This works:
$(\'.overdue\').addClass(\'alert\');
But this doesn\'t:
$(\'.overdue\').alert(\'Your book is overdue.\');
<
$(".overdue").each( function() {
alert("Your book is overdue.");
});
Note that ".addClass()" works because addClass is a function defined on the jQuery object. You can't just plop any old function on the end of a selector and expect it to work.
Also, probably a bad idea to bombard the user with n popups (where n = the number of books overdue).
Perhaps use the size function:
alert( "You have " + $(".overdue").size() + " books overdue." );