Jazz up your JavaScript: Unobtrusive scripting with JavaScript libraries
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Jazz up your JavaScriptUnobtrusive scripting with JavaScript libraries
Simon WillisonWebstock, 11th February 2008
• Unobtrusive scripting
• JavaScript libraries
• Writing unobtrusive scripts with jQuery
This tutorial
But first... let’s travel back in time to 2004
(The only photo I could find of me in 2004)
JavaScript was the ugly duckling of the web standards world
Animated snowflakes
DHTML scripts copied and pasted from dynamicdrive.com
• Unobtrusive scripting
• High quality open-source libraries
3 revolutions since 2004
• Ajax
February 2005
The quieter revolutions were just as important
Unobtrusive Scripting
Rather than hoping for graceful degradation, PE builds documents for the least capable or differently capable devices first, then moves on to enhance those documents with separate logic for presentation, in ways that don't place an undue burden on baseline devices but which allow a richer experience for those users with modern graphical browser software.
Progressive enhancement
Steven Champeon and Nick Finck, 2003
Applied to JavaScript
• Build a site that works without JavaScript
• Use JavaScript to enhance that site to provide a better user experience: easier to interact with, faster, more fun
http://www.neighbourhoodfixit.com/
• Start with Plain Old Semantic HTML
• Layer on some CSS (in an external stylesheet) to apply the site’s visual design
• Layer on some JavaScript (in an external script file) to apply the site’s enhanced behaviour
Surely everyone has JavaScript these days?
• There are legitimate reasons to switch it off
• Some companies strip JavaScript at the firewall
• Some people run the NoScript Firefox extension to protect themselves from common XSS and CSRF vulnerabilities
• Many mobile devices ignore JS entirely
• Screen readers DO execute JavaScript, but accessibility issues mean that you may not want them to
The NoScript extension
Unobtrusive examples
• One of the earliest examples of this technique, created by Aaron Boodman (now of Greasemonkey and Google Gears fame)
labels.js
• Once the page has loaded, the JavaScript:
• Finds any label elements linked to a text field
• Moves their text in to the associated text field
• Removes them from the DOM
• Sets up the event handlers to remove the descriptive text when the field is focused
• Clean, simple, reusable
<label for="search">Search</label><input type="text" id="search" name="q">
How it works
• An unobtrusive technique for revealing panels when links are clicked
<ul> <li><a href="#panel1" class="toggle">Panel 1</a></li> <li><a href="#panel2" class="toggle">Panel 2</a></li> <li><a href="#panel3" class="toggle">Panel 3</a></li></ul>
<div id="panel1">...</div><div id="panel2">...</div><div id="panel3">...</div>
easytoggle.js
• When the page has loaded...
• Find all links with class="toggle" that reference an internal anchor
• Collect the elements that are referenced by those anchors
• Hide all but the first
• Set up event handlers to reveal different panels when a link is clicked
• Without JavaScript, links still jump to the right point
How it works
• Large multi-select boxes aren't much fun
• Painful to scroll through
• Easy to lose track of what you have selected
• Django's admin interface uses unobtrusive JavaScript to improve the usability here
Django filter lists
Mapping Microformats
• The hCard microformat provides a standard set of CSS classes for marking up an address
• Wouldn’t it be great if we could unobtrusively plot them on a Google Map...
• When the page loads...
• Scan through for hCards (by looking for class="vCard")
• Extract the street address and postcode for each one
• Pass it to the Google Maps geocoder to get the lat/long point
• Insert a div for the Google Map, instantiate it and add the points as markers
• Ajax is frequently used to avoid page refreshes
• So...
• Write an app that uses full page refreshes
• Use unobtrusive JS to "hijack" links and form buttons and use Ajax instead
• Jeremy Keith coined the term "Hijax" to describe this
How about Ajax?
A simple example
Have you read our <a href="javascript:window.open( 'terms.html', 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no' );">terms and conditions</a>?
