Nested Object Literal Access Parent

Question

I'm trying to access a parent within an object literal graph and I am not sure the correct way to accomplish this. Here is some pseudo code.

function MealPlan() {
  this.sets = []
}

MealPlan.prototype = {
  protein: {
    getTotalSets: function() {
      return this.sets.length;
    }
  }
};

I am trying to get a hold of the sets property from within the getTotalSets function.

Answer 1

This actually can't be done (without hacking using call or apply the way @RichardMacarthy showed) because you are creating a new context by creating a new object context (e.g. protein) on the prototype. The prototype is used to add methods to an object, not properties.

Alternatively, you could turn your property in a method which would allow you to retain the original context of the object.

function MealPlan() {
  this.sets = []
}

MealPlan.prototype = {
  protein: function() { 
     var self = this; 
     return { 
        getTotalSets: function() { return self.sets.length; },
        anotherMethod: function() { /* ... */ },
     }
   }
};

var mp = new MealPlan();
mp.protein().getTotalSets();