How Does Jquery Accomplish Chaining Of Commands?

I consider myself (at best) a mid-level JavaScript guy...and of course...I want to understand HOW some things are accomplished so I can write better code. As such, I've been looki

Solution 1:

All the methods on a jQuery object will return a jQuery object.

In this particular example you can see them being created jQuery().find( selector ) and jQuery( elem || [] )

Solution 2:

As per your comment:

This is from the example here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluent_interface#JavaScript With extra comments

var Car = function() {

        var speed, color, doors;

        this.setSpeed = function(speed) {
                this.speed = speed;
                **//Returns the reference to the calling `car` object** returnthis; 
        };

        this.setColor = function(color) {
                this.color = color;
                **//Returns the reference to the calling `car` object** returnthis; 
        };

        this.setDoors = function(doors) {
                this.doors = doors;
                **//Returns the reference to the calling `car` object** returnthis; 
        };

};

// Fluent interface
**//Each method returns a reference to the object itself**
**//so the next method chain is refering back to the previous returned value**
**//ie - itself, the orginal object that started the call chain**
myCar = new Car();
myCar.setSpeed(100).setColor('blue').setDoors(5);

// Example without fluent interface
**// normal, non fluent style, where each method returns Void**
**// so you need to start with the object reference yourself each time**
myCar2 = new Car();
myCar2.setSpeed(100);
myCar2.setColor('blue');
myCar2.setDoors(5);

Solution 3:

I will try to explain with an example. For this example you should open chrome developer console or firebug.

var $m = function() {
    returnthis;
};
$m.log = function(param) {
    console.log(param);
    returnthis;
};
$m.alert = function(param) {
    this.log('alerting: ' + param);
    alert(param);
    returnthis;
};
$m.log('start').alert('Sample message').log('end').log('success');

As you can see, every function returns this, which refers to $m for this example. This way I can chain as many methods as I want.

Solution 4:

My understanding is this: Jquery functions return a reference to the relevant object when they execute, which is what allows you to chain operations together. So, if you perform an operation to find a div, the function returns a reference, allowing you to immediately chain another operation to the end of it.

Solution 5:

Using return this; returns the parent OBJECT

var myObject = {
  a: function(){
    alert('a');
    returnthis; 
    //this == myObject, so returning myObject means //the next function in the chain will call myObject.___
  },
  b: function(){
    alert('b');
    returnthis;
  }
}
myObject.a().b();//alerts 'a' then alerts 'b'