Calling a function in a jquery plugin - javascript

I am trying to get the object of a jquery plug in I'm making use of. I want to eventually be able to add features to the plugin to suit my needs. I am currently having a problem with calling one the functions I defined in the plug in. Here is the skeleton of the code I have:
;(function($) {
$.fn.myPlugin = function(o) {
.//Implementations here
.
.
var Ex = function(e){
//implementations here
};
};
})(jQuery);
The reason I want this function inside is because I want access to some of the variables defined. I would like be able to call function Ex from my html file but whatever I tried so far hasn't worked. An example of what I have tried is:
$.fn.myPlugin.Ex("x");
No return statement anywhere. I'm not great at javascript or jquery but I'm trying to learn. Any help in explaining what I'm doing wrong is appreciated.

Your plugin design pattern is wrong.
To achieve what you want, you can use this common one :
;(function($){
var methods = {
init: function() {
//stuff
},
function1: function() {
//stuff
},
function2: function(opt) {
//stuff
}
};
$.fn.myPlugin= function(method) {
if (methods[method]) {
return methods[method].apply(this, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,1));
} else if (typeof method === 'object' || ! method) {
return methods.init.apply(this, arguments);
}
};
})(jQuery);
With this structure :
$.fn.myPlugin(); will call init()
$.fn.myPlugin("function1"); will call function1()
$.fn.myPlugin("function2",option_exemple); will call function2(opt)
Disclaimer : I use this very often, but it's not mine. Can't remember where I found it*.
edit : http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Authoring , thanks to Beetroot-Beetroot for the reminder !

Related

jQuery extension, can I make this code more elegant?

I was writing some custom jQuery plugins and I have the following code
that extends the jQuery:
(function ($) {
$.fn.extend({
pluginOne: function () { return this.each(pluginOneFN) },
pluginTwo: function () { return this.each(pluginTwoFN) },
pluginThree: function (p1, p2) {
return this.each(function() {
pluginThreeFN.call(this, p1, p2);
});
}
});
})(jQuery);
Now the pluginOne and pluginTwo are OK but pluginThree looks messy.
The pluginThree requires some parameters, and I was wondering
is there shorter or more elegant way to write this piece of extension code for plugin 3?
Only thing I can think of is a little reusability improvement. You could introduce a function to initialize plugins in general, supporting arguments.
(function ($) {
$.fn.initializePlugin = function(pluginFn, args) {
return this.each(function() {
pluginFn.apply(this, args);
});
};
$.fn.extend({
pluginOne: function () { return this.each(pluginOneFN) },
pluginTwo: function () { return this.each(pluginTwoFN) },
pluginThree: function () { return this.initializePlugin(pluginThreeFN, arguments) }
});
})(jQuery);
Note that I haven't tested this code, it's only for demonstrating the idea.
Also, if I were creating plugins, I would follow the existing convention of using only one argument, which is some kind of options object at initializtion, or a string for calling methods. Your method cannot support this, neither can this in my answer. You can check bootstrap's source code for a good skeleton implementation of such a plugin system.

Function/dom calls in javascript library

I'm trying to create a javascript library like jquery. I get how to create a normal library like so:
var lib=lib||(function () {
function privateFunction (alert ("hi");){};
return {
exampleAlert: function(input){
alert(input);
}
}
})();
Calling it like so:
lib.exampleAlert ("test");
This is like jquery
$.ajax(stuffhere);
My question revolves around jquery. It can call the dom like $('.class').hide() and have functions like $.ajax(stuffhere); in the same library. How can I do dom calls and a regular function call like the ajax one in the above example library?
Thanks in advance!! Have searched more days than I would like to admit.
DOM has nothing to do here, it is just up to jQuery implementation.
If you ask about having both lib() and lib.func() calls, then you can do the following to support both function types at the same time:
var lib = function(sel) {
return {
object: document.querySelector(sel),
text: function(val) {
if (val === undefined) {
return this.object.innerText;
} else {
this.object.innerText = val;
}
}
};
};
lib.ajax = function() {
console.log("AJAX imitation");
};
Now, you can do both:
lib("body").text("hi"); // jQuery-style setter
var text = lib("body").text(); // jQuery-style getter, returns "hi"
and
lib.ajax();
jQuery works exactly in the same way, but hundred times more complex.

