findDef (find definition) doesn't always work

[jeffkenton]

Using the following code to test findDef (called jump-to-definition on the tern.js demo page):

var base = {foo: 10, foo2: { bb : "test" }};
base.foo2.bb = "hello";
base.foo = 10;

If I place the cursor on foo2 on the second line, jump-to-definition works. But if I put the cursor on foo on the third line (or bb on the second line) it does not. I have traced the code into infer.expressionType() but haven't figured out a solution myself.

[marijnh]

Definition locations are currently only tracked for variables and function/object types. base.foo is not a variable, and holds a number, so Tern currently doesn't associate a location with it.

I could store locations in property definitions, but I'm not sure how useful that would be. Thoughts?

[jeffkenton]

Thanks. That was what I was seeing during debugging, but wasn't sure why. Our testers thought it was a natural thing to try.

[petetronic]

That would explain another scenario I believe this impacts - module exports... in the code below, usages of this module cannot jump to the exported title var definition because it is assigned a String. If you assign it an Object, jump to definition works.

/*global define */

define(function (require, exports, module) {
    "use strict";

    var title = "Apples";

    function getCompleteTitle() {
        return title + " and Oranges";
    }

    exports.getCompleteTitle = getCompleteTitle;
    exports.title = title;
});

[marijnh]

See commit aa3bcb8 , which cleans up the way properties and variables have their definition tracked, and fixes this issue in the process.