Javascript (ECMA-6) class magic method __call like PHP

Question

This is my use case

getSomeFields(persons, fields){

    let personsWithSpecificFields = [];

    _.each(persons, (person) => {

        let personSpecificFields = {};

        _.each(fields, (field) => {
            // here im thinking to modify the field to match the method name 
            // ( if something like __call as in php is available)
            // e.g. field is first_name and i want to change it to getFirstName
            personSpecificFields[field] = person[field]();

        });

        personsWithSpecificFields.push(personSpecificFields);
    });

    return personsWithSpecificFields;
}

Here is my person class

import _ from 'lodash';

export default class Person{

    // not working..
    __noSuchMethod__(funcName, args){
        alert(funcName);
    }

    constructor( data ){
        this.init(data);
    }

    init(data) {
        _.each(data, (value, key) => {
           this[key] = value;
        });
    }
}

I have gone through Monitor All JavaScript Object Properties (magic getters and setters), tried to implement this JavaScript getter for all properties but no luck.

I know i can do this by just writing another method which will transform my first_name to getFirstName and give it a shot. But is there any way to do this in ECMA-6 way like in class.

thanks.

Answer 1

You can use a proxy to detect access to a property that your object does not have, and deal with it -- this comes close to PHP's __call:

var person = new Person();
// Wrap the object in a proxy
var person = new Proxy(person, {
    get: function(person, field) {
        if (field in person) return person[field]; // normal case
        console.log("Access to non-existent property '" + field + "'");
        // Check some particular cases:
        if (field == 'first_name') return person.getFirstName;
        // ...
        // Or other cases:
        return function () {
            // This function will be executed when property is accessed as a function
        }
    }
});

You could even do this in the constructor of your class:

class Person {
    constructor(data) {
        this.init(data);
        return new Proxy(this, {
            get: function(person, field) {
                if (field in person) return person[field]; // normal case
                console.log("Access to non-existent property '" + field + "'");
                // Check some particular cases:
                if (field == 'first_name') return person.getFirstName;
                // ...
                // Or other cases:
                return function () {
                    // This function will be executed when property is accessed as a function
                    return 15; // example
                }
            }
        });
    }
    // other methods ...
    //
}

The nice thing about proxies is that the returned object is still considered an instance of the original class. With the above code, the following will be true:

new Person() instanceof Person