Steve Fenton

Using a Proxy to Intercept Methods

This is just a short note on how to use an ECMAScript Proxy to intercept methods. There are plenty of examples that intercept properties, but examples with methods seem absent currently.

For demonstration purposes, we’re going to intercept a very famous method. The console log method takes any number of arguments of any type. This is the call we’re going to intercept:

console.log('Test', 1);

To replace the original, we’ll create a new Proxy. This requires the original object, and a handler that will be called in its place. The proxy pretty much always looks the same – and object with a get function.

The obj parameter is the original object. That means you can supply original values back should you want to, for example if you need to pass back values from the original object. The prop parameter is the name of the property that has been requested. This will typically be a string, but remember it can also be a symbol. As I know the log method name will be a string, I can check for it with a conditional statement.

const handler = {
    get: function (obj, prop) {

        if (prop === 'log') {
            return function (...arg: any[]) {
                alert(JSON.stringify(arg));
            };
        }
        
        return prop in obj ? obj[prop] : undefined;
    },

};

const oldConsole = console;
console = new Proxy(oldConsole, handler);

We have also cheekily replaced the original console with the proxy here. That means all exiting calls will now be routed to the handler and instead of logging to the console, it now alerts when you call: console.log('Test', 1);.

Filter image from MaxPixel CC0 Public Domain