jQuery UI Alert Dialog as a replacement for alert()

Question

I\'m using alert() to output my validation errors back to the user as my design does not make provision for anything else, but I would rather use jQuery UI dial

Answer 1

Use this code syntax.

   $("<div></div>").html("YOUR MESSAGE").dialog(); 

this works but it append a node to the DOM. You can use a class and then or first remove all elements with that class. ex:

function simple_alert(msg)
{
    $('div.simple_alert').remove();
    $('<div></div>').html(is_valid.msg).dialog({dialogClass:'simple_alert'});
}

Answer 2

I don't think you even need to attach it to the DOM, this seems to work for me:

$("<div>Test message</div>").dialog();

Here's a JS fiddle:

http://jsfiddle.net/TpTNL/98

Answer 3

Using some of the info in here I ended up creating my own function to use.

Could be used as...

custom_alert();
custom_alert( 'Display Message' );
custom_alert( 'Display Message', 'Set Title' );

jQuery UI Alert Replacement

function custom_alert( message, title ) {
    if ( !title )
        title = 'Alert';

    if ( !message )
        message = 'No Message to Display.';

    $('<div></div>').html( message ).dialog({
        title: title,
        resizable: false,
        modal: true,
        buttons: {
            'Ok': function()  {
                $( this ).dialog( 'close' );
            }
        }
    });
}

Answer 4

As mentioned by nux and micheg79 a node is left behind in the DOM after the dialog closes.

This can also be cleaned up simply by adding:

$(this).dialog('destroy').remove();

to the close method of the dialog. Example adding this line to eidylon's answer:

function jqAlert(outputMsg, titleMsg, onCloseCallback) {
    if (!titleMsg)
        titleMsg = 'Alert';

    if (!outputMsg)
        outputMsg = 'No Message to Display.';

    $("<div></div>").html(outputMsg).dialog({
        title: titleMsg,
        resizable: false,
        modal: true,
        buttons: {
            "OK": function () {
                $(this).dialog("close");
            }
        },
        close: function() { onCloseCallback();
                           /* Cleanup node(s) from DOM */
                           $(this).dialog('destroy').remove();
                          }
    });
}

EDIT: I had problems getting callback function to run and found that I had to add parentheses () to onCloseCallback to actually trigger the callback. This helped me understand why: In JavaScript, does it make a difference if I call a function with parentheses?

Answer 5

I took @EkoJR's answer, and added an additional parameter to pass in with a callback function to occur when the user closes the dialog.

function jqAlert(outputMsg, titleMsg, onCloseCallback) {
    if (!titleMsg)
        titleMsg = 'Alert';

    if (!outputMsg)
        outputMsg = 'No Message to Display.';

    $("<div></div>").html(outputMsg).dialog({
        title: titleMsg,
        resizable: false,
        modal: true,
        buttons: {
            "OK": function () {
                $(this).dialog("close");
            }
        },
        close: onCloseCallback
    });
}

You can then call it and pass it a function, that will occur when the user closes the dialog, as so:

jqAlert('Your payment maintenance has been saved.', 
        'Processing Complete', 
        function(){ window.location = 'search.aspx' })

Answer 6

Building on eidylon's answer, here's a version that will not show the title bar if TitleMsg is empty:

function jqAlert(outputMsg, titleMsg, onCloseCallback) {
    if (!outputMsg) return;

    var div=$('<div></div>');
    div.html(outputMsg).dialog({
        title: titleMsg,
        resizable: false,
        modal: true,
        buttons: {
            "OK": function () {
                $(this).dialog("close");
            }
        },
        close: onCloseCallback
    });
    if (!titleMsg) div.siblings('.ui-dialog-titlebar').hide();
}

see jsfiddle