Book Image

Object-Oriented JavaScript - Second Edition - Second Edition

Book Image

Object-Oriented JavaScript - Second Edition - Second Edition

Overview of this book

JavaScript is the behavior, the third pillar in today's paradigm that looks at web pages as something that consists of clearly distinguishable parts: content (HTML), presentation (CSS) and behavior (JavaScript). Using JavaScript, you can create not only web pages but also desktop widgets, browser and application extensions, and other pieces of software. It's a pretty good deal: you learn one language and then code all kinds of different applications. While there's one chapter specifically dedicated to the web browser environment including DOM, Events and AJAX tutorials, the rest is applicable to the other environments Many web developers have tried coding or adopting some bits of JavaScript, but it is time to "man up" and learn the language properly because it is the language of the browser and is, virtually, everywhere. This book starts from zero, not assuming any prior JavaScript programming knowledge and takes you through all the in-depth and exciting futures hidden behind the facade. Once listed in the "nice to have" sections of job postings, these days the knowledge of JavaScript is a deciding factor when it comes to hiring web developers. After reading this book you'll be prepared to ace your JavaScript job interview and even impress with some bits that the interviewer maybe didn't know. You should read this book if you want to be able to take your JavaScript skills to a new level of sophistication.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Object-Oriented JavaScript Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Built-in Functions
Regular Expressions
Index

Events


Imagine you are listening to a radio program and they announce, "Big event! Huge! Aliens have landed on Earth!" You might think "Yeah, whatever", some other listeners might think "They come in peace" and some "We're all gonna die!". Similarly, the browser broadcasts events and your code could be notified should it decide to tune in and listen to the events as they happen. Some example events include:

  • The user clicks a button

  • The user types a character in a form field

  • The page finishes loading

You can attach a JavaScript function (called an event listener or event handler) to a specific event and the browser will invoke your function as soon the event occurs. Let's see how this is done.

Inline HTML attributes

Adding specific attributes to a tag is the laziest (but the least maintainable) way, for example:

<div onclick="alert('Ouch!')">click</div>

In this case when the user clicks on the <div>, the click event fires and the string of JavaScript code contained in the onclick...