What is that ? -> $("container")

[antoine.viau]

Hi there !

I was looking at ajaxpatterns.org when I read this piece of JS code :

var container;

window.onload = function()
{
if ($("container"))
{
var newContainer = document.create
document.getElementByTagName("body").removeChild($ ("container"));
document.getElementByTagName("body").insert
}

What is this $("container") ?? I never saw this syntax
I tried to find out on GG but nothing appeared.

Thx
Antoine

[Martin Honnen]

an**********@gmail.com wrote:

if ($("container"))
{ document.getElementByTagName("body").removeChild($ ("container")); What is this $("container") ?? I never saw this syntax

Well someone being PHP or Perl "impaired" is probably writing that code
and has simply defined a function with the name $ taking a string
argument and then doing whatever that PHP or Perl "impaired" person is
missing in JavaScript.
So look for e.g.
function $ (argument) {
in their source code and check what the function body implements,
probably taking that string argument and looking for a variable or even
DOM node with the name/id.
$ is legal in identifiers in JavaScript but should be avoided.

--

Martin Honnen
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Michael Winter]

On 21/11/2005 15:19, an**********@gmail.com wrote:

I was looking at ajaxpatterns.org when I read this piece of JS code :
Providing a link would have helped, but I found where you probably saw it:

<http://www.ajaxify.com/run/dom/dom.js>

[snipped code]
What is this $("container") ??

A function call. A dollar symbol ($) is valid identifier start
character, along with letters and underscores (_). It's a bad choice
though, not least because dollars should be reserved for generated content.

You can see the definition at:

<http://www.ajaxify.com/run/Lib/js/util.js>

[snip]

Mike

--
Michael Winter
Prefix subject with [News] before replying by e-mail.

[Matt Kruse]

an**********@gmail.com wrote:

What is this $("container") ?? I never saw this syntax
I tried to find out on GG but nothing appeared.

$ is just a function which they have defined.
Consider:

function $(name) {
alert(name);
}
$("test");

--
Matt Kruse
http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com
http://www.AjaxToolbox.com

[antoine.viau]

Thx guys,

I saw this famous $() function and it does what you described : it just
returns back the elements passed through string arguments.
I don't know what to think about this. It seems "dirty" in a way, but
in another way it's really cool to get away from those millions
document.getElementById() ... :-)

Thx anyway

Antoine

[chuck]

an**********@gmail.com wrote:

What is this $("container") ?? I never saw this syntax
I tried to find out on GG but nothing appeared.

Thx
Antoine

It is a user defined function, probably from prototype.js if you were
looking at ajax stuff.

http://www.sergiopereira.com/articles/prototype.js.html
http://prototype.conio.net/

"Using the $() function
The $() function is a handy shortcut to the all-too-frequent
document.getElementById() function of the DOM. Like the DOM function,
this one returns the element that has the id passed as an argument.

Unlike the DOM function, though, this one goes further. You can pass
more than one id and $() will return an Array object with all the
requested elements. ... "

chuck