Need advice on working on large javascript files

Question

Hi. I have about 2000 lines of javascript code for my application. A lot of this is user interaction / jQuery. Don't worry, it all works fine :)

But it's getting dificult to keep track of the code base. So I have split up the file into five files.

I thought that if I load all files, they all reside in memory and the can communicate with each other. but it does not look like it. Because, in file A, I have var currentPage = getURLvar('slpage'); and in file B I have if ( currentPage == 'someName').

But file B does not recognize the variable currentPage.

Also I have som general scripts in file C which file A nd B can use. But I guess that's not possible to cal leither?

Any advice is much appreciated.

UPDATE

My javascript start s like this:

// FILE A
jQuery(document).ready(function() {

  var currentPage = getURLvar('slpage');

  if ( (currentPage == 'Aa') || (currentPage == 'Bb') ) { 
    init_AA();
  } 
  else if ( (currentPage == 'Cc') || (currentPage == 'Dd') ) {
    init_BB();    
  } else if ( (currentPage == 'Ee') || (currentPage == 'Ff') ) {
    init_CC();    
  }
  (...)

// FILE B
  function init_AA()
  { 
    (...)
  }

  function getURLvar(name)
  {
     //Gets the URL and returns the value of specified paramter.
  }

Answer 1

You're right that it's possible to access parts of a script in other files. The problem you're having sounds like one of scoping.

If your variable is in the global namespace (which isn't a great idea) then you'll be able to access it directly like you've tried.

Alternatively, if you have your variable scoped inside a method, it will only be accessible too that method.

In order to expose the variable you want, I'd sugest creating a common namespace for the code and scoping your seperated Javascript into the relevant namespace.

Here's some resources for more information:

http://www.dustindiaz.com/namespace-your-javascript/

http://snook.ca/archives/javascript/javascript%5Fname

UPDATE:

Based on the code you've posted you could simply move the variable decleration outside the scope of the anonymouse function.

 var currentPage;

 jQuery(document).ready(function() {

 currentPage = getURLvar('slpage');
 ...