I want to do something like this in Dispatch.js
function handle(msg) {
....
}
exports = handle;
and this in the calling index.js
var dispatch = require("./Dispatch);
dispatch("data");
Any ideas?
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4 Answers
exports = handle
This creates a local variable called exports. This is different from overwriting module.exports.
module.exports = handle
This overwrites the exports variable that lives in module scope, this will then be read by require.
In the browser window["foo"] and foo are the same, however in node module["foo"] and foo behave subtly different.
The local variable scope context and module are not the same thing.
Comments
Do:
function handle(msg) {
....
}
module.exports = handle;
and it works the way you want.
1 Comment
Tom
or module.exports = function(msg) { }
The problem behind this issue (exports vs module.exports vs exports.something) is best described in this article:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/getoutbindingsituations
The first version (exports = handle) is exactly the problem: the missing binding that is mandatory in javascript:
exports = handle means window.exports = handle (or whatever node.js has as the global object)
answered Mar 6, 2012 at 15:35
Gabriel Petrovay
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Comments
Another way of seeing the problem is thinking about how node could load your module:
function loadModule(module, exports) {
inside here comes your module code
}
If your code overwrites the exports parameter (exports = handle), this change is not visible from the outside of this function. And for this overwriting one can use the module object.
The problem would not occur if exports would be a variable visible in the scope where the function body is.
answered Mar 6, 2012 at 15:45
Gabriel Petrovay
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