Solve - Cannot set Property which has only a Getter in JS

Solve - Cannot set Property which has only a Getter #

The "Cannot set property which has only a getter" error occurs when trying to set a new value to a property, for which only a getter is defined. To solve the error, define a setter for the specific property.

Copied!
class Person {
  constructor(first, last) {
    this.first = first;
    this.last = last;
  }

  // 👇️ getter
  get name() {
    return `${this.first} ${this.last}`;
  }
}

const p1 = new Person('John', 'Smith');

// ✅ Use getter
console.log(p1.name);

// ⛔️ Cannot set property name of #<Person> which has only a getter
p1.name = 'John Doe';

We created a class in which we defined a name getter.

The getter allows us to get the full name by accessing the name property on an instance of the class.

We then attempt to set the value for the name property on the class, however we haven't defined a setter for the property.

To solve the "Cannot set property which has only a getter" error, you have to define a setter for the property you are trying to update. The set syntax allows us to specify a function to be ran when the specific property is set.

Copied!
class Person {
  constructor(first, last) {
    this.first = first;
    this.last = last;
  }

  get name() {
    return `${this.first} ${this.last}`;
  }

  // 👇️ Define setter
  set name(name) {
    this.first = name.split(' ')[0];
    this.last = name.split(' ')[1];
  }
}

const p1 = new Person('John', 'Smith');

// ✅ Use setter
p1.name = 'James Doe';

console.log(p1.name); // 👉️ "James Doe"

We defined a setter for the name property. This means that any time we try to set the property on an instance, the setter method will be ran.

We updated the values for the first and last class properties in the method.

Further Reading #

• How to get the Class Name of an Object in JavaScript
• How to get an Object's Class in JavaScript
• Check if Object is NOT instanceof Class in JavaScript
• Update an Object's Property in Array of Objects in JS
• Get an Object's Key by its Value using JavaScript
• How to get the Length of an Object in JavaScript
• How to Initialize an Array of Objects in JavaScript