The following rules apply to the basic syntax of JavaScript:
- JavaScript is case-sensitive.
- Statements should end in a semicolon (;).
- Variables:
- Must be defined before being used. The variable name can contain A – Z, a – z, underscore or digits and must start with a letter or an underscore (“_”).
- Assume the type of the data that is put into the variable. The data type does not have to be explicitly defined
- Are global variables when defined outside of a function, and are available anywhere in the current script context. Variables created within a function are local variables, and can be used only within that function.
- Strings have to be enclosed in quotation marks, either a single or double. For example:
print(”Hello ” + ‘world ‘+ Country.name)produces the following: Hello world US. - Special characters that are displayed literally must be preceded by a backslash character (\). Quotes within a string can be entered preceded by a backslash as well. See the Core Language Features – Literals – “String literals” section for more information in http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Guide.
- To increment a variable, such as a = a + 1, you can use a++. You can decrement a variable in the same way, as in a–.
- To enter comments in the script, use “//” to start a single line comment or the combination of “/*” and “*/” to enclose a multi-line comment.
- Values that are not defined as a data type (string, number, Boolean) may be defined as an object, such as Date, Array, Boolean, String, and Number. As an example you could define:
var ArrayList=new Array(”test”, ” this”, ” list”);. - Dots in Service Manager field names must be replaced by an underscore (_) in JavaScript. For example contact.name becomes contact_name.
- Service Manager field names that are reserved words in JavaScript have to be preceded by an underscore, such as “_class” for the “class” field.