Accessing private member variables from prototype-defined functions

Question

Is there any way to make “private” variables (those defined in the constructor), available to prototype-defined methods?

TestClass = function(){
    var priv         


        

Answer 1

Was playing around with this today and this was the only solution I could find without using Symbols. Best thing about this is it can actually all be completely private.

The solution is based around a homegrown module loader which basically becomes the mediator for a private storage cache (using a weak map).

   const loader = (function() {
        function ModuleLoader() {}

    //Static, accessible only if truly needed through obj.constructor.modules
    //Can also be made completely private by removing the ModuleLoader prefix.
    ModuleLoader.modulesLoaded = 0;
    ModuleLoader.modules = {}

    ModuleLoader.prototype.define = function(moduleName, dModule) {
        if (moduleName in ModuleLoader.modules) throw new Error('Error, duplicate module');

        const module = ModuleLoader.modules[moduleName] = {}

        module.context = {
            __moduleName: moduleName,
            exports: {}
        }

        //Weak map with instance as the key, when the created instance is garbage collected or goes out of scope this will be cleaned up.
        module._private = {
            private_sections: new WeakMap(),
            instances: []
        };

        function private(action, instance) {
            switch (action) {
                case "create":
                    if (module._private.private_sections.has(instance)) throw new Error('Cannot create private store twice on the same instance! check calls to create.')
                    module._private.instances.push(instance);
                    module._private.private_sections.set(instance, {});
                    break;
                case "delete":
                    const index = module._private.instances.indexOf(instance);
                    if (index == -1) throw new Error('Invalid state');
                    module._private.instances.slice(index, 1);
                    return module._private.private_sections.delete(instance);
                    break;
                case "get":
                    return module._private.private_sections.get(instance);
                    break;
                default:
                    throw new Error('Invalid action');
                    break;
            }
        }

        dModule.call(module.context, private);
        ModuleLoader.modulesLoaded++;
    }

    ModuleLoader.prototype.remove = function(moduleName) {
        if (!moduleName in (ModuleLoader.modules)) return;

        /*
            Clean up as best we can.
        */
        const module = ModuleLoader.modules[moduleName];
        module.context.__moduleName = null;
        module.context.exports = null;
        module.cotext = null;
        module._private.instances.forEach(function(instance) { module._private.private_sections.delete(instance) });
        for (let i = 0; i < module._private.instances.length; i++) {
            module._private.instances[i] = undefined;
        }
        module._private.instances = undefined;
        module._private = null;
        delete ModuleLoader.modules[moduleName];
        ModuleLoader.modulesLoaded -= 1;
    }


    ModuleLoader.prototype.require = function(moduleName) {
        if (!(moduleName in ModuleLoader.modules)) throw new Error('Module does not exist');

        return ModuleLoader.modules[moduleName].context.exports;
    }



     return new ModuleLoader();
    })();

    loader.define('MyModule', function(private_store) {
        function MyClass() {
            //Creates the private storage facility. Called once in constructor.
            private_store("create", this);


            //Retrieve the private storage object from the storage facility.
            private_store("get", this).no = 1;
        }

        MyClass.prototype.incrementPrivateVar = function() {
            private_store("get", this).no += 1;
        }

        MyClass.prototype.getPrivateVar = function() {
            return private_store("get", this).no;
        }

        this.exports = MyClass;
    })

    //Get whatever is exported from MyModule
    const MyClass = loader.require('MyModule');

    //Create a new instance of `MyClass`
    const myClass = new MyClass();

    //Create another instance of `MyClass`
    const myClass2 = new MyClass();

    //print out current private vars
    console.log('pVar = ' + myClass.getPrivateVar())
    console.log('pVar2 = ' + myClass2.getPrivateVar())

    //Increment it
    myClass.incrementPrivateVar()

    //Print out to see if one affected the other or shared
    console.log('pVar after increment = ' + myClass.getPrivateVar())
    console.log('pVar after increment on other class = ' + myClass2.getPrivateVar())

    //Clean up.
    loader.remove('MyModule')