Should I use window.variable or var?

Question

We have a lot of setup JS code that defines panels, buttons, etc that will be used in many other JS files.

Typically, we do something like:

grid.js

var myGrid = .....

combos.js

var myCombo = .....

Then, in our application code, we:

application.js

function blah() {
    myGrid.someMethod()
}

someother.js

function foo() {
    myCombo.someMethod();
    myGrid.someMethod();
}

So, should we be using the var myGrid or is better to use window.myGrid

What's the difference?

Answer 1

A potentially important difference in functionality is that window.myGrid can be deleted, and var myGrid can not.

var test1 = 'value';
window.test2 = 'value';


console.log( delete window.test1 ); // false ( was not deleted )
console.log( delete window.test2 ); // true  ( was deleted )


console.log( test1 );  // 'value'         ( still accessible )
console.log( test2 );  // ReferenceError  ( no longer exists )