Book Image

Learning jQuery, Third Edition

Book Image

Learning jQuery, Third Edition

Overview of this book

To build interesting, interactive sites, developers are turning to JavaScript libraries such as jQuery to automate common tasks and simplify complicated ones. Because many web developers have more experience with HTML and CSS than with JavaScript, the library's design lends itself to a quick start for designers with little programming experience. Experienced programmers will also be aided by its conceptual consistency.Learning jQuery Third Edition is revised and updated for version 1.6 of jQuery. You will learn the basics of jQuery for adding interactions and animations to your pages. Even if previous attempts at writing JavaScript have left you baffled, this book will guide you past the pitfalls associated with AJAX, events, effects, and advanced JavaScript language features.Starting with an introduction to jQuery, you will first be shown how to write a functioning jQuery program in just three lines of code. Learn how to add impact to your actions through a set of simple visual effects and to create, copy, reassemble, and embellish content using jQuery's DOM modification methods. The book will step you through many detailed, real-world examples, and even equip you to extend the jQuery library itself with your own plug-ins.

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Learning jQuery, Third Edition
Sep, 2011 | 428 pages
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Table of Contents (24 chapters)
Learning jQuery Third Edition
Learning jQuery Third Edition
Credits
Credits
Foreword
Foreword
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started
Getting Started
What jQuery does
Why jQuery works well
Our first jQuery-powered web page
Plain JavaScript vs. jQuery
Development tools
Summary
2
Selecting Elements
Selecting Elements
The Document Object Model
The $() function
CSS selectors
Custom selectors
DOM traversal methods
Accessing DOM elements
Summary
Exercises
3
Handling Events
Handling Events
Performing tasks on page load
Simple events
Compound events
The journey of an event
Altering the journey: the event object
Removing an event handler
Simulating user interaction
Summary
Exercises
4
Styling and Animating
Styling and Animating
Inline CSS modification
Basic hide and show
Effects and speed
Creating custom animations
Simultaneous versus queued effects
Summary
Exercises
5
Manipulating the DOM
Manipulating the DOM
Manipulating attributes
DOM tree manipulation
Copying elements
Content getter and setter methods
DOM manipulation methods in a nutshell
Summary
Exercises
6
Sending Data with Ajax
Sending Data with Ajax
Loading data on demand
Choosing a data format
Passing data to the server
Delivering different content for Ajax requests
Keeping an eye on the request
Error handling
Ajax and events
Security limitations
Additional options
Summary
Exercises
7
Using Plugins
Using Plugins
Finding plugins and help
How to use a plugin
The jQuery UI plugin library
Summary
Exercises
8
Developing Plugins
Developing Plugins
Use of the $ alias in plugins
Adding new global functions
Adding jQuery object methods
Method parameters
The jQuery UI widget factory
Plugin design recommendations
Summary
Exercises
9
Advanced Selectors and Traversing
Advanced Selectors and Traversing
Selecting and traversing revisited
Customizing and optimizing selectors
DOM traversal under the hood
Summary
Exercises
10
Advanced Events
Advanced Events
Events revisited
Event delegation
Custom events
Throttling events
Special events
Summary
Exercises
11
Advanced Effects
Advanced Effects
Animation revisited
Observing and interrupting animations
Global effect properties
Multi-property easing
Deferred objects
Summary
Exercises
12
Advanced DOM Manipulation
Advanced DOM Manipulation
Sorting table rows
Moving and inserting elements, revisited
Storing data alongside DOM elements
Using HTML5 custom data attributes
Sorting and building rows with JSON
Advanced attribute manipulation
Summary
Exercises
13
Advanced Ajax
Advanced Ajax
Progressive enhancement with Ajax
Ajax error handling
The jqXHR object
Throttling Ajax requests
Extending Ajax capabilities
Summary
Exercises
JavaScript Closures
JavaScript Closures
Inner functions
Interactions between closures
Closures in jQuery
Memory leak hazards
Summary
Testing JavaScript with QUnit
Testing JavaScript with QUnit
Downloading QUnit
Setting up the document
Organizing tests
Adding and running tests
Other types of tests
Practical considerations
Summary
Quick Reference
Quick Reference
Selector expressions
DOM traversal methods
Event methods
Effect methods
DOM manipulation methods
Ajax methods
Deferred objects
Miscellaneous properties and functions
Index
Index

Custom selectors

To the wide variety of CSS selectors, jQuery adds its own custom selectors. These custom selectors enhance the already impressive capabilities of CSS selectors to locate page elements in new ways.

Tip

Performance note

When possible, jQuery uses the native DOM selector engine of the browser to find elements. This extremely fast approach is not possible when custom jQuery selectors are used. For this reason, it is recommended to avoid frequent use of custom selectors when a native option is available and performance is very important.

Most of the custom selectors allow us to pick certain elements out of a line-up, so to speak. Typically used following a CSS selector, this kind of custom selector identifies elements based on their positions within the previously-selected group. The syntax is the same as the CSS pseudo-class syntax, where the selector starts with a colon (:). For example, to select the second item from a set of <div> elements with a class of horizontal,...

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