Possible Duplicate:
Simplest/Cleanest way to implement singleton in JavaScript?
I'm using this pattern for singletons, in the example the singleton is PlanetEarth:
var NAMESPACE = function () {
var privateFunction1 = function () {
privateFunction2();
};
var privateFunction2 = function () {
alert('I\'m private!');
};
var Constructors = {};
Constructors.PlanetEarth = function () {
privateFunction1();
privateFunction2();
};
Constructors.PlanetEarth.prototype = {
someMethod: function () {
if (console && console.log) {
console.log('some method');
}
}
};
Constructors.Person = function (name, address) {
this.name = name;
this.address = address;
};
Constructors.Person.prototype = {
walk: function () {
alert('STOMP!');
}
};
return {
Person: Constructors.Person, // there can be many
PlanetEarth: new Constructors.PlanetEarth() // there can only be one!
};
}();
Since PlanetEarth's constructor remains private, there can only be one.
Now, something tells me that this self-cooked thing isn't the best one can do, mostly because I don't have an academic education and I tend to solve problems in stupid ways. What would you propose as a better alternative my method, where better is defined as stylistically better and/or more powerful?
(1) UPDATE 2019: ES7 Version
class Singleton {
static instance;
constructor() {
if (instance) {
return instance;
}
this.instance = this;
}
foo() {
// ...
}
}
console.log(new Singleton() === new Singleton());
(2) ES6 Version
class Singleton {
constructor() {
const instance = this.constructor.instance;
if (instance) {
return instance;
}
this.constructor.instance = this;
}
foo() {
// ...
}
}
console.log(new Singleton() === new Singleton());
Best solution found: http://code.google.com/p/jslibs/wiki/JavascriptTips#Singleton_pattern
function MySingletonClass () {
if (arguments.callee._singletonInstance) {
return arguments.callee._singletonInstance;
}
arguments.callee._singletonInstance = this;
this.Foo = function () {
// ...
};
}
var a = new MySingletonClass();
var b = MySingletonClass();
console.log( a === b ); // prints: true
For those who want the strict version:
(function (global) {
"use strict";
var MySingletonClass = function () {
if (MySingletonClass.prototype._singletonInstance) {
return MySingletonClass.prototype._singletonInstance;
}
MySingletonClass.prototype._singletonInstance = this;
this.Foo = function() {
// ...
};
};
var a = new MySingletonClass();
var b = MySingletonClass();
global.result = a === b;
} (window));
console.log(result);