JavaScript Getter and Setter

In JavaScript, there are two kinds of object properties:

• Data properties
• Accessor properties

Data Property

Here's an example of data property that we have been using in the previous tutorials.

const student = {

    // data property
    firstName: 'Monica';
};

Accessor Property

In JavaScript, accessor properties are methods that get or set the value of an object. For that, we use these two keywords:

• get - to define a getter method to get the property value
• set - to define a setter method to set the property value

JavaScript Getter

In JavaScript, getter methods are used to access the properties of an object. For example,

In the above program, a getter method getName() is created to access the property of an object.

get getName() {
    return this.firstName;
}

Note: To create a getter method, the get keyword is used.

And also when accessing the value, we access the value as a property.

student.getName;

When you try to access the value as a method, an error occurs.

console.log(student.getName()); // error

JavaScript Setter

In JavaScript, setter methods are used to change the values of an object. For example,

In the above example, the setter method is used to change the value of an object.

set changeName(newName) {
    this.firstName = newName;
}

Note: To create a setter method, the set keyword is used.

As shown in the above program, the value of firstName is Monica.

Then the value is changed to Sarah.

student.changeName = 'Sarah';

Note: Setter must have exactly one formal parameter.

JavaScript Object.defineProperty()

In JavaScript, you can also use Object.defineProperty() method to add getters and setters. For example,

In the above example, Object.defineProperty() is used to access and change the property of an object.

The syntax for using Object.defineProperty() is:

Object.defineProperty(obj, prop, descriptor)

The Object.defineProperty() method takes three arguments.

• The first argument is the objectName.
• The second argument is the name of the property.
• The third argument is an object that describes the property.