A Really Simple jQuery Plugin Tutorial

http://www.queness.com/post/112/a-really-simple-jquery-plugin-tutorial

1. Introduction

Creating a jQuery Plugin is an advanced topic for a jQuery beginner. This month, I have been playing with jQuery intensively. Though I have learnt how to separate the javascript code from html document, I ain't satisfy yet. Whenever I look at my javascript file, it's messy. So, I have decided to go one step further - learn how to write a jQuery plugin to tidy up the javascript file.

This plugin is based on my previous tutorial - Navigation List menu + jQuery Animate Effect Tutorial . Last time, I wrote the script and chucked in all the code in the document.ready section, like this:

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$(document).ready( function () {
     
     $( 'ul#menu li:even' ).addClass( 'even' );
         
     $( 'ul#menu li a' ).mouseover( function () {
         
         $( this ).animate( { paddingLeft: "20px" }, { queue: false , duration:500 });
         
     }).mouseout( function () {
     
         $( this ).animate( { paddingLeft: "0" }, { queue: true , duration:500 });
         
     }).click( function () {
     
         $( this ).animate( { fontSize: "20px" }, { queue: false , duration:500 });
     });
             
});  
But now, I want it to display something like this:
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$(document).ready( function () {
     
     $( #menu).animateMenu({
         padding:20
     })
             
});  

It looks much more better, and easier to reuse this script for another project.

 

2. Plugin Structure

jQuery website has provided a very detailed explanation in Plugins/Authoring page. However, I found it's hard to understand.

Alright, to make your life easier, I did some research online, the following snippet will be a good structure to write a plugin.

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//You need an anonymous function to wrap around your function to avoid conflict
( function ($){
 
     //Attach this new method to jQuery
     $.fn.extend({
         
         //This is where you write your plugin's name
         pluginname: function () {
 
             //Iterate over the current set of matched elements
             return this .each( function () {
             
                 //code to be inserted here
             
             });
         }
     });
     
//pass jQuery to the function,
//So that we will able to use any valid Javascript variable name
//to replace "$" SIGN. But, we'll stick to $ (I like dollar sign: ) )      
})(jQuery);

 

2. Plugin With Options

If you look at step one - Introduction, the "padding" value for this plugin is user configurable. It good to have some settings so that user able to chage it according to their own needs. Please make sure you specify the default values for each of the variables for good practise. Now, you'll need the following code:

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( function ($){
 
     $.fn.extend({
         
         //pass the options variable to the function
         pluginname: function (options) {
 
 
             //Set the default values, use comma to separate the settings, example:
             var defaults = {
                 padding: 20,
                 mouseOverColor : '#000000' ,
                 mouseOutColor : '#ffffff'
             }
                 
             var options =  $.extend(defaults, options);
 
             return this .each( function () {
                 var o = options;
                 
                 //code to be inserted here
                 //you can access the value like this
                 alert(o.padding);
             
             });
         }
     });
     
})(jQuery);

 

3. The animateMenu Plugin

Now you have learnt the plugin structure. The following is the plugin I created based on my previous tutorial. I have successfull convert the standard jQuery script to a plugin that accepts 4 configurations:

  • animatePadding : Set the padding value for the animate effect
  • defaultPadding : Set the default padding value
  • evenColor : Set the color this color if index value is even number
  • oddColor : Set the color this color if index value is odd number
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( function ($){
     $.fn.extend({
         //plugin name - animatemenu
         animateMenu: function (options) {
 
             //Settings list and the default values
             var defaults = {
                 animatePadding: 60,
                 defaultPadding: 10,
                 evenColor: '#ccc' ,
                 oddColor: '#eee'
             };
             
             var options = $.extend(defaults, options);
         
             return this .each( function () {
                 var o =options;
                 
                 //Assign current element to variable, in this case is UL element
                 var obj = $( this );             
                 
                 //Get all LI in the UL
                 var items = $( "li" , obj);
                   
                 //Change the color according to odd and even rows
                 $( "li:even" , obj).css( 'background-color' , o.evenColor);            
                 $( "li:odd" , obj).css( 'background-color' , o.oddColor);                    
                   
                 //Attach mouseover and mouseout event to the LI 
                 items.mouseover( function () {
                     $( this ).animate({paddingLeft: o.animatePadding}, 300);
                     
                 }).mouseout( function () {
                     $( this ).animate({paddingLeft: o.defaultPadding}, 300);
                 });
                 
             });
         }
     });
})(jQuery);

 

4. Full source code

You can save the plugin in a separated file (for example, jquery.animatemenu.js). In this tutorial, I put the script in the html document.

