Name
prototype — NN 3 IE J2 ECMA 1
Synopsis
Read/Write
A property of the static Array
object. Use the
prototype
property to assign new properties and
methods to future instances of arrays created in the current
document. For example, the following function creates a
return-delimited list of elements in an array in reverse order:
function formatAsList() { var output = "" for (var i = this.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) { output += this[i] + "\n" } alert(output) }
To give an array that power, assign this function reference to a prototype property whose name you want to use as the method to invoke this function:
Array.prototype.showReverseList = formatAsList
If a script creates an array at this point:
var stooges = new Array("Moe", "Larry", "Curly", "Shemp")
the new array has the showReverseList()
method
available to it. To invoke the method, the call is:
stooges.showReverseList()
You can add properties the same way. These allow you to attach
information about the array (its creation time, for example) without
disturbing the ordered sequence of array data. When a new document
loads into the window or frame, the static Array
object starts fresh again.
Example
Array.prototype.created = ""
Value
Any data, including function references.
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