Develop Reference

AngularJS : check if a model value has changed

IS there a way to check a dirty flag on the model itself, independent of the view?
I need the angular controller to know what properties have been changed, in order to only save changed variables to server.
I have implemented logic regarding if my entire form is dirty or pristine, but that is not specific enough
I could just slap a name and ng-form attribute on every input, to make it recognizable as a form in the controller, but then I end up with a controller that is strongly coupled with the view.
Another not-so appealing approach is to store the initial values that every input is bound to in a separate object, then compare the current values with the initial values to know if they have changed.
I checked Monitor specific fields for pristine/dirty form state and AngularJS : $pristine for ng-check checked inputs

One option I could think of is
As you get a model/object from service, create a replica of the model within the model and bind this new model to your view.
Add a watch on the new Model and as the model changes, use the replica to compare old and new models as follows
var myModel = {
property1: "Property1",
property2: "Property2",
array1:["1","2","3"]
}
var getModel = function(myModel){
var oldData = {};
for(var prop in myModel){
oldData.prop = myModel[prop];
}
myModel.oldData = oldData;
return myModel;
}
var getPropChanged = function(myModel){
var oldData = myModel.oldData;
for(var prop in myModel){
if(prop !== "oldData"){
if(myModel[prop] !== oldData[prop]){
return{
propChanged: prop,
oldValue:oldData[prop],
newValue:myModel[prop]
}
}
}
}
}

You may find it easiest to store and later compare against the JSON representation of the object, rather than looping through the various properties.
See Detect unsaved data using angularjs.

The class shown below may work well for your purpose, and is easily reused across pages.
At the time you load your models, you remember their original values:
$scope.originalValues = new OriginalValues();
// Set the model and remember it's value
$scope.someobject = ...
var key = 'type-' + $scope.someobject.some_unique_key;
$scope.originalValues.remember(key, $scope.someobject);
Later you can determine if it needs to be saved using:
var key = 'type-' + $scope.someobject.some_unique_key;
if ($scope.originalValues.changed(key, $scope.someobject)) {
// Save someobject
...
}
The key allows you to remember the original values for multiple models. If you only have one ng-model the key can simply be 'model' or any other string.
The assumption is that properties starting with '$' or '_' should be ignored when looking for changes, and that new properties will not be added by the UI.
Here's the class definition:
function OriginalValues() {
var hashtable = [ ]; // name -> json
return {
// Remember an object returned by the API
remember: function(key, object) {
// Create a clone, without system properties.
var newobj = { };
for (var property in object) {
if (object.hasOwnProperty(property) && !property.startsWith('_') && !property.startsWith('$')) {
newobj[property] = object[property];
}
}
hashtable[key] = newobj;
},// remember
// See if this object matches the original
changed: function(key, object) {
if (!object) {
return false; // Object does not exist
}
var original = hashtable[key];
if (!original) {
return true; // New object
}
// Compare against the original
for (var property in original) {
var changed = false;
if (object[property] !== original[property]) {
return true; // Property has changed
}
}
return false;
}// changed
}; // returned object
} // OriginalValues

Overriding a breeze entity value getter setter seems to break change tracking

I am using breeze to communicate with Web.API 2.1
In my backend I save some values as a list of strings (instead of saving one-to-many relations). In the front end I want to break these values, edit them, put them back together and persist them to the DB.
emailsString is the actual property that is persisted to the DB and exists in the model.
fullName acts as an "interface" to reading and modifying the first and last name properties.
I have the following:
function registerUserProfile(metadataStore) {
metadataStore.registerEntityTypeCtor('UserProfile', profile, profileInitializer);
function profile() {
this.fullName = '';
this.emails = [];
}
function profileInitializer(newItem) {
if (!newItem.emailsString || newItem.emailsString.length === 0) newItem.emails = [{ email: '' }];
}
Object.defineProperty(profile.prototype, 'fullName', {
get: function() {
var fn = this.firstName;
var ln = this.lastName;
return ln ? fn + ' ' + ln : fn;
},
set: function (value) {
var parts = value.split(' ');
this.firstName = parts.shift();
this.lastName = parts.shift() || '';
}
});
Object.defineProperty(profile.prototype, 'emailsString', {
get: function () {
return objectToStringArray(this.emails, 'email');
},
set: function (value) {
this.emails = stringToObjArray(value, 'email');
}
});
function objectToStringArray(objectArray, objectValueKey) {
var retVal = '';
angular.forEach(objectArray, function (obj) {
retVal += obj[objectValueKey] + ';';
});
if (retVal.length > 0)
retVal = retVal.substring(0, retVal.length - 1); //remove last ;
return retVal;
}
function stringToObjArray(stringArray, objectValueKey) {
var objArray = [];
angular.forEach(stringArray.split(';'), function (str) {
var item = {};
item[objectValueKey] = str;
objArray.push(item);
});
return objArray;
}
If I modify the emailString value and call saveChanges on breeze nothing happens. If I modify the fullName property ALL changes are detected and saveChanges sends the correct JSON object for saving (including emailString value).
From what I understand, overriding the emailString property I somehow break the change tracking for this property. fullName is not a mapped property and thus is not overriding anything so it works. Am I going the correct way? If so is there a way to notify breeze that the overriden property has changed?