Bad
Have you read our <a href="#" onclick="window.open( 'terms.html', 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no' ); return false;" >terms and conditions</a>?
Also bad
Have you read our <a href="terms.html" onclick="window.open( 'terms.html', 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no' ); return false;" >terms and conditions</a>?
Better
Have you read our <a href="terms.html" onclick="window.open( this.href, 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no' ); return false;" >terms and conditions</a>?
Better still
Have you read our <a href="terms.html" class="sidenote" >terms and conditions</a>?
Best
Characteristics of unobtrusive scripts
• No in-line event handlers
• All code is contained in external .js files
• The site remains usable without JavaScript
• Existing links and forms are repurposed
• JavaScript dependent elements are dynamically added to the page
function makeLinkPopup(link) { if (link.addEventListener) { // W3C spec browsers link.addEventListener('click', popupClicked, false); } else if (link.attachEvent) { // Internet Explorer link.attachEvent('onclick', popupClicked); } else { return; // Fail silently in ancient browsers }}
Handling events
function popupClicked(ev) { // Find the link that was clicked ev = ev || window.event; var link = ev.target || ev.srcElement; if (link.nodeType == 3) { // Safari bug fix link = link.parentNode; } window.open(link.href, 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no'); // Now prevent the default link action if (ev.preventDefault) { ev.preventDefault(); // W3C spec browsers } else { ev.returnValue = false; // Internet Explorer }}
Handling events (2)
function setupLinks() { var links = document.getElementsByTagName('a'); for (var i = 0, link; link = links[i]; i++) { if (link.className == 'sidenote') { makeLinkPopup(link); } }}
if (window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', setupLinks, false);} else if (window.attachEvent) { window.attachEvent('onload', setupLinks);}
Handling events (3)
That’s way too much nasty boilerplate
Unobtrusive challenges
• Adding events from pure script (avoiding inline script handlers) works differently between IE and other browsers
• Cancelling default actions (link navigation, form submission) also works differently
• Scripts that add behaviour need to execute as soon as the DOM is available
• All of these examples use code that runs when the window "load" event is fired
• Wait until page is loaded, then manipulate the DOM
• Problem: If the page takes a while to load (large inline images) there will be a Flash Of Unstyled Content (FOUC)
• Also, if the user clicks things before the setup code has fired they won't get the expected behaviour.
The onload problem
• A number of attempts have been made to create an onDOMReady event that fires when the DOM has been constructed but before the page has loaded
• dean.edwards.name/weblog/2006/06/again/
• Modern libraries all support this in some form
• One caveat: CSS may not have loaded, so calculated dimensions may be incorrect
onDOMReady
So we need libraries
• Writing this stuff by hand is madness
• Boilerplate code to deal with browser inconsistencies is the number one enemy of unobtrusive scripting
• Thankfully, today these are all solved problems
JavaScript Libraries
Controversial statement
• A year ago, there was a sizable debate over whether libraries were worth using at all - many people preferred to just “roll their own”
• Today, that argument is over. Libraries have won.
• (some may disagree)
“The bad news: JavaScript is broken.
The good news:It can be fixed with more JavaScript!”
Geek folk saying
JavaScript characteristics• Highly dynamic language
• Most things can be introspected
• Most things can be modified at runtime
• Functional programming, anonymous functions and closures
• Ability to modify behaviour of built-in types
• Prototypal inheritance - arguably more powerful than class-based inheritance, though much less widely understood
Modifying built-in types
var s = "This is a string";alert(s.dasherize()); // Throws an error
String.prototype.dasherize = function() { return this.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, '-');}
alert(s.dasherize()); // this-is-a-string
Functional programming
function hello() { alert("hello");}
var hello = function() { alert("hello");}
(function() { alert("hello");})();
Functional programming
function hello() { alert("hello");}
var hello = function() { alert("hello");}
(function() { alert("hello");})();
Functional programming
function hello() { alert("hello");}
var hello = function() { alert("hello");}
(function() { alert("hello");})();
Closures
function outer() { var s = "This is a string"; function inner() { alert(s); } inner();}
Closures
function outer() { var s = "This is a string"; function inner() { alert(s); } return inner;}
var func = outer();func(); // Alerts "This is a string";
Closures
function outer(s) { function inner() { alert(s); } return inner;}
var sayHello = outer("Hello");var sayGoodbye = outer("Goodbye");sayHello();sayGoodbye();
Common library features
DOM selection
• document.getElementById shortcut
• Get elements by class name
• Get elements by CSS selector
CSS manipulation
• Manipulate and toggle classes
• Set styles (including opacity)
• Introspect applied styles
Event handling
• Cross-browser “run this function when this event happens to this element”
• Cross-browser “on DOM ready” support
• Cross-browser event introspection: where was the event targetted?
• Event triggering
• Custom events
Ajax
• Cross-browser XMLHttpRequest
• Easier API for GET, POST and URL and form manipulation
• Support for Ajax formats: HTML fragments, JSON, XML
Effects and animation
• Fades, wipes and transitions
• Custom animation of any CSS property
• Automatic frame-rate management
• Easing
Widgets• Packaged widgets for things like...
• Sliders
• Calendar date pickers
• Fake “windows”
• Auto-completers
• Grids and treeviews
• Support for drag-and-drop
Language tools
• Iteration over objects and arrays
• Utilities for managing prototypal inheritance
• Traditional class-based inheritance
• Tools for managing scope and callbacks
• Dynamic code loading
Array manipulation
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) { var item = arr[i]; // process item}
forEach(arr, function(item) { // process item});
doubles = map(arr, function(i) { return i * 2 });evens = filter(arr, function(i) { return i % 2 == 0 });
Other characteristics• Do they modify built in types?
• Global namespace impact
• Library size and componentization
• Support for accessibility (esp. for widgets)
• Browser support
• Documentation
• Community
The big five
• The Yahoo! User Interface Library
• Prototype (and Script.aculo.us)
• The Dojo Toolkit
• mooTools
• jQuery
The Example
• A login form that shakes its head at you
• Standard POST login form, unobtrusively upgraded to use Ajax and shake if the password is incorrect
• Behind the scenes, JSON is used for the reply to say if the password was correct or not
Simple login JSON API
• Responds to the same POST as the regular form, but looks for X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest header
• If login fails, returns
{"ok":false}
• If login succeeds, returns
{"ok": true, "redirect": "loggedin.php"}
The Yahoo! User Interface Library
dom event connection
animation dragdrop
utilities
controls (aka widgets)
autocomplete calendar
menu slider treeview
container
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var $E = YAHOO.util.Event; var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; var $C = YAHOO.util.Connect; var query = YAHOO.util.Selector.query; $D.get('username').focus(); var form = query('form')[0];
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var $E = YAHOO.util.Event; var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; var $C = YAHOO.util.Connect; var query = YAHOO.util.Selector.query; $D.get('username').focus(); var form = query('form')[0];
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var $E = YAHOO.util.Event; var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; var $C = YAHOO.util.Connect; var query = YAHOO.util.Selector.query; $D.get('username').focus(); var form = query('form')[0];
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var $E = YAHOO.util.Event; var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; var $C = YAHOO.util.Connect; var query = YAHOO.util.Selector.query; $D.get('username').focus(); var form = query('form')[0];
$E.on(form, 'submit', function(ev) { $E.preventDefault(ev); var url = form.action; $C.setForm(form); $C.asyncRequest( 'POST', url, { success: function() { ... } } );});
success: function(response) { var json = eval('(' + response.responseText + ')'); if (json.ok) { window.location = json.redirect; } else { $D.get('password').value = ''; $D.get('password').focus(); shake(form, function() { if (!query('p.error').length) { var p = document.createElement('p'); p.className = 'error'; p.innerHTML = 'Incorrect password.'; form.insertBefore(p, form.firstChild); } }); }
function shake(el, onComplete) { var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; $D.setStyle(el, 'position', 'relative'); var anim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: -10} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); anim.onComplete.subscribe(function() { // ... } anim.animate();}
function shake(el, onComplete) { var $D = YAHOO.util.Dom; $D.setStyle(el, 'position', 'relative'); var anim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: -10} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); anim.onComplete.subscribe(function() { var anim2 = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: 10} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); anim2.onComplete.subscribe(function() { var anim3 = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: -10} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); anim3.onComplete.subscribe(function() { var anim4 = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: 10} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); anim4.onComplete.subscribe(function() { var anim5 = new YAHOO.util.Anim(el, { left: {to: 0} }, 0.1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); if (onComplete) { anim5.onComplete.subscribe(onComplete); } anim5.animate(); }); anim4.animate(); }); anim3.animate(); }); anim2.animate(); }); anim.animate();}
• Nice animation library, but a better way of chaining animations would be useful
• Severe namespacing (YAHOO was picked because it was so ugly no one would ever have used it for an existing variable)
• Not too many shortcuts outside of dealing with browser difficulties
• Excellent documentation
Download API Docs Tips and Tutorials Blog Discuss Contribute
Prototype is a JavaScript Framework that aims toease development of dynamic web applications.
Featuring a unique, easy-to-use toolkit for class-driven
development and the nicest Ajax library around, Prototype
is quickly becoming the codebase of choice for web
application developers everywhere.
Prototype and script.aculo.us: The "Bungee
book" has landed!
Core team member Christophe
Porteneuve has been hard at work
for the past few months tracking
and documenting Prototype for his
new book Prototype and
script.aculo.us, which is now
available as a Beta Book from the
Pragmatic Programmers (and is
scheduled to ship later this year).
Read more !
DownloadGet the latest version—1.5.1
LearnOnline documentation and resources.
DiscussMailing list and IRC
ContributeSubmit patches and report bugs.
Who's using Prototype?
Meet the developers
© 2006-2007 Prototype Core Team | Licenses: MIT (source code) and CC BY-SA (documentation).
Prototype and Script.aculo.us
document.observe('dom:loaded', function() { $('username').focus(); var form = $$('form')[0]; form.observe('submit', function(ev) { ev.preventDefault(); var url = form.action; new Ajax.Request(url, { parameters: form.serialize(), onSuccess: ... }); });});
onSuccess: function(response) { var json = response.responseJSON; if (json.ok) { window.location = json.redirect; } else { form.shake(); // No apparent way of setting an // "on finished" callback setTimeout(function() { if (!$$('p.error').length) { var p = new Element( 'p', {'class': 'error'} ).insert('Incorrect...'); form.insertBefore(p, form.firstChild); } }, 500); $('password').value = ''; $('password').focus(); }}
• Adds many functions to the global namespace ($, $$ etc) and extensively modifies built in types
• Heavily inspired by Ruby and Ruby on Rails
• Useful shortcuts and nice effects
• Documentation still leaves something to be desired - API docs for Prototype, incomplete wiki docs for Scriptaculous
The Dojo Toolkit
dojo.require('dojox.fx');djConfig.usePlainJson = true;
dojo.addOnLoad(function() { dojo.byId('username').focus(); dojo.query('form').connect('submit', function(ev) { dojo.stopEvent(ev); var form = this; var url = form.action; dojo.xhrPost({ handleAs: 'json', headers: {'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest'}, url: url, form: form, load: function(json) { ... } }); });});
load: function(json) { if (json.ok) { window.location = json.redirect; } else { form.style.position = 'relative'; var last = dojo.animateProperty({ node: form, duration: 100, properties: {left: {end: 0}} }); var leftArgs = { node: form, duration: 100, properties: {left: {end: -10}} }; var rightArgs = { node: form, duration: 100, properties: {left: {end: 10}} }; dojo.fx.chain([ dojo.animateProperty(leftArgs), dojo.animateProperty(rightArgs), dojo.animateProperty(leftArgs), dojo.animateProperty(rightArgs), last ]).play();
dojo.connect(last, 'onEnd', function() { if (!dojo.query('p.error').length) { var p = document.createElement('p'); p.className = 'error'; p.innerHTML = 'Incorrect username or password.'; form.insertBefore(p, form.firstChild); } }); dojo.byId('password').value = ''; dojo.byId('password').focus();
• core, dijit and dojox:
• Small, powerful abstraction library
• Widget creation tools plus many widgets
• “The future today” genius extensions
• Documentation has improved with the Dojo Book, but still patchy in places
mooTools
window.addEvent('domready', function() { $('username').focus(); $$('form').addEvent('submit', function(ev) { new Event(ev).stop(); var form = this; var url = form.action; form.send({ onComplete: function(data) { var json = Json.evaluate(data); if (json.ok) { window.location = json.redirect; } else { form.style.position = 'relative'; // ... animation here $('password').value = ''; $('password').focus(); } } }); });});
var fx = form.effects({ duration: 100, transition: Fx.Transitions.Quart.easeOut});fx.start({left: -10}).chain(function(){ this.start({left: 10});}).chain(function(){ this.start({left: -10});}).chain(function(){ this.start({left: 10});}).chain(function(){ this.start({left: 0});}).chain(function() { if (!$$('p.error').length) { var p = new Element('p'). addClass('error').setHTML( 'Incorrect username or password.' ); form.insertBefore(p, form.firstChild); }});
• Started as an effects library for Prototype, now its own thing but Prototype influences are clear
• No intention at all of playing nicely with other libraries
• Good API documentation (including a mootorial) but not much else, and major changes between library versions
• I found the API unintuitive compared to the others
jQuery
jQuery(function($) { $('#username').focus(); $('form').submit(function() { var $this = $(this); var url = $this.attr('action'); var data = $this.serialize(); jQuery.post(url, data, function(json) { if (json.ok) { window.location = json.redirect; } else { $('#password').val('').focus(); $this.shake(function() { if (!$this.find('p.error').length) { $this.prepend('<p class="error">Incorrect ...</p>'); } }); } }, 'json'); return false; });});
jQuery.fn.shake = function(callback) { this.css({'position': 'relative'}); return this.animate( {left: '-10px'}, 100 ).animate( {left: '+10px'}, 100 ).animate( {left: '-10px'}, 100 ).animate( {left: '+10px'}, 100 ).animate( {left: '0px'}, 100, callback );};
• Powerful, concise API based around CSS selector querying and chaining
• Excellent namespace management - everything lives on the one jQuery symbol which is aliased to $, with the option to revert
• Excellent support for plugins
• The best documentation out of all of the libraries
Unobtrusive scripting with jQuery
Why jQuery
• It has the best balance between simplicity, productivity and good manners
• It has excellent documentation
• You can learn the whole library in less than an hour
Why jQuery instead of...?
• Unlike Prototype and mooTools...
• ... it doesn’t populate your global namespace
• Unlike YUI...
• ... it’s extremely succinct
• Unlike Dojo...
• ... you can learn it in 45 minutes!
Learning
jQueryin 45 minutes
jQuery philosophy
• Focus on the interaction between JavaScript and HTML
• (Almost) every operation boils down to:
• Find some stuff
• Do something to it
Sidenotes with jQuery
jQuery(function($) { $('a.sidenote').click(function() { window.open($(this).attr('href'), 'popup', 'height=500,width=400,toolbar=no'); return false; });});
Only one function!
• Absolutely everything* starts with a call to the jQuery() function
• Since it’s called so often, the $ variable is set up as an alias to jQuery
• If you’re also using another library you can revert to the previous $ function with jQuery.noConflict();
* not entirely true
jQuery('#nav')
jQuery('div#intro h2')
jQuery('#nav li.current a')
$('#nav')
$('div#intro h2')
$('#nav li.current a')
CSS 2 and 3 selectors
a[rel]
a[rel="friend"]
a[href^="http://"]
ul#nav > li
li#current ~ li (li siblings that follow #current)
li:first-child, li:last-child, li:nth-child(3)
Magic selectors
div:first, h3:last
:header
:hidden, :visible
:animated
:input, :text, :password, :radio, :submit...
div:contains(Hello)
jQuery collections
• $('div.section') returns a jQuery collection
• You can treat it like an array
$('div.section').length = no. of matched elements
$('div.section')[0] - the first div DOM element
$('div.section')[1]
$('div.section')[2]
jQuery collections
• $('div.section') returns a jQuery collection
• You can call methods on it
$('div.section').size() = no. of matched elements
$('div.section').each(function() {
console.log(this);
});
jQuery collections
• $('div.section') returns a jQuery collection
• You can call methods on it
$('div.section').size() = no. of matched elements
$('div.section').each(function(i) {
console.log("Item " + i + " is ", this);
});
HTML futzing
$('span#msg').text('The thing was updated!');
$('div#intro').html('<em>Look, HTML</em>');
Attribute futzing
$('a.nav').attr('href', 'http://flickr.com/');
$('a.nav').attr({
'href': 'http://flickr.com/',
'id': 'flickr'
});
$('#intro').removeAttr('id');
CSS futzing
$('#intro').addClass('highlighted');
$('#intro').removeClass('highlighted');
$('#intro').toggleClass('highlighted');
$('p').css('font-size', '20px');
$('p').css({'font-size': '20px', color: 'red'});
Grabbing values
• Some methods return results from the first matched element
var height = $('div#intro').height();
var src = $('img.photo').attr('src');
var lastP = $('p:last').html()
var hasFoo = $('p').hasClass('foo');
var email = $('input#email').val();
Traversing the DOM
• jQuery provides enhanced methods for traversing the DOM
$('div.section').parent()
$('div.section').next()
$('div.section').prev()
$('div.section').nextAll('div')
$('h1:first').parents()
Handling events
$('a:first').click(function(ev) {
$(this).css({backgroundColor: 'orange'});
return false; // Or ev.preventDefault();
});
Handling events
$('a:first').click(function(ev) {
$(this).css({backgroundColor: 'orange'});
return false; // Or ev.preventDefault();
});
$('a:first').click();
Going unobtrusive
$(document).ready(function() {
alert('The DOM is ready!');
});
Going unobtrusive
$(function() {
alert('The DOM is ready!');
});
Going unobtrusive
jQuery(function($) {
alert('The DOM is ready!');
});
Chaining
• Most jQuery methods return another jQuery object - usually one representing the same collection. This means you can chain methods together:
$('div.section').hide().addClass('gone');
Advanced chaining
• Some methods return a different collection
• You can call .end() to revert to the previous collection
Advanced chaining
• Some methods return a different collection
• You can call .end() to revert to the previous collection
$('#intro').css('color', '#cccccc').
find('a').addClass('highlighted').end().
find('em').css('color', 'red').end()
Ajax
• jQuery has excellent support for Ajax
$('div#intro').load('/some/file.html');
• More advanced methods include:
$.get(url, params, callback)
$.post(url, params, callback)
$.getJSON(url, params, callback)
$.getScript(url, callback)
Animation
• jQuery has built in effects:$('h1').hide('slow');
$('h1').slideDown('fast');
$('h1').fadeOut(2000);
• You can chain them:$('h1').fadeOut(1000).slideDown()
$("#block").animate({
width: "+=60px",
opacity: 0.4,
fontSize: "3em",
borderWidth: "10px"
}, 1500);
Or roll your own...
Plugins
• jQuery is extensible through plugins, which can add new methods to the jQuery object
Further reading
• http://jquery.com/
• http://docs.jquery.com/
• http://visualjquery.com/ - API reference
• http://simonwillison.net/tags/jquery/
• http://simonwillison.net/2007/Aug/15/jquery/
• http://24ways.org/2007/unobtrusively-mapping-microformats-with-jquery