Writing a Javascript library that is code-completion and code-inspection friendly

Question

I recently made my own Javascript library and I initially used the following pattern:

var myLibrary = (function () {

  var someProp = "...";

  function someFunc() {
    ...
  }

  function someFunc2() {
    ...
  }

  return {
     func: someFunc,
     fun2: someFunc2,
     prop: someProp;
  }

}());

The problem with this is that I can't really use code completion because the IDE doesn't know about the properties that the function literal is returning (I'm using IntelliJ IDEA 9 by the way).

I've looked at jQuery code and tried to do this:

(function(window, undefined) {
    var myLibrary = (function () {

      var someProp = "...";

      function someFunc() {
        ...
      }

      function someFunc2() {
        ...
      }

      return {
         func: someFunc,
         fun2: someFunc2,
         prop: someProp;
      }

    }());

    window.myLibrary = myLibrary;
}(window));

I tried this, but now I have a different problem. The IDE doesn't really pick up on myLibrary either.

The way I'm solving the problem now is this way:

var myLibrary = {
   func: function() { },
   func2: function() { },
   prop: ""
};

myLibrary = (function () {

  var someProp = "...";

  function someFunc() {
    ...
  }

  function someFunc2() {
    ...
  }

  return {
     func: someFunc,
     fun2: someFunc2,
     prop: someProp;
  }

}());

But that seems kinda clunky, and I can't exactly figure out how jQuery is doing it. Another question I have is how to handle functions with arbitrary numbers of parameters.

For example, jQuery.bind can take 2 or 3 parameters, and the IDE doesn't seem to complain. I tried to do the same thing with my library, where a function could take 0 arguments or 1 argument. However, the IDE complains and warns that the correct number of parameters aren't being sent in. How do I handle this?

EDIT

I'm starting to wonder if this is an Idea9 issue because jQuery has the same problem. I don't seem to have this problem in other projects though.

Answer 1

I'm using IDEA with yahoo module pattern and my autocomplete works. Google for yahoo module pattern.

http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2007/06/12/module-pattern/

http://ajaxian.com/archives/a-javascript-module-pattern

---

TEST = function() {
    var SOME_CONSTANT='asd';

    function privateStuff(){
        var a = 'asd';
        return a;
    }

    return{
        someArray:[],

        someMethod: function(foo, bar){

            var foo = *1
        }
        ,

        myProperty:'test'
    }
}();

TEST.*2

with *1 and *2 i marked places where i tried auto complete.

in *1 i get SOME_CONSTANT and privateStuff method, and if i put this.(autocomplete) i get access to all the methods and properties inside of return {} block

when i try autocomplete on *2 i get all the methods and properties inside return {} block. SOME_CONSTANT and privateStuff method are invisibile there, because they are "private".

For me that level of autocomplete is quite fine.