In general, Breeze takes over each property on an object and insures that internally it is informed about any changes to each property. How this is done is different depending on whether you are using Angular, Knockout or Backbone ( or a custom modelLibrary adapter).
But if you plan on modifying the property yourself to do something similar you need to insure that breeze is still getting notified.
Based on your posted code I'm assuming that you are using Angular. In that case you first need to determine whether your code is getting executed before or after Breeze's code.
My guess is that if you make your changes early enough then Breeze will be able to wrap them successfully. However, if your changes occur after Breeze's then you need to insure that Breeze's code is invoked as well. Debugging into the source for this is probably your best bet. And the Breeze Angular adapter is a good source as a example of how to wrap a property that might already be wrapped with another defineProperty.

Mongoose/MongoDB result fields appear undefined in Javascript

Is there something that I'm missing that would allow item to log as an object with a parameter, but when I try to access that parameter, it's undefined?
What I've tried so far:
console.log(item) => { title: "foo", content: "bar" } , that's fine
console.log(typeof item) => object
console.log(item.title) => "undefined"
I'll include some of the context just in case it's relevant to the problem.
var TextController = function(myCollection) {
this.myCollection = myCollection
}
TextController.prototype.list = function(req, res, next) {
this.myCollection.find({}).exec(function(err, doc) {
var set = new Set([])
doc.forEach(function(item) {
console.log(item) // Here item shows the parameter
console.log(item.title) // "undefined"
set.add(item.title)
})
res.json(set.get());
})
}
Based on suggestion I dropped debugger before this line to check what item actually is via the node repl debugger. This is what I found : http://hastebin.com/qatireweni.sm
From this I tried console.log(item._doc.title) and it works just fine.. So, this seems more like a mongoose question now than anything.
There are questions similar to this, but they seem to be related to 'this' accessing of objects or they're trying to get the object outside the scope of the function. In this case, I don't think I'm doing either of those, but inform me if I'm wrong. Thanks

Solution
You can call the toObject method in order to access the fields. For example:
var itemObject = item.toObject();
console.log(itemObject.title); // "foo"
Why
As you point out that the real fields are stored in the _doc field of the document.
But why console.log(item) => { title: "foo", content: "bar" }?
From the source code of mongoose(document.js), we can find that the toString method of Document call the toObject method. So console.log will show fields 'correctly'. The source code is shown below:
var inspect = require('util').inspect;
...
/**
* Helper for console.log
*
* #api public
*/
Document.prototype.inspect = function(options) {
var isPOJO = options &&
utils.getFunctionName(options.constructor) === 'Object';
var opts;
if (isPOJO) {
opts = options;
} else if (this.schema.options.toObject) {
opts = clone(this.schema.options.toObject);
} else {
opts = {};
}
opts.minimize = false;
opts.retainKeyOrder = true;
return this.toObject(opts);
};
/**
* Helper for console.log
*
* #api public
* #method toString
*/
Document.prototype.toString = function() {
return inspect(this.inspect());
};

Make sure that you have defined title in your schema:
var MyCollectionSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
_id: String,
title: String
});

Try performing a for in loop over item and see if you can access values.
for (var k in item) {
console.log(item[k]);
}
If it works, it would mean your keys have some non-printable characters or something like this.
From what you said in the comments, it looks like somehow item is an instance of a String primitive wrapper.
E.g.
var s = new String('test');
typeof s; //object
s instanceof String; //true
To verify this theory, try this:
eval('(' + item + ')').title;
It could also be that item is an object that has a toString method that displays what you see.
EDIT: To identify these issues quickly, you can use console.dir instead of console.log, since it display an interactive list of the object properties. You can also but a breakpoint and add a watch.

