Very nice! Is $E() short for Erik? :)
Erik R. wrote:
> Recently I've been using prototype's wonderful new DOM creation
> syntax. But I found that it's still too verbose. Say I want to
> create the following table:
>
> <table id="myTable">
> <thead>
> <tr>
> <th>Title A</th>
> <th>Title B</th>
> </tr>
> </thead>
> <tbody>
> <tr>
> <td>A</td>
> <td>B</td>
> </tr>
> </tbody>
> </table>
>
> Simple, right? But, as I understand the prototype.js DOM building, to
> build this table, I'd have to do:
>
> var table = new Element('table', {id:myTable});
> var thead = new Element('thead');
> table.appendChild(thead);
> var theadRow = new Element('tr');
> thead.appendChild(theadRow);
> theadRow.appendChild(new Element('th').update('Title A'));
> theadRow.appendChild(new Element('th').update('Title B'));
> var tbody = new Element('tbody');
> table.appendChild(tbody);
> var tbodyRow = new Element('tr');
> tbody.appendChild(tbodyRow);
> tbodyRow.appendChild(new Element('td').update('A'));
> tbodyRow.appendChild(new Element('td').update('B'));
>
> Grossly verbose, I think you'll agree. Particularly, it's the saving
> of the local variables that bothers me.
>
> But what if we had a shortcut function? Just like $() is short for
> document.getElementById(), I think we could benefit from a shortcut
> element function. So I've written one: $E.
>
> var $E = function(tagName, attributes, childrenVarArgs)
> {
> var element = new Element(tagName, attributes);
> $A(arguments).flatten().each(function(child, i)
> {
> if (i > 1 && child)
> element.appendChild(child);
> });
> return element;
> };
>
> It takes the tagName and attributes just like the Element constructor,
> but it will also take other arguments that will be appended as
> children. Look at the new code to create that same table:
>
> var table = $E('table', {id:myTable},
> $E('thead', null,
> $E('tr', null,
> $E('th').update('Title A'),
> $E('th').update('Title B'))),
> $E('tbody', null,
> $E('tr', null,
> $E('td').update('Title A'),
> $E('td').update('Title B'))));
>
> A little nicer, don't you think? Some intelligent argument parsing
> might also be added to get rid of those null attribute parameters.
>
> Anyway, I'm submitting this as a suggestion to be incorporated into
> the next release of prototype.js. Let me know what you think.
>
> Cheers,
> Erik
> >
>
>
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby
on Rails: Spinoffs" group.
To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
