Global variables in Javascript across multiple files

The variable can be declared in the .js file and simply referenced in the HTML file. My version of helpers.js:

var myFunctionWasCalled = false;

function doFoo()
{
    if (!myFunctionWasCalled) {
        alert("doFoo called for the very first time!");
        myFunctionWasCalled = true;
    }
    else {
        alert("doFoo called again");
    }
}

And a page to test it:

<html>
<head>
<title>Test Page</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/>
<script type="text/javascript" src="helpers.js"></script>
</head>

<body>


<p>myFunctionWasCalled is
<script type="text/javascript">document.write(myFunctionWasCalled);</script>
</p>

<script type="text/javascript">doFoo();</script>

<p>Some stuff in between</p>

<script type="text/javascript">doFoo();</script>

<p>myFunctionWasCalled is
<script type="text/javascript">document.write(myFunctionWasCalled);</script>
</p>

</body>
</html>

You'll see the test alert() will display two different things, and the value written to the page will be different the second time.


You need to declare the variable before you include the helpers.js file. Simply create a script tag above the include for helpers.js and define it there.

<script type='text/javascript' > 
  var myFunctionTag = false; 
</script>
<script type='text/javascript' src='js/helpers.js'></script>     
... 
<script type='text/javascript' > 
  // rest of your code, which may depend on helpers.js
</script>

Tags:

Javascript

Scope

Global

Global Variables

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