Use findOne() instead of find().
The find() method returns an array of values, even if you have only one possible result, you'll need to use item[0] to get it.
The findOne method returns one object or none, then you'll be able to access its properties with no issues.

Old question, but since I had a problem with this too, I'll answer it.
This probably happened because you're using find() instead of findOne(). So in the end, you're calling a method for an array of documents instead of a document, resulting in finding an array and not a single document. Using findOne() will let you get access the object normally.

A better way to tackle an issue like this is using doc.toObject() like this
doc.toObject({ getters: true })
other options include:
getters: apply all getters (path and virtual getters)
virtuals: apply virtual getters (can override getters option)
minimize: remove empty objects (defaults to true)
transform: a transform function to apply to the resulting document before returning
depopulate: depopulate any populated paths, replacing them with their original refs (defaults to false)
versionKey: whether to include the version key (defaults to true)
so for example you can say
Model.findOne().exec((err, doc) => {
if (!err) {
doc.toObject({ getters: true })
console.log('doc _id:', doc._id) // or title
}
})
and now it will work

You don't have whitespace or funny characters in ' title', do you? They can be defined if you've quoted identifiers into the object/map definition. For example:
var problem = {
' title': 'Foo',
'content': 'Bar'
};
That might cause console.log(item) to display similar to what you're expecting, but cause your undefined problem when you access the title property without it's preceding space.

I think using 'find' method returns an array of Documents.I tried this and I was able to print the title
for (var i = 0; i < doc.length; i++) {
console.log("iteration " + i);
console.log('ID:' + docs[i]._id);
console.log(docs[i].title);
}

If you only want to get the info without all mongoose benefits, save i.e., you can use .lean() in your query. It will get your info quicker and you'll can use it as an object directly.
https://mongoosejs.com/docs/api.html#query_Query-lean
As says in docs, this is the best to read-only scenarios.

Are you initializing your object?
function MyObject()
{
this.Title = "";
this.Content = "";
}
var myo1 = new MyObject();
If you do not initialize or have not set a title. You will get undefined.

When you make tue query, use .lean() E.g
const order = await Order.findId("84578437").lean()

find returns an array of object , so to access element use indexing, like
doc[0].title

How to make Backbone.js Collection items Unique?

Say I have these Backbone.js Model:
var Truck = Backbone.Model.extend({});
var truck1 = new Truck();
var truck2 = new Truck();
truck1.set("brand", "Ford");
truck2.set("brand", "Toyota");
truck3.set("brand", "Honda");
truck4.set("brand", "Ford");
Then, let's say we have a Backbone.js Collection:
var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Truck,
comparator: function(truck) {
return truck.get("brand");
};
});
I'm a car collector, so time to add each car to my collection:
Trucks = new TruckList();
Trucks.add(truck1);
Trucks.add(truck2);
Trucks.add(truck3);
Trucks.add(truck4);
Just focusing on the brand attribute, truck4 is a duplicate of truck1. I can't have duplicates in my Collection. I need my collection to have unique values.
My question is, How do I remove duplicate items from my Backbone.js Collection?
Should I use Underscore.js for this? If so, can someone please provide a working/runnable example of how to do this.
Assume the following:
1.Collection is not sorted
Removal must be done on brand attribute value
Ajax call to populate each instance of a Truck. This means when adding to a collection, you don't have access to the Truck properties.

I would override the add method in your TruckList collection and use underscore to detect duplicates there and reject the duplicate. Something like.
TruckList.prototype.add = function(truck) {
// Using isDupe routine from #Bill Eisenhauer's answer
var isDupe = this.any(function(_truck) {
return _truck.get('brand') === truck.get('brand');
});
// Up to you either return false or throw an exception or silently ignore
// NOTE: DEFAULT functionality of adding duplicate to collection is to IGNORE and RETURN. Returning false here is unexpected. ALSO, this doesn't support the merge: true flag.
// Return result of prototype.add to ensure default functionality of .add is maintained.
return isDupe ? false : Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
}

The simplest way to achieve this is to make sure the models you are adding have unique ids. By default Backbone collections will not add models with duplicate ids.
test('Collection should not add duplicate models', 1, function() {
var model1 = {
id: "1234"
};
var model2 = {
id: "1234"
};
this.collection.add([model1, model2]);
equal(1, this.collection.length, "collection length should be one when trying to add two duplicate models");
});

