Extending Object.prototype breaks JavaScript for..in loops, which are used heavily in Google Maps API v3

Question

I am developing project in meteor. I need to find object key form object value. So I tried the below code, But browser freezed.

Object.prototype.getKeyByValue = function( value ) {
    for( var prop in this ) {
        if( this.hasOwnProperty( prop ) ) {
             if( this[ prop ] === value )
                 return prop;
        }
    }
}

var test = {
   key1: 42,
   key2: 'foo'
};

test.getKeyByValue( 42 );  // returns 'key1'

console log

This site adds property <getKeyByValue> to Object.prototype. Extending Object.prototype breaks JavaScript for..in loops, which are used heavily in Google Maps API v3

Answer 1

The console message says it all doesn't it. You probaly caused an infinte loop by doing this and breaking tte for..in loop mechanics.

Extending native objects prototypes is almost always a bad idea.

If you want data objects just make a dataobject for storage of data

 function SimpleMap() { this.list = {}; } SimpleMap.prototype.getKeyByValue = function( value ) { for( var prop in this.list ) { if( this.list.hasOwnProperty( prop ) ) { if( this.list[ prop ] === value ) return prop; } } return null; } SimpleMap.prototype.size = function() { var count = 0; for( var prop in this.list ) { if( this.list.hasOwnProperty( prop ) ) { ++count; } } return count; } SimpleMap.prototype.isEmpty = function() { return this.size() === 0; } SimpleMap.prototype.empty = function() { this.list = {}; } SimpleMap.prototype.put = function(key, value) { this.list[key] = value; } SimpleMap.prototype.get = function(key) { return this.list[key]; } SimpleMap.prototype.remove = function(key) { delete this.list[key]; } var cars = new SimpleMap(); cars.put("volvo","vrooooom"); cars.put("citroen","frut frut frut"); cars.put("reliant","Darn you mr Bean"); var content = document.getElementById('frut'); content.appendChild(document.createTextNode("What does the reliant owner say? "+cars.get("reliant"))); content.appendChild(document.createElement('br')); content.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Who is vroooom? " + cars.getKeyByValue('vrooooom'))); content.appendChild(document.createElement('br')); content.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Is car storage empty? " + cars.isEmpty())); cars.empty() content.appendChild(document.createElement('br')); content.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Is the car storage empty now? " + cars.isEmpty())); 

 <div id="frut"> </div>