how to access variable from another .js using .js?

Question

I want to use within a js file a variable that belongs to another js file. ie I want to run file1.js using a file2.js variable.

Does anyone know how to do this?
is it possible to access a variable from another .js file?

file1.js:

oScript = document.createElement('script');
oScript.src = 'file2.js';
oScript.type = 'text/javascript';
document.body.appendChild(oScript);
console.log(message);

file2.js:

var message = [{"id":"01", "name":"Text A", "text":"more text"},{"id":"02", "name":"Text B", "text":"more text"}];

This code should work fine. message looks like a global variable, so it should be readable after your insert the script tag. What issue are you having? — Andy Ray
– Andy Ray, Commented Dec 31, 2017 at 19:51
You could create global variable that can be accessed by window.variableName — Sergey
– Sergey, Commented Dec 31, 2017 at 20:05

AlliterativeAlice · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-31 19:56:27Z

1

You need to ensure console.log(message) isn't run until after file2 is loaded. I suggest using AJAX instead of trying to inject the file into your HTML.

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('GET', 'file2.js');
xhr.onload = function() {
    eval(xhr.responseText);
    console.log(message);
    window.message = message; //Include this if you need message to be a global variable
};
xhr.send();

However, I highly recommend using a JSON file to store the value of the message variable and loading that with ajax, rather than using JavaScript code.

answered Dec 31, 2017 at 19:56

AlliterativeAlice

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Alexander O'Mara · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-31 20:02:56Z

0

You can do this with just a script tag if you use the load event:

oScript = document.createElement('script');
oScript.src = 'file2.js';
oScript.type = 'text/javascript';
oScript.onload = function() {
    console.log(message);
};
document.body.appendChild(oScript);

Or:

oScript = document.createElement('script');
oScript.src = 'file2.js';
oScript.type = 'text/javascript';
oScript.addEventListener('load', function() {
    console.log(message);
});
document.body.appendChild(oScript);

answered Dec 31, 2017 at 20:02

Alexander O'Mara

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1 Comment

Oscar aguiar Over a year ago

oh! thank you so much. I was able to use your example and make my script work. Thank you very much for your explanation.

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