UMD javascript module which also works in strict mode

Question

I'm having trouble rewriting this to work in 'strict' mode. Since 'this' is not defined explicitly I'm getting jshint errors on compile. I'm thinking my brain is just not thinking abstractly enough to find a creative solution. Any help would be appreciated. Code adapted from the Universal Module Definition Github repo: https://github.com/umdjs/umd/blob/master/returnExports.js

(function (root, factory) {
    if (typeof define === 'function' && define.amd) {
    // AMD Module
        define([], factory);
    } else if (typeof module === 'object' && module.exports) {
    // Node Module
        module.exports = factory();
    } else {
    // Browser Global
        root.returnExports = factory();
  }
}(this, function () {
    return {};
}));

well... what does `this` refer to? It depends on environment right? you could just not pass that in at all, and instead refer to `window` in the else statement. — Kevin B, Aug 14 '15 at 14:35
@KevinB Correct, `this` refers to the current environment. So using `window` will allow the correct functionality in some environments but will not allow interoperability between environments, which is my goal. I've updated my question with a link to the Universal Module Definition Github project — toddsby, Aug 14 '15 at 14:38

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 14 '15 at 15:01

Looking at your code, I see that root is only actually used in the case that you are in a browser, which simplifies things.

That means that we can replace this with the following expression:

typeof window !== "undefined" ? window : undefined

This is valid in strict mode (I tried it in Node, it returns undefined, no errors), and JSHint.com allowed it.

If you need the global object in other cases as well, you can chain the ternary expressions.

UMD javascript module which also works in strict mode

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