How Can I Organize JavaScript Prototypes and Maintain `this` Context During Inheritance?

Organizing JavaScript Prototypes with Preserved Object References and Inheritance

In JavaScript, organizing code using prototypes and inheritance can become challenging as the application grows larger. Consider the following scenario: we have a carousel class with multiple functions:

Carousel.prototype.next = function () {...}
Carousel.prototype.prev = function () {..}
Carousel.prototype.bindControls = function () {..}

To improve code organization, we might want to group these functions as an object:

Carousel.prototype.controls = {
   next: function () { ... } , 
   prev: function() { ... },
   bindControls: function () { .. }
}

However, this approach breaks the reference to the this object, leading to errors when inheriting from the class. To address this issue, we can explore different strategies:

Creating a Controls Class:

One approach is to define a separate Controls class as follows:

var Controls = function (controllable_object) {
    this.ref = controllable_object;
};
Controls.prototype.next = function () {
    this.ref.foo();
}
// ..

var Carousel = function () {
    this.controls = new Controls(this);
};
// ..

This allows us to maintain the reference to the original object, but it doesn't permit overriding the implementation of Controls.

Using Dependency Injection:

A more flexible approach is to utilize dependency injection:

var Controls = function (controllable_object) {
    this.ref = controllable_object;
};
Controls.prototype.next = function () {
    this.ref.foo();
}
// ..

var Carousel = function () {
        this.controllers = [];
    };
Carousel.prototype.addController = function (controller) {
        this.controllers.push(controller);
    };
// ..

var carousel = new Carousel();
carousel.addController(new Controls(carousel));

This allows us to create multiple controllers and add them to the carousel dynamically, providing flexibility and the ability to override implementations.

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