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

About the Authors

Jonathan Chaffer is a member of Rapid Development Group, a web development firm located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His work there includes overseeing and implementing projects in a wide variety of technologies, with an emphasis in PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript. He also leads on-site training seminars on the jQuery framework for web developers.

In the open-source community, Jonathan has been very active in the Drupal CMS project, which has adopted jQuery as its JavaScript framework of choice. He is the creator of the Content Construction Kit, a popular module for managing structured content on Drupal sites. He is responsible for major overhauls of Drupal's menu system and developer API reference.

Jonathan lives in Grand Rapids with his wife, Jennifer.

I would like to thank Jenny for her tireless enthusiasm and support, Karl for the motivation to continue writing when the spirit is weak, and the Ars Technica community for constant inspiration toward technical excellence. In addition, I'd like to thank Mike Henry and the Twisted Pixel team for producing consistently entertaining distractions in between writing sessions.

Karl Swedberg is a web developer at Fusionary Media in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he spends much of his time making cool things happen with JavaScript. As a member of the jQuery team, Karl is responsible for maintaining the jQuery API site at api.jquery.com. He also publishes tutorials on his blog, learningjquery.com, and presents at workshops and conferences. When he isn't coding, Karl likes to hang out with his family, roast coffee in his garage, and exercise at the local cross-fit gym.

I wish to thank my wife, Sara, and my two children, Benjamin and Lucia, for all the joy that they bring into my life. Thanks also to Jonathan Chaffer for his patience and his willingness to write this book with me.

Many thanks to John Resig for creating the world's greatest JavaScript library and to all the others who have contributed their code, time, and expertise to the project. Thanks to the folks at Packt Publishing, the technical reviewers of this book, the jQuery Cabal, and the many others who have provided help and inspiration along the way.

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