Origin

This library provides an easily extendable base class that comes with some very convenient built-in instance methods and class methods. It differs from other implementations of extend in that it makes adding class methods very easy and provides a parent() method that makes calling methods from parent classes easy and reliable.

Installation

npm install origin

Quick Start/Example

var Origin = require('origin');

// Use the extend class method on Origin or any subclass of
// origin to create a new class.
var MyClass = Origin.extend({
  
  // This function will become the constructor for your
  // new class
  initializer: function(arg1, arg2) {
    ...
  },
  
  // You can define the variables and methods that will be
  // present in each instance of your new class. Sublasses
  // of this class, created using MyClass.extend() will
  // persist these these properties unless they are overridden
  // by the subclass.
  properties : {
    
    someVariable : "some value",
    
    someFunction : function(arg1, arg2) {
      
      // All instances have a cls method that will return
      // the class of the object.
      if (arg1 instanceof this.cls()) {
        ...
      }
      
    }
    
    someOtherFunction : function(arg1) {
      
      // All objects that extend from Origin have a parent
      // method that allows you to call a method of any parent
      // class.
      this.parent(AncestorClass).someOtherFunction(arg1);
      ...

    }
  },
  
  classProperties : {
    
    // You can easily attach class methods to any class you define.
    // Subclasses of this class, created with MyClass.extend(), will
    // persist these class methods unless they're overriden by a 
    // subclass.
    aClassMethod : function(arg1) {
      ...
    }
  }
});

var myClassInstance = new MyClass(arg1, arg2);

The Origin Class

+ extend({ initializer : function() { ... }, 
           properties : { ... },
           classMethods : { ... }
         });
 
Exactly as Origin.extend() allows you to create a subclass of Origin, 
calling extend on any class you create will allow you to subclass 
that class. Extend() takes a single dictionary that may contain an
"initializer" function (the constructor for the resulting class),
a "properties" object containing values or methods to attach to instances
of your new class, and a "classProperties" object that contains any
class methods that you'd like attached to your new class.


+ inheritsFrom(cls);

This returns true if the class you're calling inheritsFrom on is a subclass
of the class that you pass in as an argument. Returns false otherwise.


+ superclass();

Returns the parent class.


- parent(cls);

Takes a superclass of the current object's class and returns a dictionary
with methods corresponding to the methods available in that superclass.
Calling one of those methods behaves as expected and maintains the correct
context of 'this'.


- cls();

Returns the class of the current object.

License

Released under the MIT license. See file called LICENSE for more details.