Step by Step Number

[luckybutt1987]

hello i am new in javascript.

i need a function that works like this.

function my()
{
var ranNum= [b]some function here that give me step by step number on every call i.e on 1st call to my() it make number 1 and on second call it make number 2. i dont need random.[/b]
if (ranNum == 1){
document.write('<p>1</p>');
}
if (ranNum == 2){
document.write('<p>2</p>');
}
}

also one thing more that on the first call must number 1 should generate and on 2nd call must number 2 should generate and after a givin limit its start again from 1 .

Please help me i cant figure it out.
thank you

[daveVk]

Welcome, something like this.

var nextNumber = 1; // initial value

function my()
{
document.write('<p>'+nextNumber+'</p>');
nextNumber++;
if ( nextNumber === 11 ) { nextNumber = 1; }
}

[penders]

Or, to avoid the use of a global variable you could create a property of the function object itself to emulate a static variable (a variable that is local to the function but holds its value between function calls) - although it's not strictly local since you can read my.ranNum from outside the function.

function my() { 
  // Reset if not already defined or greater than some max limit 
  if ((typeof my.ranNum == 'undefined') || (my.ranNum > 1000)) { 
    my.ranNum = 0; 
  } 
  my.ranNum++; 
  document.writeln(my.ranNum); 
} 
my(); // 1 
my(); // 2 
my(); // 3 
document.writeln(my.ranNum); // 3

Or, you could use this.ranNum inside the function. Although this creates a global variable - a property of the window object.