Try this. It uses the any underscore method to detect the potential duplicate and then dumps out if so. Of course, you might want to dress this up with an exception to be more robust:
TruckList.prototype.add = function(newTruck) {
var isDupe = this.any(function(truck) {
return truck.get('brand') === newTruck.get('brand');
}
if (isDupe) return;
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
}
As an aside, I would probably write a function on Truck to do the dupe checking so that the collection doesn't know too much about this condition.

var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model : Truck,
// Using #Peter Lyons' answer
add : function(truck) {
// Using isDupe routine from #Bill Eisenhauer's answer
var isDupe = this.any(function(_truck) {
return _truck.get('brand') === truck.get('brand');
});
if (isDupe) {
// Up to you either return false or throw an exception or silently
// ignore
return false;
}
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
},
comparator : function(truck) {
return truck.get("brand");
} });
VassilisB's answer worked great but it will override Backbone Collection's add() behavior. Therefore, errors might come when you try to do this:
var truckList = new TruckList([{brand: 'Ford'}, {brand: 'Toyota'}]);
So, I added a bit of a checking to avoid these errors:
var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model : Truck,
// Using #Peter Lyons' answer
add : function(trucks) {
// For array
trucks = _.isArray(trucks) ? trucks.slice() : [trucks]; //From backbone code itself
for (i = 0, length = trucks.length; i < length; i++) {
var truck = ((trucks[i] instanceof this.model) ? trucks[i] : new this.model(trucks[i] )); // Create a model if it's a JS object
// Using isDupe routine from #Bill Eisenhauer's answer
var isDupe = this.any(function(_truck) {
return _truck.get('brand') === truck.get('brand');
});
if (isDupe) {
// Up to you either return false or throw an exception or silently
// ignore
return false;
}
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
}
},
comparator : function(truck) {
return truck.get("brand");
}});

I'm doing a FileUpload thing with the same issue, and here's how I did it (coffeescript):
File = Backbone.Model.extend
validate: (args) ->
result
if !#collection.isUniqueFile(args)
result = 'File already in list'
result
Files = Backbone.Collection.extend
model: File
isUniqueFile: (file) ->
found
for f in #models
if f.get('name') is file.name
found = f
break
if found
false
else
true
... and that's it. The collection object is automatically referenced in File, and Validation is automatically called when an action is invoked on the collection which in this case is Add.

Underscore.js, a pre-req for backbone.js, provides a function for this: http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/#uniq
Example:
_.uniq([1,1,1,1,1,2,3,4,5]); // returns [1,2,3,4,5]

Not sure if this is an update to either Backbone or underscore, but the where() function works in Backbone 0.9.2 to do the matching for you:
TruckList.prototype.add = function(truck) {
var matches = this.where({name: truck.get('brand')});
if (matches.length > 0) {
//Up to you either return false or throw an exception or silently ignore
return false;
}
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
}

I would prefer override the add method like this.
var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model : Truck,
// Using #Peter Lyons' answer
add : function(truck) {
// Using isDupe routine from #Bill Eisenhauer's answer
var isDupe = this.any(function(_truck) {
return _truck.get('brand') === truck.get('brand');
});
if (isDupe) {
// Up to you either return false or throw an exception or silently
// ignore
return false;
}
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
},
comparator : function(truck) {
return truck.get("brand");
} });

It seems like an elegant solution would be to use _.findWhere so long as you have some unique attribute (brand in your case). _.findWhere will return a match which is a JavaScript object and therefore truthy or undefined which is falsey. This way you can use a single if statement.
var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Truck,
add: function (truck) {
if (!this.findWhere({ brand: truck.get('brand') })) {
Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truck);
}
}
});

