Develop Reference

How to assign a function to a object method in javascript?

I'd like to 'proxy' (not sure if that's the term at all) a function inside a function object for easy calling.
Given the following code
function Soldier() {
this.el = $("<div></div>").addClass('soldier');
this.pos = this.el.position; // $(".soldier").position(), or so I thought
}
In the console:
s = new Soldier();
$("#gamemap").append(s.el); // Add the soldier to the game field
s.pos === s.el.position // this returns true
s.el.position() // Returns Object {top: 0, left: 0}
s.pos() // Returns 'undefined'
What am I doing wrong in this scenario and is there an easy way to achieve my goal (s.pos() to return the result of s.el.position()) ?
I thought about s.pos = function() { return s.el.position(); } but looks a bit ugly and not apropriate. Also I'd like to add more similar functions and the library will become quite big to even load.

When you're calling s.pos(), its this context is lost.
You can simulate this behavior using call():
s.pos.call(s); // same as s.pos()
s.pos.call(s.el); // same as s.el.position()
This code is actually ok:
s.pos = function() { return s.el.position(); }
An alternative is using bind():
s.pos = s.el.position.bind(el);
You can use the prototype, that way the functions will not be created separately for every object:
Soldier.prototype.pos = function(){ return this.el.position(); }

I'd recommend to use the prototype:
Soldier.prototype.pos = function() { return this.el.position(); };
Not ugly at all, and quite performant actually.
If you want to directly assign it in the constructor, you'll need to notice that the this context of a s.pos() invocation would be wrong. You therefore would need to bind it:
…
this.pos = this.el.position.bind(this.el);

It's because the context of execution for position method has changed. If you bind the method to work inside the element context it will work.
JS Fiddle
function Soldier() {
this.el = $("<div></div>").addClass('soldier');
this.pos = this.el.position.bind(this.el);
}
var s = new Soldier();
$("#gamemap").append(s.el);
console.log(s.pos());

Bind Javascript Objects to HTML elements

I just want to share an experience with you all. So my problem was, that I came across the problem of binding javascript back-end objects to HTML front-end elements. Now, i have searched through google and read some stackoverflow articles about this problem, and many posts answer to this is to use jQuery.data(), however in my first attempts I did not succeed because there was something I did not know about jQuery's object creation method. My problem was that, I wanted to retrieve the stored data outside of the scope where i stored this, and jQuery always(i think) returns a new object reference when i write jQuery('selectorID'). So for example:
var ref1 = $('#myID');
var ref2 = $('#myID');
if(ref1 == ref2)
{
alert(true);
}
else
{
alert(false);
}
Will always alert false. However replacing the jQuery method with javascript's built-in getElementById() we will get the same reference! Hence the following code will always alert true!
var ref1 = document.getElementById("myID");
var ref2 = document.getElementById("myID");
if(ref1 == ref2)
{
alert(true);
}
else
{
alert(false);
}
The little morale of my story is that if you want to globally bind javascript objects to HTML elements and are thinking about using jQuery's data() method, store the data on the reference returned by javascript's built-in getElementById(). That way, whereever you retrieve the reference with getElementByID, you will always get the same reference and can get the data from it using jQuery's data() method.
My Questions:
Is my logic of thinking ok?
Is there a better way to globally bind javascript objects to HTML elements?

Whatever the reason behind the code you mention not working was, it was decidedly not the fact that jQuery gives you a new collection for every query. Given the HTML:
<div id="somediv"> foo bar </div>
the following Javascript works as expected:
var $ref1 = $('#somediv');
var $ref2 = $('#somediv');
console.log("$ref1:", $ref1);
console.log("$ref2:", $ref2);
// compare the collections / references
console.log("$ref1 == $ref2:", $ref1 == $ref2); // => false
console.log("$ref1 === $ref2", $ref1 === $ref2); // => false
// compare the referred DOM elements themselves
console.log("$ref1[0] == $ref2[0]:", $ref1[0] == $ref2[0]); // => true
console.log("$ref1[0] === $ref2[0]", $ref1[0] === $ref2[0]); // => true
$ref1.data('somedata', 'SOMEDATA');
console.log('$ref1->somedata:', $ref1.data('somedata')); // => SOMEDATA
console.log('$ref2->somedata:', $ref2.data('somedata')); // => SOMEDATA