jQuery expose plugin functions

One of our old developers has built a jQuery plugin like so:
jQuery.fn.limelight = function(options) {
/*Skipped code here*/
jQuery(".spotlight-btn.back a").click( function (e) {
if(lastSelectedCastIndex - 1 >= 0) {
removeFromSpotlight();
lastSelectedCastIndex--;
e.preventDefault();
$.address.value(lastSelectedCastIndex);
ca$t.scroll(jQuery.jcarousel.intval(lastSelectedCastIndex), true);
switchTo(lastSelectedCastIndex);
}
return false;
});
function switchTo(i)
{
ca$t.scroll(jQuery.jcarousel.intval(i), true);
$.address.title($("#title_text").text());
putInSpotlight();
}
};
I've not done any jQuery plugin programming, but would like to expose the switchTo function so it can be called anywhere. How would I be able to do this?
This is probably overkill for your purposes, but it doesn't seem like your developer really understood or grasped the purpose of jQuery plugins.
You want a plugin to be somewhat generic where it can accept a selector and apply events, styles, dynamic html, whatever to the item(s) found in the selector. It looks like he wrote a "plugin" for a single purpose... maybe just to maintain some sort of organization.
Most plugins follow a form similar to this:
; (function ($) {
$.fn.limelight = function (method) {
var methods = {
//Initialize the plugin
init: function (options) {
return this.each(function () {
//Refactor to conform to plugin style
// $(this).click( function (e) {
// if(lastSelectedCastIndex - 1 >= 0) {
// removeFromSpotlight();
// lastSelectedCastIndex--;
// e.preventDefault();
// $.address.value(lastSelectedCastIndex);
// ca$t.scroll(jQuery.jcarousel.intval(lastSelectedCastIndex), true);
// switchTo(lastSelectedCastIndex);
// }
// return false;
// });
});
},
switchTo: function (i) {
//Refactor to conform to plugin style
// ca$t.scroll(jQuery.jcarousel.intval(i), true);
// $.address.title($("#title_text").text());
// putInSpotlight();
}
};
if (methods[method]) {
return methods[method].apply(this, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1));
} else if (typeof method === 'object' || !method) {
return methods.init.apply(this, arguments);
} else {
$.error('Method ' + method + ' does not exist on jQuery.limelight');
}
};
})(jQuery);
//Following this pattern you'd be able to call your plugin like this.
$(".spotlight-btn.back a").limelight();
$(".spotlight-btn.back a").limelight("switchTo", 0);
Here's the official documentation on the subject: http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Authoring
Paste the switchTo() function within your <script></script> tags to make it a generally-available function.
You can use Jquery UI Widget Factory to create stateful plugins, which allows you to expose public methods (still avoiding global window scope) to be used even after the plugin has been instantiated
https://learn.jquery.com/plugins/stateful-plugins-with-widget-factory/

How can I emulate the Jquery UI API?

