Using Function.toString to Troubleshoot JavaScript Issues
Sometimes JavaScript bugs can be the most frustrating damn things in the world. That problem is compounded when a JavaScript file is created from multiple files on the server side or you simply aren't familiar with some of the code used in a project (i.e. troubleshooting an issue with a JavaScript framework you aren't familiar with. Sometimes just identifying the code within a function is enough to point you in the correct direction. So to quickly check the code for a given function, I'll type into the console something like:
myProblemFunction.toString();
That would return something like:
function myProblemFunction() {
/* bunch of code here */
some.problem().code;
/* bunch of code here */
}
Awesome. Now that I can get the function code at a glance, I can more easily browse through what could be causing the issue and see what needs to be changed. Usually any hint you can get toward finding where the issue resides is a big help!
![Designing for Simplicity]()
Before we get started, it's worth me spending a brief moment introducing myself to you. My name is Mark (or @integralist if Twitter happens to be your communication tool of choice) and I currently work for BBC News in London England as a principal engineer/tech...
![7 Essential JavaScript Functions]()
I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent. Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...
![Google Font API]()
Google recently debuted a new web service called the Font API. Google's Font API provides developers a means by which they may quickly and painlessly add custom fonts to their website. Let's take a quick look at the ways by which the Google Font...
![MooTools HTML Police: dwMarkupMarine]()
We've all inherited rubbish websites from webmasters that couldn't master valid HTML. You know the horrid markup: paragraph tags with align attributes and body tags with background attributes. It's almost a sin what they do. That's where dwMarkupMarine comes in.