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up vote 1 down vote favorite

I have a constructor that makes squares.

I would like my code to automatically create squares from this constructor using loops and name them square1, square2, square3 ect.

eg.

for (n=1; n < x; n++){
var square(n) = new Square();
}

Is this possible?

If so how and how do I refer to them in a loop - like square(n)?

I'm new to programming, oop and javascript so sorry if this is really ovb. thanks in advance

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2 Answers 2

up vote 4 down vote

That's what Arrays are for:

var squares = new Array();
for (var n = 1; n < x; n++) {
    squares.push( new Square() );
}

Now you're able to access them with their zero-based index:

squares[0].someMethod(); // etc..

To iterate over all the squares in that array:

for (var i = 0; i < squares.length; i++) {
    squares[i].someMethod();
}
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1  
You can simply use squares.push(...) to append a new element. –  ThiefMaster♦ Jun 10 '12 at 12:13
    
Yeah right, that's better, thanks! –  Niko Jun 10 '12 at 12:14
    
so squares is an array full of objects that are all called Square each refered to by the array index? –  Steve Booth Jun 10 '12 at 12:57
    
Essentially yes - the objects don't have a name (but an index instead), and they all are instances of the Square constructor. –  Niko Jun 10 '12 at 13:03
up vote 0 down vote

That's a pretty nasty idea. Use an array for this purpose:

var squares = [];
for (var n = 1; n < x; n++) {
    squares.push(new Square());
}

Anyway, if you really want to do it:

window['square' + n] = new Square();

This will create globals. There is no clean, eval-less way to create locals like that.

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