How to return an array of objects from a method of a jQuery plugin with chainability?

Question

I'm writing a jQuery plugin called "myplugin" with plugin method "getSomeWhat". This methods may return a collection of somewhat, e.g. attr('id') of element(s) in ".someclass". I'd like to maintain the chainability, but I can't find from the Internet.

Please kindly advise how to achieve.

$(".someclass").myplugin('getSomeWhat').each(function() {
    //some stuff for each somewhat
});

Thanks!

William Choi

Exelian · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-28 11:06:21Z

2

You can't return a non jQuery object and retain chainability. Simply because the chainability is dependent on the jQuery object. It's of course entirely possible to return a jQuery object and allow stuff to chain to that, but that would kinda defeat the purpose of the lookup method.

If you're looking to iterate over the returned set you might accomplish it like this:

var data = $(".someclass").myplugin('getSomeWhat');
$.each(data, function(i, v) {
    //i is index, v is value (if using object props, i is the propName
});

This makes you of the jQuery generic iterator. It can seamlessly iterate over array as well as objects.

edited Feb 28, 2011 at 11:06

answered Feb 24, 2011 at 10:37

Exelian

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3 Comments

William X Over a year ago

Can't I wrap collection into an jQuery object?

Exelian Over a year ago

This really depends on the usecase, what is it exactly you're trying to accomplish? You want to iterate over the collection returned by the plugin?

Exelian Over a year ago

Updated my answer to provide a solution for iteration.

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