How can I call a method from an other class/component in javascript?

Question

I am still a rookie in frontend. I have 2 NON RELATED (no parent/child relation) classes:

search.js
Class Search{
   method,
   state
}

view.js
Class view{
     content
}

I am trying to:

• call a search.js method from view.js.
• change state value of search.js from view.js

Additional info:

• I have already tried using helper functions. It was not the desired solution.
• I am using Preact which is a leightweight version of React.

Thanks!

Code:

export default class Search extends Component {
    constructor() {
        this.state = {
            input: ""
        };
    }

    search(input) {
        this.setState({ input: input });
    }
}

Answer 1

If the classes are unrelated, then there are only three ways you can use a class's methods outside the class (or, really, inside it):

1. If it's a static method, call it directly:

   Search.theStaticMethod()
   

2. If it's a prototype or instance method, the usual thing is to create an instance and then call the method on that instance:

   const s = new Search(/*...*/);
   s.prototypeOrInstanceMethod();
   

3. If it's a prototype method, you can call it without creating an instance, but it's extremely likely to be incorrect to do so:

   // ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT THE RIGHT THING
   Search.prototype.prototypeMethod();
   

   There's a variation on that where you apply the method to an object, even though that object wasn't created via new Search:

   // ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT THE RIGHT THING
   const obj = {};
   Search.prototype.prototypeMethod.call(obj);
   

   The method will get the object as this, and may or may not work correctly depending on how it's written.