Public functions from within a jQuery plugin

Question

I love the jQuery plugin architecture, however, I find it frustrating (probably due to a lack of understanding on my part) when I want to retain a reference to the plugin in

Answer 1

Sample plugin with all functions:

    <script type="text/javascript">
(function( $ ) {

    $.fn.PluginX = function( options ) {
        // Default variables
        // var defaults = {textColor: "#000", backgroundColor: "#fff"}
        // var opts = $.extend( {}, defaults, options );

        // Or
        var settings = $.extend( {}, $.fn.PluginX.defaults, options );

        // Private function
        var privFunc = function(txt) {
            return "Private function " + txt;
        };

        // Public function
        this.pubFunc = function(txt) {
            console.log("\r\nPublic function " + txt);
            return this;
        };

        // Public function2
        this.pubFunc2 = function(txt) {
            console.log("\r\nPublic function " + txt);

            // Private from public
            privFunc("\r\nPrivate function from public -- " + txt);
            return this;
        };

        // Our plugin implementation code goes here.
        return this.each(function() {
            // alert(opts.validate);
            $(this).on('click',function(){
                var elem = $( this );
                var markup = elem.text();                                
                console.log("\r\nElement text " + markup);

                // Function private
                console.log(privFunc(markup));

                // External func
                console.log($.fn.PluginX.format(markup));

                // External function
                console.log(external(markup));
            });

            return this;
        });
    };

    // Variable
    $.fn.PluginX.defaults = {
        validate: "username"
    };

    // External Function
    $.fn.PluginX.format = function(txt) {
        return "<strong>" + txt + "</strong>";
    };

    // External Function
    function external(txt){
        return "External " + txt;
    }

})(jQuery);

$(document).ready(function() {
    var pl = $('.txt').PluginX({validate: "words"}).pubFunc("Hello Public").pubFunc2("Hello Public2");        
});
</script>
<p class="txt">Hello Max</p>
<p class="txt">Hello Pax</p>

Answer 2

Most of the jQuery plugins that I see trying to accomplish this will use an anonymous scope and closures to reference functions and variables unique to that instance. For example, using the following pattern:

;(function ($) {
    // your code
})(jQuery);

Between the beginning and end of the module, you can declare any functions you want. You won't pollute the global namespace and you can retain access to local variables through closures, that could solve a lot of your problems. Also, don't be afraid to use the $.data functions.

Answer 3

I think you could accomplish what you're looking for with something like this:

var myIcon = $("myId").ajaxIcon(); //myIcon = a reference to the ajaxIcon 
$.ajaxIcon.start(myIcon);//some stuff
$.ajaxIcon.stop(myIcon);

Haven't tested it though - I don't have access to an environment where I can do that atm

Answer 4

If you do something like the following:

(function($){

$.fn.myPlugin = function(options) {
    // support multiple elements
    if (this.length > 1){
        this.each(function() { $(this).myPlugin(options) });
        return this;
    }

    // private variables
    var pOne = '';
    var pTwo = '';
    // ...

    // private methods
    var foo = function() {
        // do something ...
    }
    // ...

    // public methods        
    this.initialize = function() {
        // do something ...
        return this;
    };

    this.bar = function() {
        // do something ...
    };
    return this.initialize();
}
})(jQuery);

Then you can access any of your public methods:

var myPlugin = $('#id').myPlugin();

myPlugin.bar();

This is taken from this very helpful article (May 2009) from trulyevil.com which is itself an extension on this article (Oct 2007) from learningjquery.com.

Answer 5

Ok, i figured out how to do this:

Plugin Code:

$.ajaxIcon.init = function(element, options) {
    //your initialization code

    this.start = function() {
         //start code
    }

    this.stop = function() {
         //stop code
    }
}

$.fn.ajaxIcon = function(options) {
    this.each(function () {
        //This is where the magic happens
        jQuery(this).data('ajaxIcon', new jQuery.ajaxIcon.init(this, opts));
    });

return this;
}

Then to use it somewhere else in your code:

var myIcon = $("#myId").ajaxIcon.data('ajaxIcon') 
// myIcon: a reference to the 'init' object specific to this plugin instance
myIcon.start();
myIcon.stop();

voila, answered my own question :)