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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
<html xmlns= "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang= "en" xml:lang= "en" >
     
<head>
     <title></title>
     <script type= "text/javascript" src= "http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js" ></script>
     <script>
 
( function ($){
     $.fn.extend({
         //plugin name - animatemenu
         animateMenu: function (options) {
 
             var defaults = {
                 animatePadding: 60,
                 defaultPadding: 10,
                 evenColor: '#ccc' ,
                 oddColor: '#eee' ,
             };
             
             var options = $.extend(defaults, options);
         
             return this .each( function () {
                   var o =options;
                   var obj = $( this );               
                   var items = $( "li" , obj);
                   
                   $( "li:even" , obj).css( 'background-color' , o.evenColor);              
                   $( "li:odd" , obj).css( 'background-color' , o.oddColor);                  
                   
                   items.mouseover( function () {
                       $( this ).animate({paddingLeft: o.animatePadding}, 300);
                     
                   }).mouseout( function () {
                       $( this ).animate({paddingLeft: o.defaultPadding}, 300);
                     
                   });
             });
         }
     });
})(jQuery);
     
     </script>
     
     <script type= "text/javascript" >
     $(document).ready( function () {
         $( '#menu' ).animateMenu({animatePadding: 30, defaultPadding:10});
     });
     </script>
     <style>
       body {font-family:arial;font-style:bold}
       a {color: #666; text-decoration:none}
         #menu {list-style:none;width:160px;padding-left:10px;}
         #menu li {margin:0;padding:5px;cursor:hand;cursor:pointer}
     </style>
</head>  
<body>
 
<ul id= "menu" >
     <li>Home</li>
     <li>Posts</li>
     <li>About</li>
     <li>Contact</li>
</ul>
 
</body>
</html>

I hope this tutorial will give you a better understanding. It isn't too hard at all to create a jQuery plugin. I was reluctantly to learn at first, but now, I realized how simple it is.

I will be publishing another tutorial soon - How to create a simple Accordion jQuery Plugin. So, stay tuned.


78 comments

Dharmendra Sehgal Wed, 3rd October 2012 Ultimate resource.
Reply
lokeshjain2008 Sun, 30th September 2012 You rocks!! simple but amazing. thanks a ton man
Reply
Hudson Kotel Fri, 7th September 2012 Hello,

I am found the jQuery animate function related to example with php in google. & I have obtain new link related to jQuery animate function with php.These link very useful to my project & other work. This link is....

http://www.phphunt.com/122/animate-example-in-jquery?show=123#a123
Reply
noname Sat, 1st September 2012 Awesome very useful!
Reply
venkatesan Thu, 9th August 2012 Nice to learn and great tutorial....rocks.....Many Thanks.....
Reply
linkid Wed, 18th July 2012 If you hover many times, the animation goes on and on. The jquery stop function may help...
Reply
DJ Tue, 3rd July 2012 Thanks, this will make it easy for me to understand this plugin I am trying to extend.
Reply
Amol Bhavsar Mon, 18th June 2012 Hi,
Excellent tutorial.
No complex code understanding.

Well done!!!
Reply
mayWz Wed, 23rd May 2012 Great article, love it <3
Reply
sonypattu Mon, 21st May 2012 Very helpful and simple article to learn how to write plug-in. Please do write more articles like this.
Reply
sewdil Fri, 11th May 2012 Very nice tutorial, thanks. 
one thing I noticed $(this) is not required according the Jquery site ( they say '$(this) would be the same as $($('#element'))') it says 'this' is already a jquery object so we can just use 'this'
Reply
Yene Thu, 3rd May 2012 Very cool me love it!!
Reply
Mitchel Tue, 24th April 2012 Simple. Neat and effective. Thanks a ton
Reply
si Tue, 3rd April 2012 best tutorial on plugin so far
Reply
Evan Espey Sun, 1st April 2012 I've been looking everywhere for a plugin tutorial like this-thanks! To improve on this demo though add the hoverIntent plugin (to prevent unneccesary function calls when mousing over the wrong button). This will prevent that weird jumpiness that occurs when you mouse over the buttons too quickly.
Reply
codeslayer2010.wordpress.com Fri, 2nd March 2012 Great tutorial! I enjoyed how each step, you added a little more jQuery so the user could see how the plugin progresses.
Reply
wvsant Thu, 1st March 2012 Saved me some time and a lot of frustration. Thanks !
Reply
Rob Mon, 20th February 2012 Great tutorial, I would also follow up with this set of guidelines before releasing a plugin: http://www.websanova.com/tutorials/jquery/10-simple-guidelines-for-writing-jquery-plugins
Reply
Rob Fri, 17th February 2012 That's great, there is a set of guidelines I also always follow when developing my plugins, I've posted them here: http://www.websanova.com/tutorials/jquery/10-simple-guidelines-for-writing-jquery-plugins
Reply
Nupesh Thakur Wed, 8th February 2012 This is a GREAT article. Your explanations are simple and clear, best plugin tutorial !

Thanks for sharing.

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