Is it possible to get the class or class name from inside a function?

Question

I'm trying to write debugging tools and I would like to be able to get the class name of the caller. Basically, caller ID.

So if I have a method like so, I want to get the class name:

public function myExternalToTheClassFunction():void {
   var objectFunction:String = argument.caller; // is functionInsideOfMyClass
   var objectFunctionClass:Object = argument.caller.this;
   trace(object); // [Class MyClass]
}

public class MyClass {

   public function functionInsideOfMyClass {
       myExternalToTheClassFunction();
   }
}

Is there anything like this in JavaScript or ActionScript3? FYI AS3 is based on and in most cases interchangeable with JS.

Take a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1249531/how-to-get-a-javascript-objects-class, might help — Matthew Herbst, Dec 31 '15 at 23:33
Javascript doesn't have `public function` or type declarations after variables. — Barmar, Dec 31 '15 at 23:46
@Barmar Yep, you can ignore those. What I'm trying to get is the class the caller is in from a function external to that class. — 1.21 gigawatts, Dec 31 '15 at 23:47

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 04 '16 at 19:30

For debugging purposes you can create an error then inspect the stack trace:

var e:Error = new Error();
trace(e.getStackTrace());

Gives you:

 Error
     at com.xyz::OrderEntry/retrieveData()[/src/com/xyz/OrderEntry.as:995]
     at com.xyz::OrderEntry/init()[/src/com/xyz/OrderEntry.as:200]
     at com.xyz::OrderEntry()[/src/com/xyz/OrderEntry.as:148]

You can parse out the "caller" method from there.

Note that in some non-debug cases getStackTrace() may return null.

ElChiniNet · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-01T20:56:59.970

0

Taken from the documentation:

Unlike previous versions of ActionScript, ActionScript 3.0 has no arguments.caller property. To get a reference to the function that called the current function, you must pass a reference to that function as an argument. An example of this technique can be found in the example for arguments.callee.

ActionScript 3.0 includes a new ...(rest) keyword that is recommended instead of the arguments class.

Try to pass the Class name as argument:

Class Code:

package{

    import flash.utils.getQualifiedClassName;

    public class MyClass {

        public function functionInsideOfMyClass {

            myExternalToTheClassFunction( getQualifiedClassName(this) );

        }

    }

}

External Code:

public function myExternalToTheClassFunction(classname:String):void {

    trace(classname); // MyClass

}

edited Jan 01 '16 at 20:56

answered Jan 01 '16 at 18:58

ElChiniNet

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FYI I tried passing `this` to the static method and that threw errors as well. It doesn't seem to throw any compiler errors if I create a variable, `var object:Object = this;` and pass `object` but didn't run it. – 1.21 gigawatts Jan 02 '16 at 09:08
1

Yes, this is the expected behaviour. Take a look at this link and search the static method part. http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ActionScript/3.0_ProgrammingAS3/WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d118a9b90204-7f30.html – ElChiniNet Jan 02 '16 at 11:47

Is it possible to get the class or class name from inside a function?

2 Answers2