Javascript inheritance problem when using prototypes - instances overwritten :(

Question

I'm new to JavaScript programming and I am having a bit of a nightmare with inheritance. I am writing some code for Appcelerator Titanium and I have a base class called Slide2D that I wish to inherit from.

So I have placed a few functions in Slide2D's prototype. These are generally not going to be overwritten, but will be called from classes derived from Slide2D. These functions will also be called from other parts of the program. There are also various eventhandlers used to manage animation in Titanium.

If I make a couple of these slides in some calling code (using new)

var s = new Slide2D('slide1', 'background1.png', etc......
var t = new Slide2D('slide2', 'background2.png', etc......

all of my prototype methods point to the last Slide2D created, regardless of whether I use s or t. So 'slide2' will always be displayed, even if I'm using the s variable.

This is driving me mad - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the length of the code but here it is:

function Slide2D(name, backgroundImage, transform, inAnimation, outAnimation)
{
Titanium.API.info('Slide2D - Constructor - ' + name);

var _self = this;

var _name = name;

var _backgroundImage = backgroundImage;

var _startingTransform = transform;

var _slideView = Titanium.UI.createView({
    backgroundImage: _backgroundImage,
    transform: transform
});

    var _animateInAnimation = Titanium.UI.createAnimation();
_animateInAnimation.transform = Titanium.UI.create2DMatrix().translate(0,0);
_animateInAnimation.duration = 750;

var _animateOutAnimation = Titanium.UI.createAnimation();
_animateOutAnimation.transform = Titanium.UI.create2DMatrix().translate(-1024,0);
_animateOutAnimation.duration = 750;

var onAnimateInStart = function()
{
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.onAnimateInStart');
    Titanium.App.fireEvent('animateInStart', {slideName: _name});

    _animateInAnimation.removeEventListener('start', onAnimateInStart);
};

var onAnimateOutStart = function()
{
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.onAnimateOutStart');
    Titanium.App.fireEvent('animateOutStart', {slideName: _name});

    _animateInAnimation.removeEventListener('start', onAnimateOutStart);
};

var onAnimateInComplete = function()
{
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.onAnimateInComplete');
    Titanium.App.fireEvent('animateInComplete', {slideName: _name});

    _animateInAnimation.removeEventListener('complete', onAnimateInComplete);
};

var onAnimateOutComplete = function()
{
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.onAnimateOutComplete');
    Titanium.App.fireEvent('animateOutComplete', {slideName: _name});

    _animateOutAnimation.removeEventListener('complete', onAnimateOutComplete);
};

_animateInAnimation.addEventListener('start', onAnimateInStart);
_animateOutAnimation.addEventListener('start', onAnimateOutStart);

_animateInAnimation.addEventListener('complete',onAnimateInComplete);
_animateOutAnimation.addEventListener('complete', onAnimateOutComplete);

Slide2D.prototype.animateIn = function(){
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.animateIn - ' + _name);

    _slideView.animate(_animateInAnimation);
};

Slide2D.prototype.animateOut = function(){
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.animateOut');

    _slideView.animate(_animateOutAnimation);
};

    Slide2D.prototype.getName = function()
{
    return _name;
};

Slide2D.prototype.getView = function(){
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.getView');
    return _slideView;
};

Slide2D.prototype.getStartingTransform = function(){
    return _startingTransform;
};
 };

Edit

Thanks very much for your prompt reply. I have made the changes that you recommended and that has resolved that particular problem.

However, a new issue has been introduced.

I need to call Slide2D.prototype.getView from a derived class - ExtendedSlide2D.

However, now I get the following error :

Result of expression 'Slide2D.prototype.getView()' [undefined] is not an object
   at ExtendedSlide2D.js at line .......

This is where I add the button to the base class's view object.

I'm sure this error just comes down to my inexperience with the language but, once again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Once again - here is the code for ExtendedSlide2D:

Titanium.include('Slide2D.js');



function ExtendedSlide2D(name, backgroundImage, transform, inAnimation, outAnimation)
{

Titanium.API.info('ExtendedSlide2D - Constructor');


this.base = new Slide2D(name, 
                            backgroundImage, 
                            transform, 
                            inAnimation,     
                            outAnimation);



ExtendedSlide2D.prototype.constructor = ExtendedSlide2D;



var button = Titanium.UI.createButton({title: 'AnimateOut',
                                           height: 40,
                                           width: 200,
                                           top: 50

});

button.addEventListener('click', function()

{
    Slide2D.prototype.animateOut();

});


Slide2D.prototype.getView().add(button);
}



ExtendedSlide2D.prototype = new Slide2D();

Answer 1

You'll need to move the methods that you adding to the prototype outside of the Slide2D constructor function. That way they only get defined once instead of with every object instantiation.

And then for those prototype functions to access the "internals", such as _name, _slideView, etc... You will need to convert all your "vars" (currently accessible under closure) to be properties of the object itself. Then reference all those member properties with a "this." prefix.

Below, I brute-forced replaced all your "vars" to be this.properties. Only the properties and function you need to access from the prototype methods need this conversion. For internal functions (such as your animate functions), they may still be able to use vars accessible under closure.

function Slide2D(name, backgroundImage, transform, inAnimation, outAnimation) {

    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D - Constructor - ' + name);

    _self = this;

    this._name = name;

    this._backgroundImage = backgroundImage;

    this._startingTransform = transform;

    this._slideView = Titanium.UI.createView({
        backgroundImage: this._backgroundImage,
        transform: transform
    });

    this._animateInAnimation = Titanium.UI.createAnimation();
    this._animateInAnimation.transform = Titanium.UI.create2DMatrix().translate(0, 0);
    this._animateInAnimation.duration = 750;

    /// ...

};

Slide2D.prototype.animateIn = function () {
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.animateIn - ' + this._name);

    this._slideView.animate(this._animateInAnimation);
};

Slide2D.prototype.animateOut = function () {
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.animateOut');

    this._slideView.animate(this._animateOutAnimation);
};

Slide2D.prototype.getName = function () {
    this._name;
};

Slide2D.prototype.getView = function () {
    Titanium.API.info('Slide2D.prototype.getView');
    this._slideView;
};

Slide2D.prototype.getStartingTransform = function () {
    this._startingTransform;
};