The way I do it is something like this.
var ref1 = $('a');
var ref2 = $('div');
var equal = ref1.length === ref2.length;
if (equal) {
$.each(ref1, function(i) {
equal = equal && ref1[i] === ref2[i];
if (!equal) {
return false;
}
});
}
if (equal) {
alert(true);
} else {
alert(false);
}

ref1[0] === ref2[0] // Should return true
I think jQuery's instances are unique, so you can compare its matched items, which should be just one element when you reference an ID.
You could do something like this:
var ref1 = $('#myID')[0];
var ref2 = $('#myID')[0];

I dive into jQuery's source code, and find the constructor of jQuery. As follow:
// Define a local copy of jQuery
jQuery = function( selector, context ) {
// The jQuery object is actually just the init constructor 'enhanced'
return new jQuery.fn.init( selector, context, rootjQuery );
}
Whenever you use ref2 = $('#myID') to retrive a corresponding jQuery element, jQuery will create a new object to you. So the == will return false to you coz' the two element is completely different to js object engine.
Seems getElementById method is more fit your need. But I don't know how js engine perform its getElementById method.

how do I override appendChild()?

appendChild = function(message) {
console.log("intercepted!");
}
using the code above does not seem to work.
Anyone knows?

What you might want to replace is Element.prototype.appendChild but it's probably a bad idea.
This example adds the text intercepted in the inserted element :
var f = Element.prototype.appendChild;
Element.prototype.appendChild = function(){f.apply(this, arguments);arguments[0].innerHTML="!Intercepted!"; };
document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("div"));
Demonstration

It is ill advised to overwrite native functions, but if you do it than make sure you return the appended element as well to prevent problems with code that uses the returned value of the native "appendChild" function:
window.callbackFunc = function(elem, args) {
// write some logic here
}
window.f = Element.prototype.appendChild;
Element.prototype.appendChild = function() {
window.callbackFunc.call(this, arguments);
return window.f.apply(this, arguments);
};

How can I refresh a stored and snapshotted jquery selector variable

I ran yesterday in a problem with a jquery-selector I assigned to a variable and it's driving me mad.
Here is a jsfiddle with testcase:
assign the .elem to my obj var
log both lengths to the console. Result => 4
Remove #3 from the DOM
log obj to the console => the removed #3 is still there and the length is still 4.
I figured out that jquery query is snapshotted? to the variable and can't?won't? be updated
log .elem to the console.. yep Result => 3 and the #3 is gone
Now I update .elem with a new width of 300
logging obj & obj.width gives me 300.. So the snapshot has been updated ? What's interesting is that 3 of the 4 divs have the new width, but the removed #3 doesn't...
Another test: Adding a li element to the domtree and logging obj and .elem.
.elem does have the new li and obj doesn't, because it's still the old snapshot
http://jsfiddle.net/CBDUK/1/
Is there no way to update this obj with the new content?
I don't want to make a new obj, because in my application there is a lot information saved in that object, I don't want to destroy...

