Thanks, I just figured that out last night reading Crockford's
"JavaScript: The Good Parts." I considered posting what I learned,
then realized that Mike explained it perfectly in the first reply, I
was just being dense. Thanks for the explanations!
On Oct 16, 10:42 am, Colin Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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 Projecthttp://fluidproject.org
