Book Image

jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide

Book Image

jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide

Overview of this book

If you are looking for a comprehensive reference guide to this popular JavaScript library, this book and eBook is for you. To make optimal use of jQuery, it's good to keep in mind the breadth of capabilities it provides. You can add dynamic, interactive elements to your sites with reduced development time using jQuery.Revised and updated for version 1.4 of jQuery, this book offers an organized menu of every jQuery method, function, and selector. Each method and function is introduced with a summary of its syntax and a list of its parameters and return value, followed by a discussion, with examples where applicable, to assist in getting the most out of jQuery and avoiding the pitfalls commonly associated with JavaScript and other client-side languages.In this book you will be provided information about the latest features of jQuery that include Sizzle Selector, Native event delegation, Event triggering, DOM manipulation, and many more. You won't be confined to built-in functionality, you'll be able to examine jQuery's plug-in architecture and we discuss both how to use plug-ins and how to write your own. If you're already familiar with JavaScript programming, this book will help you dive right into advanced jQuery concepts. You'll be able to experiment on your own, trusting the pages of this book to provide information on the intricacies of the library, where and when you need it.This book is a companion to Learning jQuery 1.3. Learning jQuery 1.3 begins with a tutorial to jQuery, where the authors share their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm about jQuery to help you get the most from the library and to make your web applications shine.jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide digs deeper into the library, taking you through the syntax specifications and following up with detailed discussions. You'll discover the untapped possibilities that jQuery 1.4 makes available, and polish your skills as you return to this guide time and again.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

The jQuery function


The following function underpins the entire jQuery library. It serves as an "object factory," which allows us to create the jQuery objects that all of the other methods are attached to. The function is named jQuery(), but as with all uses of that identifier throughout the library, we typically use the alias $() instead.

$()

Note

Create a new jQuery object matching elements in the DOM.

$(selector[, context])
$(element)
$(elementArray)
$(object)
$(html)

Parameters (first version)

  • selector: A string containing a selector expression

  • context (optional): The portion of the DOM tree within which to search

Parameters (second version)

  • element: A DOM element to wrap in a jQuery object

Parameters (third version)

  • elementArray: An array containing a set of DOM elements to wrap in a jQuery object

Parameters (fourth version)

  • object: An existing jQuery object to clone

Parameters (fifth version)

  • html: A string containing an HTML snippet describing new DOM elements to create

Return value

The newly...