I personally use the same approach in the Translate plugin (maybe I
should have told you that before :), but with that you don't need the
'new' keyword: $.translate() returns a new object (it's a bit similar
to $.ajax or jQuery itself, you don't need 'new' there either).
http://code.google.com/p/jquery-translate/
With Translate you can only control the behaviour through the options
when using the jQuery method (though the object is available in
callback functions), but in your case I think you can still consider
letting the first variable call a method:
$.fn.alerter = function(a){
if(typeof a!="string") {
var alerter = new $.Alerter(this, a);
$(this).data("alerter", alerter); //store the instance
} else {
var instance = $(this).data("alerter"); //get the instance
instance[a].apply(instance, $.makeArray(arguments).slice(1) ); //
call method
}
return this;
}
I don't want to push this but it's really not a lot of code for a
shorthand, as you don't need to deal with the instances in your code
beacause they're handled by the plugin and you can call methods
without breaking a chain, but it really depends on what you want the
plugin to do.
Some other discussions related to this topic if you're interested:
http://groups.google.com/group/jquery-en/browse_thread/thread/9dc9be1cc298cbdd
http://groups.google.com/group/jquery-dev/browse_thread/thread/48400f696b85a7cb
http://groups.google.com/group/jquery-dev/browse_thread/thread/b2f784b7575456dc/0cd276379f8a2f7d?show_docid=0cd276379f8a2f7d
http://groups.google.com/group/jquery-dev/browse_thread/thread/6c02b9b939c96bdb/5f244e161b9c1346?show_docid=5f244e161b9c1346
On Nov 26, 7:16 pm, "Hector Virgen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I've been thinking about this over the weekend and came up with a way to
> write class-based plugins while still following the jQuery convention. Maybe
> someone else has done this before but I couldn't find any documentation on
> this subject.
> The idea is to extend the base jQuery object with the javascript class, and
> then extend jQuery.fn with a simple method that does nothing but instantiate
> the class and return "this".
>
> The nice thing about this approach is that you can still make chainable
> plugins without polluting the jQuery.fn namespace with a ton of methods.
>
> $('#mydiv').myplugin().show();
>
> But if you need access to the object, you can use the "new" construct.
>
> var myplugin = new $.MyPlugin($('#mydiv'));
> myplugin.doSomething();
>
> Here is an example plugin that just alerts some text when the selected
> elements are clicked. But, if you create the plugin object manually with the
> "new" construct, you can change the message or invoke the alert without the
> click:
>
> (function($){
> var Alerter = function(selector, options)
> {
> var obj = this;
> this.settings = {
> message: 'no message'};
>
> $.extend(this.settings, options);
> selector.click(function()
> {
> obj.alert.call(obj);});
> }
>
> Alerter.prototype.alert = function()
> {
> alert('Alerter said: ' + this.settings.message);}
>
> Alerter.prototype.message = function(message)
> {
> this.settings.message = message;
> return this;}
>
> $.extend({
> Alerter: Alerter});
>
> $.fn.extend({
> alerter: function(options)
> {
> var alerter = new $.Alerter(this, options);
> return this;
>
> }
> });
> })(jQuery);
>
> // Usage as jQuery plugin
> $('#mydiv').alerter({
> message: 'foo'
>
> });
>
> // Usage as object
> var alerter = new $.Alerter($('#anotherdiv'), {
> message: 'bar'
>
> });
>
> // As an object, you can call methods on it easily
> alerter.message('new message');
> alerter.alert(); // alerts "Alerter said: new message"
>
> Any thoughts on this approach?
>
> -Hector
>
> On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 5:15 AM, Scott González <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>
>
>
> > Providing the method name as the first parameter is a bit awkward,
> > perhaps looking at the alternatives would help:
>
> > Add namespaces to jQuery. This isn't very jQuery-like. Example: $
> > (el).tabs.add(url, label).show();
>
> > Add a new jQuery method for every plugin instance method. This
> > pollutes the jQuery namespace, so this should only be done when it
> > really makes sense. Example: $(el).addTab(url, label);
>
> > Use events. You can bind custom events in a namespace and then have
> > users interact with your plugin by triggering those events. Example: $
> > (el).trigger('add.tabs', url, label);
>
> > There may be other approaches as well.
>
> > The jQuery UI approach allows plugins to expose as many methods as
> > they want while only using one method in the jQuery namespace.
