Javascript OOP - lost this in asynchronous callback

Question

I have problem which still bothers me on js oop - I'm sure I'm doing it bad, but I cant get how to do it right.

For example, I have this code

Auth.prototype.auth = function () {
    var request = new XMLHttpRequest();

    request.open('GET', this.getAuthServerURL() + '/token', true);
    request.send();

    request.onloadend = function () {
      var response = JSON.parse(request.responseText);

      console.log(response);
      if(response.result == 'found') {
        var token = response.token;

        this.setToken(token);
        this.isSigned = true;
      } else {
        console.log('Not logged yet.');
      }
    }
}

The problem is that I cant access to function setToken from context of "request.onloadend" function - its probably because I lost reference to "this".

Whats a solution of this problem? Can I somehow pass the "this" var to context of this function?

Thanks!

Answer 1

There are a couple of ways to do this. The most direct is to simply save a copy of the value you need:

Auth.prototype.auth = function () {
    var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
    var self = this; // save "this" value

    request.open('GET', this.getAuthServerURL() + '/token', true);
    request.send();

    request.onloadend = function () {
      var response = JSON.parse(request.responseText);

      console.log(response);
      if(response.result == 'found') {
        var token = response.token;

        self.setToken(token); // use saved "this" value
        self.isSigned = true;
      } else {
        console.log('Not logged yet.');
      }
    }
}

Another way is to use bind:

request.onloadend = (function () {
  var response = JSON.parse(request.responseText);

  console.log(response);
  if(response.result == 'found') {
    var token = response.token;

    this.setToken(token); // use saved "this" value
    this.isSigned = true;
  } else {
    console.log('Not logged yet.');
  }
}).bind(this);

The second approach is "cleaner", but it has browser compatibility issues (IE < 9 does not support it).

Answer 2

.bind the function:

Auth.prototype.auth = function () {
    var request = new XMLHttpRequest();

    request.open('GET', this.getAuthServerURL() + '/token', true);
    request.send();

    request.onloadend = function () {
      var response = JSON.parse(request.responseText);

      console.log(response);
      if(response.result == 'found') {
        var token = response.token;

        this.setToken(token);
        this.isSigned = true;
      } else {
        console.log('Not logged yet.');
      }
    }.bind(this); //<-- bound
}