Yeah, it's a snapshot. Furthermore, removing an element from the page DOM tree isn't magically going to vanish all references to the element.
You can refresh it like so:
var a = $(".elem");
a = $(a.selector);
Mini-plugin:
$.fn.refresh = function() {
return $(this.selector);
};
var a = $(".elem");
a = a.refresh();
This simple solution doesn't work with complex traversals though. You are going to have to make a parser for the .selector property to refresh the snapshot for those.
The format is like:
$("body").find("div").next(".sibling").prevAll().siblings().selector
//"body div.next(.sibling).prevAll().siblings()"
In-place mini-plugin:
$.fn.refresh = function() {
var elems = $(this.selector);
this.splice(0, this.length);
this.push.apply( this, elems );
return this;
};
var a = $(".elem");
a.refresh() //No assignment necessary

I also liked #Esailija solution, but seems that this.selector has some bugs with filter.
So I modified to my needs, maybe it will be useful to someone
This was for jQuery 1.7.2 didn`t test refresh on filtered snapshots on higher versions
$.fn.refresh = function() { // refresh seletor
var m = this.selector.match(/\.filter\([.\S+\d?(\,\s2)]*\)/); // catch filter string
var elems = null;
if (m != null) { // if no filter, then do the evarage workflow
var filter = m[0].match(/\([.\S+\d?(\,\s2)]*\)/)[0].replace(/[\(\)']+/g,'');
this.selector = this.selector.replace(m[0],''); // remove filter from selector
elems = $(this.selector).filter(filter); // enable filter for it
} else {
elems = $(this.selector);
}
this.splice(0, this.length);
this.push.apply( this, elems );
return this;
};
Code is not so beautiful, but it worked for my filtered selectors.

Clean and generic solution worked properly with jQuery 3.4.1:
My solution is to do the following:
Intercept the selector at the time of jQuery object initialization and in the same time maintain all other jQuery functionalities transparently all this using inheritance
Build refresh plugin that make use of the new "selector" property we added during initialization
Definition:
$ = (function (originalJQuery)
{
return (function ()
{
var newJQuery = originalJQuery.apply(this, arguments);
newJQuery.selector = arguments.length > 0 ? arguments[0] : null;
return newJQuery;
});
})($);
$.fn = $.prototype = jQuery.fn;
$.fn.refresh = function ()
{
if (this.selector != null && (typeof this.selector === 'string' || this.selector instanceof String))
{
var elems = $(this.selector);
this.splice(0, this.length);
this.push.apply(this, elems);
}
return this;
};
Usage:
var myAnchors = $('p > a');
//Manipulate your DOM and make changes to be captured by the refresh plugin....
myAnchors.refresh();
//Now, myAnchors variable will hold a fresh snapshot
Note:
As optimization, object selectors don't need refresh as they are pass by reference by nature so, in refresh plugin, we only refresh if the selector is a string selector not object selector for clarification, consider the following code:
// Define a plain object
var foo = { foo: "bar", hello: "world" };
// Pass it to the jQuery function
var $foo = $( foo );
// Test accessing property values
var test1 = $foo.prop( "foo" ); // bar
// Change the original object
foo.foo = "koko";
// Test updated property value
var test2 = $foo.prop( "foo" ); // koko

Jquery .selector is deprecated, it's better to remeber string with selector value to some variable at the moment when you assign
function someModule($selector, selectorText) {
var $moduleSelector = $selector;
var moduleSelectorText = selectorText;
var onSelectorRefresh = function() {
$moduleSelector = $(moduleSelectorText);
}
}
https://api.jquery.com/selector/

You can also return the JQuery selector in a function, and save this function into the variable. Your code will look a bit different but it works. Every time when you execute the function, your jquery selector will search the DOM again.
In this example I used an arrow function without brackets which will return whatever is next to arrow. In this case it will return the JQuery collection.
const $mySelector = () => $('.selector');
console.log($mySelector().last().text());
$('.parent').append('<li class="selector">4</li>')
console.log($mySelector().last().text()); //RETURNS 4 not 3
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<ul class="parent">
<li class="selector">1</li>
<li class="selector">2</li>
<li class="selector">3</li>
</ul>

If you use remove() it will remove only a part of the DOM but not all the children or related, instead if you use empty() on the element the problem is gone.
E.G.:
$('#parent .child).find('#foo').empty();
Maybe it can be useful to someone!

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.