How do I use jQuery UI's Highlight and Error widgets?

Question

jQuery UI has some nice convenient CSS styles for alerting and highlighting. I can see it at the themeroller site -- look on the right hand side. Is there a Javascript interface

Answer 1

Apply the appropriate CSS classes for the desired interaction cue from the UI/Theming/API page: .ui-state-highlight for highlight and .ui-state-error for error. You can do it statically or use .addClass('ui-state-highlight') or .addClass('ui-state-error') to do it dynamically.

Answer 2

They are just CSS styles. You can apply them on the backend, or apply them using .addClass().

Answer 3

I have adapted a short jQuery function to convert a given set of divs (containing text) into error/highlight elements.

You can see it in action on this jsFiddle.

Here is the javascript:

//function to create error and alert dialogs
function errorHighlight(e, type, icon) {
    if (!icon) {
        if (type === 'highlight') {
            icon = 'ui-icon-info';
        } else {
            icon = 'ui-icon-alert';
        }
    }
    return e.each(function() {
        $(this).addClass('ui-widget');
        var alertHtml = '<div class="ui-state-' + type + ' ui-corner-all" style="padding:0 .7em;">';
        alertHtml += '<p>';
        alertHtml += '<span class="ui-icon ' + icon + '" style="float:left;margin-right: .3em;"></span>';
        alertHtml += $(this).text();
        alertHtml += '</p>';
        alertHtml += '</div>';

        $(this).html(alertHtml);
    });
}

//error dialog
(function($) {
    $.fn.error = function() {
        errorHighlight(this, 'error');
    };
})(jQuery);

//highlight (alert) dialog
(function($) {
    $.fn.highlight = function() {
        errorHighlight(this, 'highlight');
    };
})(jQuery);

Answer 4

I'd like to share one more solution. It's based on custom widgets and allows to add a title and customizable icon. Try Fiddle or look below:

$.widget('custom.noteBox', {
options: {
    icon: true,
    state: 'highlight'
},
_create: function () {
    var icon, note = $('<p>').html(this.element.html());
    if (this.options.icon === true) {
        switch (this.options.state) {
            case 'highlight':
                icon = 'info';
                break;
            case 'error':
                icon = 'alert';
                break;
            default:
                icon = false;
        }
    } else {
        icon = this.options.icon;
    }
    if (icon) note.prepend($('<span>')
        .addClass('ui-icon ui-icon-' + icon)
        .css({
        'float': 'left',
        'margin-right': '.3em'
    }));
    var title = this.element.attr('title');
    if (title) note.prepend($('<strong>').text(title + ' '));
    this.element.addClass('ui-widget')
        .replaceWith($('<div>')
        .addClass('ui-state-' + this.options.state + ' ui-corner-all')
        .css({
        'margin-top': '20px',
        'padding': '0 .7em'
    })
        .append(note));
   }
});


$('.error').noteBox({
    state: 'error'
 });
$('.info').noteBox();
$('<div title="Note! ">I`m dynamically added #1</div>')
    .appendTo('body').noteBox({
    icon: 'folder-open'
 });
 $('<div title="Note! ">I`m dynamically added #2</div>')
    .appendTo('body').noteBox({
    state: 'error'
 });
 $('<div title="Note! ">I`m dynamically added #3</div>')
    .appendTo('body').noteBox({
    state: 'error',
    icon: 'trash'
 });