CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptdocumentationumltypescriptecmascript-6
user1980175
user1980175

Reputation:

How to document JavaScript objects (from UML perspective)

I am wondering (perhaps more so from a UML point of view) how others have managed to document JavaScript objects successfully.

JavaScript can be expressed as OOP but in addition to these objects, files may also contain 'lose standing' scripts, which belongs to the file itself - not the object you defined.

Would you document the file itself as a class, and the classes it contain as nested classes?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 859

Answers (3)

Bakunin95
Bakunin95

Reputation: 426

Someone adapted UML for web artifact, its called the "WAE" extension of UML. If you work with node.js, i created a module that generate class diagram for javascript/node/html/css. Its called wavi. For javascript, function,variable are automatically recognized. You can use it for documenting your application.

https://www.npmjs.org/package/wavi

Upvotes: 1

Gerd Wagner
Gerd Wagner

Reputation: 5683

No, it wouldn't make sense to document a JavaScript file as a class (with inner classes), but the "classes" it contains may be documented with a UML class diagram. However, since there is no explicit class concept in JavaScript, people use different code patterns for defining a "class". The most commonly used code pattern is the constructor-based definition of classes as proposed on the Mozilla website. In this approach, the constructor function (say, C) represents the class. It defines a number of properties (using this) and a number of methods/functions (using C.prototype). Then, in a UML class diagram, these properties and methods can be described in the form of a class rectangle.

Upvotes: 1

guidsdo
guidsdo

Reputation: 433

If you want to document your javascript objects, you can even use a MVC pattern for javascript projects. I would personally try to avoid using innerclasses and use proper relationships between classes. If you mean with innerclasses; putting multiple classes sepperated in the same js file, then; yes that's a valid option. Javascript doesn't care in which file a class is, it only thinks about the classes (unlike Java if I'm correct).

Example I wrote 8 years ago for school showing the Control class:

function Control()
{
    var myView = new View(respondOnChoice);
    var myMathTest = new MathTest();
    var myExercise = new Exercise();

    function respondOnMathTestChoice()
    {
        myView.emptyMainDiv();
        myView.showNameAndClassChoice();
    }
}

Start.js (to initiate the control):

if (window.attachEvent) //IE
{
    window.attachEvent("onload", initApp);
}
if (window.addEventListener)//Firefox
{
    window.addEventListener("load", initApp,false);
}

function initGame()
{
    var myControl = new Control();
}

In my opinion, this is the best way to use OOP in javascript. If you program properly, you won't have to mind about anything to do with innerclasses, just relationships between classes.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions