Or is it already well designed? I've used this for a couple years on jobs and it has been great. I love my template (especially since i made it!), but recently i've caught myself giving this great secret away as an answer to some questions. So now i'm wondering, what do you think of my template? How might I improve it? Do you see any flaws(I've yet to discover any!)? Should I blog it and pass it around a bit more?
In short, Please "Code Review" it! please
/* Example Plug-in Setup */
(function($) {
if (!$.myExample) { // check your plugin namespace does not already exist
$.extend({ // this will allow you to add your plugin to the jQuery lib
myExample: function(elm, command, args) {
// keep in mind, right here you might want to do a class or data check to determine which direction this call is going
// for example, upon init the plugin on an element you may add the plugin name as a class,
// this way, when it's recalled, you can see it alrady has that class and might be calling a command,
// thus make an if statemnt to push the process through
return elm.each(function(index){
// do work to each element as its passed through
// be sure to use something like
// return elm.each(function(e) { dor work });
// as your final statement in order to maintain "chainability"
});
}
});
$.fn.extend({ // this gives the chainability functionality seen with $ funcs like: $("#eleID").css("color", "red") <--returns original element object
myExample: function(command) {
return $.myExample($(this), command, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1));
}
});
$.myExample.props = { // Here you can establish specific properties to your plugin, prehaps even make them "Over-writable"
key1: "value",
key2: "value"
};
$.myExample.methods = { // Here you can establish specific methods/functions for your plguin to carry out and maintain your namespace as well
key1: function(param) {
/* do work */
},
key2: function(param) {
/* do work */
}
};
// This next part is not seen in many plugins but useful depending on what you're creating
$.myExample.init = function(param) { // If you have an initialize method to apply, namespace it in here and calll on initializing your plugin
var key = "value",
key2 = {
subKey: "value"
};
/*
/ run any number of initializing functions here
/ I prefer to make my param a value that can be a
/ string with a possible object
/ the string for holding a base configuration
/ the object for any change in properties or base values for that config
*/
};
$.myExample.defaults = { // establish base properties here that can be over-written via .props, but their values should never truly change
key1: "value",
key2: {
prop1: {
subKey1: "value",
subKey2: "value"
},
prop2: {
subKey1: "value"
}
},
key3: function(param) {
}
};
}
})(jQuery);
Uses
$("#eleID").myExample();
// OR
$.myExample($("#eleID"));