Try this...
var TruckList = Backbone.Collection.extend({
model: Truck,
comparator: function(truck) {
return truck.get("brand");
},
wherePartialUnique: function(attrs) {
// this method is really only tolerant of string values. you can't do partial
// matches on arrays, objects, etc. use collection.where for that
if (_.isEmpty(attrs)) return [];
var seen = [];
return this.filter(function(model) {
for (var key in attrs) {
// sometimes keys are empty. that's bad, so let's not include it in a unique result set
// you might want empty keys though, so comment the next line out if you do.
if ( _.isEmpty(model.get(key).trim()) ) return false;
// on to the filtering...
if (model.get(key).toLowerCase().indexOf(attrs[key].toLowerCase()) >= 0) {
if (seen.indexOf( model.get(key) ) >= 0 ) return false;
seen.push(model.get(key));
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
return true;
});
}
});
A few things to remember:
this is based on the backbone.collection.where method and unlike that method, it will attempt partial matches on model attributes within a collection. If you don't want that, you'll need to modify it to only match exactly. Just mimic what you see in the original method.
it should be able to accept multiple attribute matches, so if you have model attributes of foo and bar, you should be able to do collection.wherePartialUnique({foo:"you",bar:"dude"}). I have not tested that though. :) I have only ever done one key/value pair.
i also strip out empty model attributes from consideration. I don't care about them, but you might.
this method doesn't require a collection of unique model properties that the comparator depends. It's more like a sql distinct query, but I'm not an sql guy so don't shoot me if that's a bad example :)
your collection is sorted by way of the comparator function, so one of your assumptions about it not being sorted is incorrect.
I believe this also addresses all of your goals:
Collection is not sorted
Removal must be done on brand attribute value
Ajax call to populate each instance of a Truck. This means when adding to a collection, you don't have access to the Truck properties.

I'm really unhappy with the accepted answer to this solution. It contains numerous errors. I've edited the original solution to highlight my concerns, but I am proposing the following solution assuming you're OK dirtying your duplicate's id/cid property:
TruckList.prototype.add = function(truckToAdd, options) {
// Find duplicate truck by brand:
var duplicateTruck = this.find(function(truck){
return truck.get('brand') === truckToAdd.get('brand');
});
// Make truck an actual duplicate by ID:
// TODO: This modifies truckToAdd's ID. This could be expanded to preserve the ID while also taking into consideration any merge: true options.
if(duplicateTruck !== undefined){
if(duplicateTruck.has('id')){
truckToAdd.set('id', duplicateTruck.get('id'), { silent: true });
}
else {
truckToAdd.cid = duplicateTruck.cid;
}
}
// Allow Backbone to handle the duplicate instead of trying to do it manually.
return Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, truckToAdd, options);
}
The only flaw with this one is that truckToAdd's ID/cid is not preserved. However, this does preserve all of the expected functionality of adding an item to a collection including passing merge: true.

I was not satisfied with the provided answers for several reasons:
Modifying the return value of add is unexpected.
Not supporting { merge: true } is unexpected.
I've provided a solution which I believe to be more robust. This solution clones given models if they have duplicates in the collection, updates the clones' ID to match the duplicates ID, and then passes the list of duplicates and non-duplicates onto the original add method so that it can do its magic. No unintended side-effects as far as I am aware.
add: function (models, options) {
var preparedModels;
if (models instanceof Backbone.Collection) {
preparedModels = models.map(this._prepareModelToAdd.bind(this));
}
else if (_.isArray(models)) {
preparedModels = _.map(models, this._prepareModelToAdd.bind(this));
} else if (!_.isNull(models) && !_.isUndefined(models)) {
preparedModels = this._prepareModelToAdd(models);
} else {
preparedModels = models;
}
// Call the original add method using preparedModels which have updated their IDs to match any existing models.
return Backbone.Collection.prototype.add.call(this, preparedModels, options);
},
// Return a copy of the given model's attributes with the id or cid updated to match any pre-existing model.
// If no existing model is found then this function is a no-op.
// NOTE: _prepareModel is reserved by Backbone and should be avoided.
_prepareModelToAdd: function (model) {
// If an existing model was not found then just use the given reference.
var preparedModel = model;
var existingModel = this._getExistingModel(model);
// If an existing model was found then clone the given reference and update its id.
if (!_.isUndefined(existingModel)) {
preparedModel = this._clone(model);
this._copyId(preparedModel, existingModel);
}
return preparedModel;
},
// Try to find an existing model in the collection based on the given model's brand.
_getExistingModel: function (model) {
var brand = model instanceof Backbone.Model ? model.get('brand') : model.brand;
var existingModel = this._getByBrand(brand);
return existingModel;
},
_getByBrand: function (brand) {
return this.find(function (model) {
return model.get('brand') === brand;
});
},
_clone: function (model) {
// Avoid calling model.clone because re-initializing the model could cause side-effects.
// Avoid calling model.toJSON because the method may have been overidden.
return model instanceof Backbone.Model ? _.clone(model.attributes) : _.clone(model);
},
// Copy the model's id or cid onto attributes to ensure Backbone.Collection.prototype.add treats attributes as a duplicate.
_copyId: function (attributes, model) {
if (model.has('id')) {
attributes.id = model.get('id');
} else {
attributes.cid = model.cid;
}
}

