Implementing a Widget Property

A property usually has a getter and a setter. The getter is straightforward:

_value: '', //default value
 
getValue: function () {
 return this._value;
}

The setter is defined in a similar manner except we have to modify the DOM tree if it has been attached. A widget inherits a property called node which is assigned a reference to a DOM element if the widget has been attached to the DOM tree. If a widget is attached to DOM, this.desktop will be a reference to the desktop (Desktop) it belongs. Otherwise, it is null.

How we update depends on the DOM content. In this example, we use HTML's span to enclose the value, so we only need to change innerHTML.

setValue: function(value) {
 if (this._value != value) {
  this._value = value;
  if (this.desktop) this.$n().innerHTML = zUtl.encodeXML(value);
 }
}