Property Access#

Property access is syntax for getting and setting “elements” of data structures such as objects, arrays, and strings.

The specific behavior of property access varies depending on the type of container providing the property.

Here are examples of property access for each container type:

Basic Syntax of Property Access#

container.key gets a property of the container.

container.key = value sets a property of the container.

Overriding Property Access#

These operations can be customized by overriding the _._ method and _._=_ method of container.

$ xa -q '
  globalVariableTable := {}
  DelegatedObject := {
    `_._` : this, key        -> globalVariableTable."item_$key"
    `_._=_`: this, key, value -> globalVariableTable."item_$key" = value
  }
  delegatedObject := DelegatedObject{}

  delegatedObject.a = 100
  delegatedObject.b = delegatedObject.a + 23

  OUT << "globalVariableTable = $globalVariableTable"
  OUT << "delegatedObject = $delegatedObject"
'
# globalVariableTable = {item_a:100;item_b:123}
# delegatedObject = {}