IE8 errors when defining a Javascript object?

Question

I knew IE8 was a pain, but I have never seen it give me such trouble. All I am trying to do is define a Javascript object and it causes an error, stopping all scripting from working on the page.

The error is "Expected identifier, string or number" and indicates that the issue happens where I define the property "class" below. I have seen countless scripts define objects this way, so why does IE8 vomit on this?

I isolated the offending code to this. Placing this in the head of an HTML page by itself and running it in IE8 will cause the issue I am seeing.

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
var atts = {class: "trigger"};
</script>

IE is horrible for "reserved words" that aren't. try changing class to something else temporarily, e.g. "foo", and see what happens. — Marc B, Jan 14 '13 at 17:37

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 14 '13 at 17:37

6

It is because class is a reserved keyword. Try putting quotes around it 'class'

edited Jan 14 '13 at 17:37

Matt

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answered Jan 14 '13 at 17:37

PickYourPoison

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I've seen many plugins need classes. The common method is to name it `klass`. – Eli Gassert Jan 14 '13 at 17:37
`className` is another commonly used one (Backbone) – jrz Sep 11 '15 at 11:23

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '13 at 17:40

6

Define using appropriate data type by enclosing in quotes, "class"

answered Jan 14 '13 at 17:40

Narayana Nagireddi

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 17 '14 at 04:39

0

in addtion to @PickYourPoison answer you can also use this trick:

var atts= {};
atts["class"] = "LOL";

answered Dec 17 '14 at 04:39

Fareed Alnamrouti

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IE8 errors when defining a Javascript object?

3 Answers3

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