000)
}

Solution 3, my favorite, where I think I finally understood bind - yaay! bind FTW!

for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    setTimeout(console.log.bind(console, i), 1000);
}

I highly recommend Javascript garden - it showed me this and many more Javascript quirks (and made me like JS even more).

p.s. if your brain didn't melt you haven't had enough Javascript that day.

Answer 3

In ecmascript 6 we have new opportunities.

The let statement declares a block scope local variable, optionally initializing it to a value. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/let

Answer 4

Since the only scoping that JavaScript has is function scope, you can simply move the closure to an external function, outside of the scope you're in.