Reflexively lookup the key on call
This is probably the most surefire way to do it. When obj.foo()
is called, then foo
is executed with obj
set as the value of this
. This means that we can lookup the key from this
. We can examine the object easily the hardest thing is to find which key contains the function we just executed. We can try to do string matching but it might fail for:
const obj = {
foo: function() { /* magic */ },
bar: function() { /* magic */ },
}
Because the contents of the functions will be the same but the keys are different, so it's not easy to differentiate between obj.foo()
and obj.bar()
by doing string matching.
However, there is a better option - naming the function:
const obj = {
foo: function lookUpMyOwnKey() { /* magic */ }
}
Normally, there is pretty much no effect whether you give the function a name or not. However, the thing that we can leverage is that the function can now refer to itself by the name. This gives us a fairly straightforward solution using Object.entries
:
"use strict";
const fn = function lookUpMyOwnName() {
if (typeof this !== "object" || this === null) { //in case the context is removed
return "Sorry, I don't know";
}
const pair = Object.entries(this)
.find(([, value]) => value === lookUpMyOwnName);
if (!pair) {
return "I can't seem to find out";
}
return `My name is: ${pair[0]}`
}
const obj = {
foo: fn
}
console.log(obj.foo());
console.log(obj.foo.call(null));
console.log(obj.foo.call("some string"));
console.log(obj.foo.call({
other: "object"
}));
This is pretty close to the perfect solution. As we can see, it even works if the function is not defined as part of the object but added later. So, it's completely divorced from what object it's part of. The problem is that it's still one function and adding it multiple times will not get the correct result:
"use strict";
const fn = function lookUpMyOwnName() {
if (typeof this !== "object" || this === null) { //in case the context is removed
return "Sorry, I don't know";
}
const pair = Object.entries(this)
.find(([, value]) => value === lookUpMyOwnName);
if (!pair) {
return "I can't seem to find out";
}
return `My name is: ${pair[0]}`
}
const obj = {
foo: fn,
bar: fn
}
console.log(obj.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj.bar()); // foo...oops
Luckily, that's easily solvable by having a higher order function and creating lookUpMyOwnName
on the fly. This way different instances are not going to recognise each other:
"use strict";
const makeFn = () => function lookUpMyOwnName() {
// ^^^^^^ ^^^^^
if (typeof this !== "object" || this === null) { //in case the context is removed
return "Sorry, I don't know";
}
const pair = Object.entries(this)
.find(([, value]) => value === lookUpMyOwnName);
if (!pair) {
return "I can't seem to find out";
}
return `My name is: ${pair[0]}`
}
const obj = {
foo: makeFn(),
bar: makeFn()
}
console.log(obj.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj.bar()); // bar
Making really sure we find the key
There are still ways this could fail
- If the call comes from the prototype chain
- If the property is non-enumerable
Example:
"use strict";
const makeFn = () => function lookUpMyOwnName() {
// ^^^^^^ ^^^^^
if (typeof this !== "object" || this === null) { //in case the context is removed
return "Sorry, I don't know";
}
const pair = Object.entries(this)
.find(([, value]) => value === lookUpMyOwnName);
if (!pair) {
return "I can't seem to find out";
}
return `My name is: ${pair[0]}`
}
const obj = {
foo: makeFn()
}
const obj2 = Object.create(obj);
console.log(obj.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj2.foo()); // unknown
const obj3 = Object.defineProperties({}, {
foo: {
value: makeFn(),
enumerable: true
},
bar: {
value: makeFn(),
enumerable: false
}
})
console.log(obj3.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj3.bar()); // unknown
Is it worth making an overengineered solution that solves a non-existing problem just to find everything here?
Well, I don't know the answer to that. I'll make it anyway - here is a function that thoroughly checks its host object and its prototype chain via Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors
to find where exactly it was called from:
"use strict";
const makeFn = () => function lookUpMyOwnName() {
if (typeof this !== "object" || this === null) {
return "Sorry, I don't know";
}
const pair = Object.entries(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors(this))
.find(([propName]) => this[propName] === lookUpMyOwnName);
if (!pair) {//we must go DEEPER!
return lookUpMyOwnName.call(Object.getPrototypeOf(this));
}
return `My name is: ${pair[0]}`;
}
const obj = {
foo: makeFn()
}
const obj2 = Object.create(obj);
console.log(obj.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj2.foo()); // foo
const obj3 = Object.defineProperties({}, {
foo: {
value: makeFn(),
enumerable: true
},
bar: {
value: makeFn(),
enumerable: false
},
baz: {
get: (value => () => value)(makeFn()) //make a getter from an IIFE
}
})
console.log(obj3.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj3.bar()); // bar
console.log(obj3.baz()); // baz
Use a proxy (slight cheating)
This is an alternative. Define a Proxy
that intercepts all calls to the object and this can directly tell you what was called. It's a bit of a cheat, as the function doesn't really lookup itself but from the outside it might look like this.
Still probably worth listing, as it has the advantage of being extremely powerful with a low overhead cost. No need to recursively walk the prototype chain and all possible properties to find the one:
"use strict";
//make a symbol to avoid looking up the function by its name in the proxy
//and to serve as the placement for the name
const tellMe = Symbol("Hey, Proxy, tell me my key!");
const fn = function ItrustTheProxyWillTellMe() {
return `My name is: ${ItrustTheProxyWillTellMe[tellMe]}`;
}
fn[tellMe] = true;
const proxyHandler = {
get: function(target, prop) { ///intercept any `get` calls
const val = Reflect.get(...arguments);
//if the target is a function that wants to know its key
if (val && typeof val === "function" && tellMe in val) {
//attach the key as @@tellMe on the function
val[tellMe] = prop;
}
return val;
}
};
//all properties share the same function
const protoObj = Object.defineProperties({}, {
foo: {
value: fn,
enumerable: true
},
bar: {
value: fn,
enumerable: false
},
baz: {
get() { return fn; }
}
});
const derivedObj = Object.create(protoObj);
const obj = new Proxy(derivedObj, proxyHandler);
console.log(obj.foo()); // foo
console.log(obj.bar()); // bar
console.log(obj.baz()); // baz
Take a peek at the call stack
This is sloppy and unreliable but still an option. It will be very dependant on the environment where this code, so I will avoid making an implementation, as it would need to be tied to the StackSnippet sandbox.
However, the crux of the entire thing is to examine the stack trace of where the function is called from. This will have different formatting in different places. The practice is extremely dodgy and brittle but it does reveal more context about a call than what you can normally get. It might be weirdly useful in specific circumstances.
The technique is shown in this article by David Walsh and here is the short of it - we can create an Error
object which will automatically collect the stacktrace. Presumably so we can throw it and examine it later. Instead we can just examine it now and continue:
// The magic
console.log(new Error().stack);
/* SAMPLE:
Error
at Object.module.exports.request (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/caching.js:366:17)
at attempt (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/loaders.js:180:24)
at ks_utils.Class.get (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/loaders.js:194:9)
at /home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/macros.js:282:24
at /home/vagrant/src/kumascript/node_modules/async/lib/async.js:118:13
at Array.forEach (native)
at _each (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/node_modules/async/lib/async.js:39:24)
at Object.async.each (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/node_modules/async/lib/async.js:117:9)
at ks_utils.Class.reloadTemplates (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/macros.js:281:19)
at ks_utils.Class.process (/home/vagrant/src/kumascript/lib/kumascript/macros.js:217:15)
*/