jQuery: write less, do more.

jQuery is an amazing framework and part of SAPUI5. I want to show you some features, which could be very useful for your SAPUI5-App. You can try out each code snippet on jsfiddle.net. The complete documentation of all jQuery-functions is available right here.

Simple cross-domain Ajax request

This code shows, how you can call a web service from a different domain, without getting security issues (same origin policy). This call will only work, if your service supports JSONP.

// service url
var url = 'http://ip.jsontest.com/?callback=processJSON';

$.ajax({
    url: url,    jsonpCallback: 'processJSON',    dataType: 'jsonp',    success: function (result) {        // process result        $('#result').html(result.ip);    },    error: function (e) {         // log error in browser        console.log(e.message);    }
});

If you don't have to call a service from a different domain, you can remove the jsonpCallback property and change the dataType to json or something else (e.g. XML). You can try out this code snippet right here. Don't forget to read the documentation of jQuery.ajax.

Iterate over a JSON structure

Sometimes it's very important to handle a complex json response. For example, you want to show all objects of your result in a table or a row repeater. If you can't use the built-in functions of SAPUI5 you can use this:

// Object
var person = {    'firstName': 'John',        'lastName': 'Smith',        'age': 25,        'address': {        'streetAddress': '21 2nd Street',            'city': 'New York',            'state': 'NY',            'postalCode': 10021    },        'phoneNumbers': [{        'type': 'home',            'number': '212 555-1234'    }, {        'type': 'fax',            'number': '646 555-4567'    }]
};

// Read single properties
$('#name').html(person.firstName + ' ' +person.lastName);
$('#age').html(person.age);

// Read Array of phone numbers
$.each(person.phoneNumbers, function () {
     // this represents one entry of the array    $('#phoneNumbers').append($('<div class="number"></div>').html(this.type + ' : ' + this.number));
});

You can try out this code snippet right here. Don't forget to read the documentation of jQuery.each.

Create a new jQuery function

If you want to enhance the functionality of jQuery, then check out the extend-function. In this way you can create a new function, which will be available over the jQuery or $ object. (By the way: '$' is just a shortcut of jQuery). This is very useful, if you have to create util or helper functions.

// extend jQuery
$.extend($, {  createText: function () {       // create some text in container       $('#container').append('<span>some text</span>');  }
});
// click-handler
$('#create').click(function(){    // call new function    $.createText();
});

Test the complete snippet here. Documentation of jQuery.extend.

Create a new jQuery instance method

When you select a DOM-Element with jQuery, e.g. $('.row'), the framework will return a new jQuery object. You can access over this instance to all kinds of methods. But there is also a way to create new instance methods.

// create new instance method
$.fn.extend({    colorize: function () {       this.css('background-color','#f2aa00');    }
});
// click-handler
$('button').click(function(){    // call new instance method    $('.target').colorize();
});

A very smart way to implement new stuff! Test the complete snippet here. Documentation of jQuery.fn.extend.

Simple data storage with jQuery

With HTML5 you can use persistent localStorage or temporarily sessionStorage API to save data in an appropriate scope. But jQuery offers an additional DOM-based method to store temporary arbitrary data.

// store data
$("body").data("data_one", 500);
$("body").data("data_two", 52);

$('button').click(function(){

    // read data    var data_one = $("body").data("data_one");    var data_two = $("body").data("data_two");    // create result string    $("div").html('Value: ' + data_one + ' and ' + data_two);
});

You can also store e.g. a serialized Javascript Object. But when you left the current site, the DOM-Element will be destroyed and your data will be lost. So it's important to know, that you shouldn't use this API to store session or persistent data. Code snippet is available here. Documentation of jQuery.data.