Hi,
I'll see if I can break down the syntax for you to illustrate what's
going on:
1. Define a function. It should take one argument, called $:
function ($) {
// Do stuff.
};
2. Since the function is anonymous (it doesn't have a name), you need
to wrap it in brackets before invoking it:
(function ($) {
// Do stuff.
})
2. Invoke the function right away, passing in jQuery as the value for $.
(function ($) {
// Do stuff.
})(jQuery);
That's it. The syntax just defines an anonymous function and then
invokes it right away. Now everything inside your anonymous function
will have a private reference to the $ variable, and it will be bound
to jQuery.
I hope this helps,
Colin
On 15-Oct-08, at 10:22 AM, 703designs wrote:
>
> I still have no idea what's going on syntactically, but now I know
> what's happening. This reinforced the concept (writes "Poop!" to the
> screen):
>
> (function(poop) {
> document.write(poop);
> }) ("Poop!")
>
> On Oct 15, 10:00 am, "chris thatcher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>> It's very important becuase the symbol $ is used by other javascript
>> libraries and it can cause a conflict if you use it outside of the
>> anonymous
>> function.
>>
>> For example another sloppy library might have a global definition
>>
>> var $ = function(){
>> alert('Not Cool Man!');
>>
>> };
>>
>> then if you tried to use jQuery
>>
>> $("#mycoolapp").coolPlugin().beCool();
>>
>> and yould get the alert, 'Not Cool Man!'
>>
>> But jQuery doesnt stand for such sloppy nonsense so we do:
>>
>> jQuery.noConflict();
>>
>> and write our plugin still using $ like so:
>>
>> (function($){
>> $.fn.coolPlugin = function(){
>> //do cool stuff and feel free to use $ and know
>> // it means jQuery and not the lame alert function
>> //declared globally by sloppy library X
>> }
>>
>>
>>
>> })(jQuery);
>> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Mike Alsup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>>>> Plugins are supposed to use this:
>>
>>>> (function($) {
>>>> // Plugin code
>>
>>>> }) (jQuery)
>>
>>>> I know what it does (allows the use of $ within the script), but
>>>> how
>>>> does it actually work? Is it somehow casting the function object as
>>>> the jQuery object? It always seemed odd to me, and I haven't seen
>>>> this
>>>> idiom elsewhere.
>>
>>> Consider this bit of code:
>>
>>> // declare a function that accepts an argument
>>> var myFn = function(myParam) {
>>> // inside here I can use myParam freely
>>> };
>>> // call the function and pass an argument
>>> myFn(3);
>>
>>> Now, change what you call the parameter name and what you pass to
>>> the
>>> function
>>
>>> var myFn = function($) {
>>> // inside here I can use $ freely
>>> };
>>> // call the function and pass jQuery as the argument
>>> myFn(jQuery);
>>
>>> Now do it all in one step, as an anonymous function:
>>
>>> (function($) {
>>> // inside here I can use myParam freely
>>> })(jQuery);
>>
>> --
>> Christopher Thatcher
---
Colin Clark
Technical Lead, Fluid Project
http://fluidproject.org
