new to jQuery, tips on what to start with

[petewall]

Hi, i've recently read a bit about jQuery, and started to write some code today, this is what i came up with so far:

^{$("#mydiv").click(function() {}

^{if($(".myclass").is(":hidden")) {}

^{$(".myclass").slideDown("slow");}

^}

^{else {}

^{$(".myclass").slideUp("slow");}

^}

^});

superbasic stuff that slides down a <div> on click.

well, i'd love some tips on what to do next, something not to advanced and maybe even some pointers on what to look at to get the script done.

[trq]

The first thing that you should learn is about selectors. Your already using them in your example, but very inefficiently. Every time you use $('someselector') jQuery searches the DOM for that element, therefore, if your going to use the same element more than once, save it locally.

 

$("#mydiv").click(function() {
  $myclass = $(".myclass");
  if ($myclass.is(":hidden")) {
    $myclass.slideDown("slow");
  } else {
    $myclass.slideUp("slow");
  }
});

[petewall]

alright, does it work the same if i declare it outside the function?

like

 

^{$myclass = $(".myclass");}

and then

 

^{$("#mydiv").click(function() {}

^{if ($myclass.is(":hidden")) {}

^{$myclass.slideDown("slow");} 

^{} else {} 

  ^{$myclass.slideUp("slow");}

^}

^});

or does it have to be within the function?

[Adam]

Yeah that's fine. Unlike with PHP where you have to declare variables inside a function as global, JS automatically has scope of global variables. Adding to what thorpe said, you can also improve the performance of a selector by adding the element tag ("div.myclass" instead of ".myclass" for example), as it reduces the number of elements to check.

[petewall]

alright, but anyone got any suggestions on easy scripts that's good to start with for a beginner like me? greatly appreciated

[scootstah]

Learn Javascript, then use jQuery. Things will be a lot easier and make more sense.

[Adam]

Learn Javascript, then use jQuery. Things will be a lot easier and make more sense.

 

+1