CODEWITHSUNDEEP
jqueryplugins
Rohit
Rohit

Reputation: 3136

jQuery: Get original selector in plugin member function

I'm learning more about making jQuery plugins, and I'm at a point where I'm trying to make public member functions. I'm doing it via the method I've seen in a bunch of plugins:

$.fn.pluginName = function () {
    // $(this) contains the selector (#test)
}

$.fn.pluginName.publicFunction = function () {
    // How do I get $('#test') here?
}

$('#test').pluginName();
$('#test').pluginName.publicFunction();

I'm wondering how I can access the selector used in selecting the main plugin within the public function, or if I have to pass it in order to use it. Any advice? I think I know how to do it with private functions, but I'm at a bit of a loss with this.

The first two answers make it obvious I wasn't clear, so the question has been updated.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1049

Answers (2)

jfriend00
jfriend00

Reputation: 707158

Inside the function of a jQuery plugin function:

this.selector

will be the original selector passed to the original jQuery object. I can't tell for sure, but this may be deprecated in the latest versions of jQuery, though it is still present in jQuery 2.0.2.

Working demo here:

http://jsfiddle.net/jfriend00/JczB9/

$.fn.test = function() {
    // this.selector contains #test from the original jQuery selector
};

var item = $("#test");
item.test();

If you're trying to get access to the jQuery instance (to get the original selector) from a public method on your jQuery plugin such as $('#test').pluginName.publicFunction(); in your example, you can't.

The selector is a property of a jQuery instance only so only methods of a jQuery instance or functions who have a reference to a jQuery instance are going to be able to access the .selector property.

$('#test').pluginName is a static function object (e.g. there's only one of them) - it isn't a jQuery instance so $('#test').pluginName.publicFunction() doesn't have access to the properties of $('#test') and thus can't get to the selector.

If I understood why you were making public functions on your jQuery plugin and what you were trying to do with it, I might have an alternate solution for you.

For example, your publicFunction() could itself be a jQuery plugin method and then you could use chaining like $('#test').pluginName().publicFunction().

Upvotes: 1

binderbound
binderbound

Reputation: 799

if you want a global selector for your function (is that what you mean) you do this:

window.publicSelector = privateSelector

then from public javascript code, it should be accessible using publicSelector

Upvotes: 0

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