I've written basic jQuery plugins before, but I'm struggling to get my head around something more complex. I'm looking to emulate the API of jQuery UI, which works like this:
$('#mydiv').sortable({name: 'value'}); // constructor, options
$('#mydiv').sortable("serialize"); // call a method, with existing options
$('#mydiv').sortable('option', 'axis', 'x'); // get an existing option
I've tried the following:
(function($){
$.fn.myPlugin = function(cmd){
var config = {
default: 'defaultVal'
};
if(typeof cmd === 'object'){
$.extend(config, cmd);
}
function _foo(){
console.log(config.default);
}
if(cmd==='foo'){
return _foo();
}
this.each(function(){
// do default stuff
});
}
})(jQuery);
$('#myElement').myPlugin({default: 'newVal'});
$('#myElement').myPlugin('foo');
What I would like to see here is 'newval' being logged, but I'm seeing 'defaultVal' instead; the plugin is being called and started from scratch every time I call .myPlugin() on the element.
I've also tried using _foo.call(this) and some other variants. No joy.
In a way, I understand why this is happening, but I know that it must be possible to do it the same way as jQuery UI. I just can't see how!
(I appreciate that jQuery UI uses the widget factory to handle all of this, but I don't want to make that a requirement for the plugin.)
Perhaps what you want is this...
(function($){
var config = {
default: 'defaultVal'
};
$.fn.myPlugin = function(cmd){
if(typeof cmd === 'object'){
$.extend(config, cmd);
}
function _foo(){
console.log(config.default);
}
if(cmd==='foo'){
return _foo();
}
this.each(function(){
// do default stuff
});
}
})(jQuery);
$('#myElement').myPlugin({default: 'newVal'});
$('#myElement').myPlugin('foo');
Move the config variable outside the myPlugin function. This change will cause config to be initialized only once: when your plugin function is created.
You're declaring config during the function call rather than as a closure used by it. Try this:
(function($){
var config = {
default: 'defaultVal'
};
$.fn.myPlugin = function(cmd){
if(typeof cmd === 'object'){
$.extend(config, cmd);
}
function _foo(){
console.log(config.default);
}
if(cmd==='foo'){
return _foo();
}
this.each(function(){
// do default stuff
});
}
})(jQuery);
$('#myElement').myPlugin({default: 'newVal'});
$('#myElement').myPlugin('foo');
In addition, you could look into the jQuery data API for caching data, especially if you aren't going to have just one instance per page.

How do I create methods for an HTML element?

I'm trying to create a simple, small and basic javascript framework just for learning purposes.
But the thing is that i'm allready stuck at the very basics.
I'm trying to do something like this:
$('testdiv').testFunction();
And the code i've written for that:
var elementID;
var smallFramework = {
$:function(id) {
this.elementID = id;
},
testFunction:function() {
alert(this.elementID);
}
};
window.$ = smallFramework.$;
But in return I get:
$('testdiv) is undefined
Can anyone help me with this small and hopefully easy question?
To get the behavior you're expecting, you need the $ function to return an object with a method named testFunction.
Try:
var smallFramework = // an object for namespacing
{
$:function(id) // the core function - returns an object wrapping the id
{
return { // return an object literal
elementID: id, // holding the id passed in
testFunction: function() // and a simple method
{
alert(this.elementID);
}
};
}
};
Of course, there are many other ways to achieve the behavior you desire.
If you're trying to add methods to an HTML element you could do something along these lines.
$ = function( elementId ) {
var element = document.getElementById( elementId );
element.testFunction = function(){
alert( this.id );
return this; // for chaining
}
return element;
}
$('test').testFunction();
Try
smallFramework.$('testdiv');
instead. According to the code you posted, that's where your $ function ended up.
Or alternatively, it looks like you're trying to replicate something like jQuery. You might want to try something like this.
var $ = smallFramework = (function () {
var f =
{
find:function(id) {
f.elementID = id;
return f; //every function should return f, for chaining to work
},
testFunction:function() {
alert(f.elementID);
return f;
}
}
return f.find //the find function will be assigned to $.
//and also assigned to smallFramework.
//the find function returns f, so you get access to testFunction via chaining
// like $("blah").testFunction()
})() //note this function gets called immediately.
this code may look confusing to someone new to JavaScript because it depends heavily on the concept of closures. I suggest that if this doesn't make sense, spend some time at Douglas Crockford's JavaScript website. This is important because the code above will bite if you happen to use this in the find function because this won't be bound to f, as you may expect it to be when you use it from $ or smallFramework.

Categories

Resources