As I delve deeper into using ES6 and organizing my code across multiple files for better readability and version control, I've encountered an issue that has me puzzled. In one of my scenarios, I have a class defined in a separate file called class.js, which is then exported using module.exports. Within my main script, main.js, I require class.js and utilize it to create instances of the class it contains. However, I face a problem when trying to access a global variable called connectedPlayers from within one of the methods in class.js.
The method in question, usersOnline(), is intended to simply return the value of connectedPlayers. But when I attempt to do so, I receive an error stating that connectedPlayers is not defined. My expectation was that since the object calling usersOnline() was created in main.js, the method should look for connectedPlayers within main.js rather than class.js. Is this line of thinking correct? If so, why am I unable to access connectedPlayers? And if not, what is the correct approach to accessing global variables within my class?
In reality, I have multiple global variables in main.js that need to be accessed by methods inside class.js. These variables are subject to frequent changes, making it impractical to pass them into the constructor or provide them for each method call. Is there a more efficient way to achieve this?
To further elaborate, I aim to replicate the functionality akin to how imports work in browser JavaScript – where imported code acts as though concatenated with the importing code. While I understand this concept doesn't directly translate to Node.js, my assumption was that creating an instance of my class within main.js would allow the methods from that object (which reside within the scope of connectedPlayers) to be executed properly. However, it seems my understanding may be flawed.
Pseudocode:
//class.js
class user{
constructor(id){
this.id = id;
}
someOtherMethod(){
...
}
usersOnline(){
this.someOtherMethod(this.id); //showcasing the necessity for context to remain intact
return connectedPlayers;
}
}
//main.js
var user = require('class.js');
var players = {}
var connectedPlayers = 0;
players[id] = new user(id);
console.log(players[id].usersOnline()) //expects to return the value of connectedPlayers while executing other functions within usersOnline correctly.
Though in this example moving player count into class.js could resolve the issue, such a solution proves unfeasible for my actual application.