Making a JQuery button act as a dropdown

Question

Take this JQuery UI Button sample as a reference: http://jqueryui.com/demos/button/#splitbutton

Now, how would you implement that dropdown when click the small button? M

Answer 1

A pluggin is also available to do this.

jQuery DropDown Button

Answer 2

HTML:

<div id="container"> 
    <span class="arrow">&or;</span> <span class="default">Choose your option...</span>
    <input type="hidden" value="" class="mehidden"/>
    <ul class="selectBox">
        <li>One</li>
        <li>Two</li>
        <li>Three</li>
    </ul>
</div>

CSS:

.arrow
{
    background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFFFFF;
    border: 1px solid #CCCCCC;
    font-size: 0.8em;
    font-weight: bold;
    height: 26px;
    left: 208px;
    line-height: 26px;
    position: absolute;
    text-align: center;
    vertical-align: middle;
    width: 26px;
    z-index: 100;
}

.selectBox
{
    border: 1px solid #1F1F1F;
    list-style-type: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 3px;
    position: absolute;
    width: 200px;
    display:none;
    top: 25px;
}

#container
{
    position:relative
}

.toggler
{
    overflow:visible;
}

.default
{
    border: 1px solid #1f1f1f;
    width:200px;
    height:20px;
    padding:3px;
    position:absolute
}

.selectBox li:hover
{
    background:#ffffd
}

JQUERY:

$('.arrow').click(function() {
    $('.selectBox').slideToggle(200).css('borderTop', 'none');
    $('.selectBox li').click(function() {
        $('.mehidden').val($(this).text());
        $('.default').text($(this).text());
        $('.selectBox').slideUp(200);
    });
});

Answer 3

I finally made it and looks like the picture above.
I blogged about it here and I'm also posting all the code bellow.
Please refer to the blog post for deeper explanation.

CSS

<style type="text/css">

    .ItemActionButtons{}
    .ItemActionButtons .SaveExtraOptions
    {
        display: none; list-style-type: none; padding: 5px; margin: 0; border: 1px solid #DCDCDC; background-color: #fff; z-index: 999; position: absolute;
    }
    .ItemActionButtons .SaveExtraOptions li
    {
        padding: 5px 3px 5px 3px; margin: 0; width: 150px; border: 1px solid #fff;
    }
    .ItemActionButtons .SaveExtraOptions li:hover
    {
        cursor: pointer;
        background-color: #DCDCDC;
    }
    .ItemActionButtons .SaveExtraOptions li a
    {
        text-transform: none;
    }
</style>

HTML

<div class="ItemActionButtons">
    <div class="buttonset" style="float: right;">
        <input id="btnDelete" type="button" value="Delete" class="button" onclick="ItemActionButtons.onDeleteClick.apply(this)" />
        <input id="btnCancel" type="button" value="Cancel" class="button"onclick="ItemActionButtons.onCancelClick.apply(this)" />
    </div>  
    <div id="divSaveButton" class="buttonset" style="float: right;">
        <input id="btnSave" type="button" value="Save" class="button" onclick="ItemActionButtons.onSaveClick.apply(this)" />
        <input id="btnSaveExtra" type="button" class="button" value="+" onclick="ItemActionButtons.onSaveExtraClick.apply(this)" />

        <ul class="SaveExtraOptions ui-corner-bottom" id="btnSaveExtraOptions">
            <li onclick="$('#btnSaveExtraOptions').toggle(); ItemActionButtons.SaveAndNewClick.apply(this)">Save and New</li>
            <li onclick="$('#btnSaveExtraOptions').toggle(); ItemActionButtons.SaveAndCopyClick.apply(this)">Save and Copy</li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>

JavaScript

<script type="text/javascript">

    $(document).delegate('#btnSaveExtra', 'mouseleave', function () { setTimeout(function(){ if (!ItemActionButtons.isHoverMenu) { $('#btnSaveExtraOptions').hide(); }}, 100, 1) });
    $(document).delegate('#btnSaveExtraOptions', 'mouseenter', function () { ItemActionButtons.isHoverMenu = true; });
    $(document).delegate('#btnSaveExtraOptions', 'mouseleave', function () { $('#btnSaveExtraOptions').hide(); ItemActionButtons.isHoverMenu = false; });

    var $IsHoverExtraOptionsFlag = 0;
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $(".button").button();
        $(".buttonset").buttonset();
        $('#btnSaveExtra').button({ icons: { primary: "ui-icon-plusthick" } });
        $('#btnSaveExtraOptions li').addClass('ui-corner-all ui-widget');
        $('#btnSaveExtraOptions li').hover(
            function () { $(this).addClass('ui-state-default'); },
            function () { $(this).removeClass('ui-state-default'); }
        );
        $('#btnSaveExtraOptions li').mousedown(function () { $(this).addClass('ui-state-active'); });
        $('#btnSaveExtraOptions li').mouseup(function () { $(this).removeClass('ui-state-active'); });
    });

    var ItemActionButtons = {
        isHoverMenu: false,

        AllowDelete: function (value) { value ? $("#btnDelete").show() : $("#btnDelete").hide() },
        AllowCancel: function (value) { value ? $("#btnCancel").show() : $("#btnCancel").hide(); },
        AllowSave: function (value) { value ? $("#btnSave").show() : $("#btnSave").hide() },
        AllowSaveExtra: function (value) { value ? $("#btnSaveExtra").show() : $("#btnSaveExtra").hide() },

        onDeleteClick: function () { },
        onCancelClick: function () { },
        onSaveClick: function () { },
        onSaveExtraClick: function () {
            $('#btnSaveExtraOptions').toggle();

            var btnLeft = $('#divSaveButton').offset().left;
            var btnTop = $('#divSaveButton').offset().top + $('#divSaveButton').outerHeight(); // +$('#divSaveButton').css('padding');
            var btnWidth = $('#divSaveButton').outerWidth();
            $('#btnSaveExtraOptions').css('left', btnLeft).css('top', btnTop);
        },
        SaveAndNewClick: function () { },
        SaveAndCopyClick: function () { }
    }

</script>

Answer 4

IMHO, drowdowns should always appear 'over' other content, not push it down, so absolute positioning is perfect for that. Basically add a wrapper div with position: relative around the button and the dropdown menu (which will have position:absolute; display:none), and toggle the dropdown visibility on click. The absolute positioning of the dropdown shouldn't be affected by other children of the wrapper div, such as the button, so it will appear exactly where you tell it to in the CSS.