Creating methods on the fly

Hi I'm trying to author a jQuery plugin and I need to have methods accessible to elements after they are initialized as that kind of object, e.g.:
$('.list').list({some options}); //This initializes .list as a list
//now I want it to have certain methods like:
$('.list').find('List item'); //does some logic that I need
I tried with
$.fn.list = function (options) {
return this.each(function() {
// some code here
this.find = function(test) {
//function logic
}
}
}
and several other different attempts, I just can't figure out how to do it.
EDIT:
I'll try to explain this better.
I'm trying to turn a table into a list, basically like a list on a computer with column headers and sortable items and everything inbetween. You initiate the table with a command like
$(this).list({
data: [{id: 1, name:'My First List Item', date:'2010/06/26'}, {id:2, name:'Second', date:'2010/05/20'}]
});
.list will make the <tbody> sortable and do a few other initial tasks, then add the following methods to the element:
.findItem(condition) will allow you to find a certain item by a condition (like findItem('name == "Second"')
.list(condition) will list all items that match a given condition
.sort(key) will sort all items by a given key
etc.
What's the best way to go about doing this?

If you want these methods to be available on any jQuery object, you will have to add each one of them to jQuery's prototype. The reason is every time you call $(".list") a fresh new object is created, and any methods you attached to a previous such object will get lost.
Assign each method to jQuery's prototype as:
jQuery.fn.extend({
list: function() { .. },
findItem: function() { .. },
sort: function() { .. }
});
The list method here is special as it can be invoked on two occasions. First, when initializing the list, and second when finding particular items by a condition. You would have to differentiate between these two cases somehow - either by argument type, or some other parameter.
You can also use the data API to throw an exception if these methods are called for an object that has not been initialized with the list plugin. When ('xyz').list({ .. }) is first called, store some state variable in the data cache for that object. When any of the other methods - "list", "findItem", or "sort" are later invoked, check if the object contains that state variable in its data cache.
A better approach would be to namespace your plugin so that list() will return the extended object. The three extended methods can be called on its return value. The interface would be like:
$('selector').list({ ... });
$('selector').list().findOne(..);
$('selector').list().findAll(..);
$('selector').list().sort();
Or save a reference to the returned object the first time, and call methods on it directly.
var myList = $('selector').list({ ... });
myList.findOne(..);
myList.findAll(..);
myList.sort();

I found this solution here:
http://www.virgentech.com/blog/2009/10/building-object-oriented-jquery-plugin.html
This seems to do exactly what I need.
(function($) {
var TaskList = function(element, options)
{
var $elem = $(element);
var options = $.extend({
tasks: [],
folders: []
}, options || {});
this.changed = false;
this.selected = {};
$elem.sortable({
revert: true,
opacity: 0.5
});
this.findTask = function(test, look) {
var results = [];
for (var i = 0,l = options.tasks.length; i < l; i++)
{
var t = options['tasks'][i];
if (eval(test))
{
results.push(options.tasks[i]);
}
}
return results;
}
var debug = function(msg) {
if (window.console) {
console.log(msg);
}
}
}
$.fn.taskList = function(options)
{
return this.each(function() {
var element = $(this);
if (element.data('taskList')) { return; }
var taskList = new TaskList(this, options);
element.data('taskList', taskList);
});
}
})(jQuery);
Then I have
$('.task-list-table').taskList({
tasks: eval('(<?php echo mysql_real_escape_string(json_encode($tasks)); ?>)'),
folders: eval('(<?php echo mysql_real_escape_string(json_encode($folders)); ?>)')
});
var taskList = $('.task-list-table').data('taskList');
and I can use taskList.findTask(condition);
And since the constructor has $elem I can also edit the jQuery instance for methods like list(condition) etc. This works perfectly.

this.each isn't needed. This should do:
$.fn.list = function (options) {
this.find = function(test) {
//function logic
};
return this;
};
Note that you'd be overwriting jQuery's native find method, and doing so isn't recommended.
Also, for what it's worth, I don't think this is a good idea. jQuery instances are assumed to only have methods inherited from jQuery's prototype object, and as such I feel what you want to do would not be consistent with the generally accepted jQuery-plugin behaviour -- i.e. return the this object (the jQuery instance) unchanged.