Initialise default attributes

[simonaberry]

What is the correct way to set defaults on attributes inside the initialize function

This issue was originally raised in #73 (also #216), and the suggested solution was to use set().

However if i use this.set('fieldname', value); it is not working.... do I have the incorrect format ?

Also - assuming this community has access to the official documentation, it would help to update it (happy to help)

[andrewimm]

Using the initialize() function is highly discouraged. It's supported for legacy reasons, but you should consider it deprecated.

Here's how I would recommend implementing default attributes, with ES6 classes:

class MyObject extends Parse.Object {
  constructor(arguments) {
    super('MyClassName');

    this.set({
      // default values
    });
    if (arguments) {
      this.set(arguments);
    }
  }

  // ... rest of the class
}

(the arguments bit is so that you can still specify initial values to override the defaults)

[simonaberry]

Thanks for the clarification... do you have a non-ES6 solution ?

[andrewimm]

Sorry, I tend to encourage developers to adopt ES6 classes in their workflow. Can you show me how you attempted to implement initialize()? I just threw together a simple example which seems to work fine.

[simonaberry]

I guess its the fear of the unknown... id did a quick look at ES6 compatibility in browsers and was worried that your ES6 solution may not work in older clients.... but maybe a shim is in order ?

there is the full (angularjs) code for the factory in question:

.factory('FPProject', ['$q', function ($q) {
    var FPProject = Parse.Object.extend('Project', {
        // Instance methods
        initialize: function (attrs, options) {
            //set company if passed
            if ((attrs !== undefined) && (attrs.company !== undefined)) {
                this.set('company', attrs.company);
            }
            this.set('name' , 'New Project');
            this.set('status' , 'a'); //active
        }
    },
    {
         // Class methods           
    });

    // getters & setters
    ['name', 'status', 'company'].forEach(function (item) {
            Object.defineProperty(FPProject.prototype, item, {
                get: function () {
                    return this.get(item);
                },
                set: function (aValue) {
                    return this.set(item, aValue);
                }
            });
        });

    return FPProject;
}]) 

thanks for the help!

[andrewimm]

Okay, I think I figured out what's going on. #81 was intended to fix an issue with initialize, but it broke setting attributes at init time for non-Node.js environments only.

I'll see if I can fix this and push a new version to npm

[simonaberry]

fixed in 03d14a0