handler.defineProperty()

The handler.defineProperty() method is a trap for the [[DefineOwnProperty]] object internal method, which is used by operations such as Object.defineProperty().

Try it

Syntax

js
new Proxy(target, {
  defineProperty(target, property, descriptor) {
  }
});

Parameters

The following parameters are passed to the defineProperty() method. this is bound to the handler.

target

The target object.

property

The name or Symbol of the property whose description is to be retrieved.

descriptor

The descriptor for the property being defined or modified.

Return value

The defineProperty() method must return a Boolean indicating whether or not the property has been successfully defined.

Description

Interceptions

This trap can intercept these operations:

Or any other operation that invokes the [[DefineOwnProperty]] internal method.

Invariants

If the following invariants are violated, the trap throws a TypeError when invoked.

  • A property cannot be added, if the target object is not extensible.
  • A property cannot be added as or modified to be non-configurable, if it does not exists as a non-configurable own property of the target object.
  • A property may not be non-configurable, if a corresponding configurable property of the target object exists.
  • If a property has a corresponding target object property then Object.defineProperty(target, prop, descriptor) will not throw an exception.
  • In strict mode, a false return value from the defineProperty() handler will throw a TypeError exception.

Examples

Trapping of defineProperty

The following code traps Object.defineProperty().

js
const p = new Proxy(
  {},
  {
    defineProperty(target, prop, descriptor) {
      console.log(`called: ${prop}`);
      return true;
    },
  },
);

const desc = { configurable: true, enumerable: true, value: 10 };
Object.defineProperty(p, "a", desc); // "called: a"

When calling Object.defineProperty() or Reflect.defineProperty(), the descriptor passed to defineProperty() trap has one restriction—only following properties are usable (non-standard properties will be ignored):

  • enumerable
  • configurable
  • writable
  • value
  • get
  • set
js
const p = new Proxy(
  {},
  {
    defineProperty(target, prop, descriptor) {
      console.log(descriptor);
      return Reflect.defineProperty(target, prop, descriptor);
    },
  },
);

Object.defineProperty(p, "name", {
  value: "proxy",
  type: "custom",
}); // { value: 'proxy' }

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-proxy-object-internal-methods-and-internal-slots-defineownproperty-p-desc

Browser compatibility

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See also