Auto style checkbox with jQuery ui theme

Question

(jQuery noob here)

Im trying to write a script which when I write will automatically convert it to jQuery UI button and look

Answer 1

Working examples:

• jsFiddle (without comments)
• jsFiddle (without comments with UI theme switcher!)
• jsFiddle (with comments)
• jsFiddle (Just for fun, uses timer and some other jQuery features, just for future reference)
• jsFiddle (Just for fun, uses timer and changes UI theme every second!)

In the following, I should note 2 primary changes. I added CSS to do what you were trying to do to labels in "code" (where it really doesn't belong).

Also, I changed the HTML for "ease of jQuery" use. However, I still noted in the comments how you can easily change it back.

the HTML

<center>
    <button>Create New CheckBox</button>
</center>
<hr />
<div id="CheckBoxes">
    <input class="inp-checkbox" />
    <input class="inp-checkbox" />
    <input class="inp-checkbox" />
    <input class="inp-checkbox" />
</div>​

the CSS

.inp-checkbox+label {
    width:16px; 
    height:16px; 
    vertical-align:middle;
}​

the JavaScript/jQuery

// keep in mind, and i will explain, some of these "moving-parts" or not needed, but are added to show you the "ease" of jquery and help you see the solution

//  This global function is designed simply to allow the creation of new checkboxes as you specified, however, if you won't be making check boxes at end user time, then i suggest simply moving it to within the .each statement found later on.
//  Also, this could easily be written as a jQuery plugin so that you could make a "chainable" one-line call to change checkboxes to this but let's get to the nitty gritty first
function createCheckBox(ele, i) {
    //  First I simply create the new ID here, of course you can do this inline, but this gives us a bottleneck for possible errors
    var newID = "cbx-"+i;
    //  below we use the param "ele" wich will be a jQuery Element object like $("#eleID")
    //  This gives us the "chainability" we want so we don't need to waste time writing more lines to recall our element
    //  You will also notice, the first thing i do is asign the "attribute" ID
    ele.attr({ "id": newID  })
        //  Here we see "chainability at work, by not closing the last line, we can move right on to the next bit of code to apply to our element
        //  In this case, I'm changing a "property", keep in mind this is kinda new to jQuery,
        //  In older versions, you would have used .attr but now jQuery distinguishes between "attributes" and "properties" on elements (note we are using "edge", aka. the latest jQuery version
        .prop({ "type": "checkbox" })
        //  .after allows us to add an element after, but maintain our chainability so that we can continue to work on the input
        // here of course, I create a NEW label and then immidiatly add its "for" attribute to relate to our input ID
        .after($("<label />").attr({ for: newID  }))
        //  I should note, by changing your CSS and/or changing input to <button>, you can ELIMINATE the previous step all together
        // Now that the new label is added, lets set our input to be a button,
        .button({ text: false }) // of course, icon only
        //  finally, let's add that click function and move on!
        //  again, notice jQuery's chainability allows us no need to recall our element
        .click(function(e) {
            //  FYI, there are about a dozen ways to achieve this, but for now, I'll stick with your example as it's not far from correct
            var toConsole = $(this).button("option", {
                icons: {
                    primary: $(this)[0].checked ? "ui-icon-check" : ""
                }
            });
            console.log(toConsole, toConsole[0].checked);
        });
    //  Finally, for sake of consoling this new button creation and showing you how it works, I'll return our ORIGINAL (yet now changed) element
    return ele;
}

$(function() {
    //  This .each call upon the inputs containing the class I asiged them in the html,
    //  Allows an easy way to edit each input and maintain a counter variable
    //  Thus the "i" parameter
    //  You could also use your ORIGINAL HTML, just change $(".inp-checkbox") to $("input:[type='checkbox']") or even $("input:checkbox")
    $(".inp-checkbox").each(function(i) {
        // as previously noted, we asign this function to a variable in order to get the return and console log it for your future vision!
        var newCheckBox = createCheckBox($(this), i);
        console.log(newCheckBox);
    });

    //  This next button added is simply to show how you can add new buttons at end-time
    //  ENJOY!!!
    $("button").button().on("click", function(e) {
        var checkBoxCount = $("#CheckBoxes .inp-checkbox").length;
        var newCheckBox = $("<input />").addClass("inp-checkbox").appendTo($("#CheckBoxes"));
        createCheckBox(newCheckBox , checkBoxCount);
        console.log(newCheckBox);
    });
});​

---

Update: The original intent here was to purely answer the question, which was to create a jQuery UI styled checkbox and show how jQuery can be used in multiple ways. However, a later comment queried how to include a traditional style label with it. While there are a billion options for this, I'll simply take from the above and extend.

The first option I took is pretty simple. Using jsFiddle (without comments with UI theme switcher!), I made the following changes:

the JavaScript/jQuery

// First I add a new variable.
// It will simply be for a new "wrapper" element, in which to ensure our button is encased. 
// Giving this element a new class gives easy access for later CSS or Event Triggering of sub elements (like the checkbox)
var newID = "cbx-"+i,
    wrapper = $('<div />', { 'class': 'ui-checkbox-wrapper' }).appendTo('#CheckBoxes');
//  Then I added a line to our ele series of methods.
//  This line simply append our element (checkbox) to our new wrapper
// Take Note at how I added this method at start rather than at end.
// Had I not done this, then the label would not have been wrapped!
ele.appendTo(wrapper)   //  <-- new line!
    .attr({ "id": newID  })

Then I simply added the following CSS:

#CheckBoxes .ui-button .ui-button-text {
    background: #A9A9A9;
    display: inline;
    font-size: 16px;
    left: 19px;
    padding: 0;
    position: relative;
    text-indent: 0;
    top: -4px;
}

Results!