Checkbox Filtering Using MooTools ElementFilter

By  on  

When I first wrote MooTools ElementFilter, I didn't think much of it. Fast forward eight months later and I've realized I've used the plugin a billion times. Hell, even one of the "big 3" search engines is using it for their maps application. There's one more place I'd like to use it. My employer uses a basic SPAM filtering system which allows me to see emails that were incorrectly (or correctly) caught in SPAM, click a checkbox, and click a "Deliver" button. The problem is that it will catch a bunch of valid emails with very similar subject lines, so I have to hunt down all of the emails, check the email's checkbox, and keep searching. Inefficient to say the least. That's why I've used ElementFilter to find LABEL elements with the given search text and automatically check their checkboxes.

The Sample HTML

<ul id="my-list">
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkADDRESS" /> <label for="chkADDRESS">ADDRESS</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkAPPLET" /> <label for="chkAPPLET">APPLET</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkAREA" /> <label for="chkAREA">AREA</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkA" /> <label for="chkA">A</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkBASE" /> <label for="chkBASE">BASE</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkBASEFONT" /> <label for="chkBASEFONT">BASEFONT</label></li>
<li><input type="checkbox" id="chkBIG" /> <label for="chkBIG">BIG</label></li>
<!-- ... more ... -->
</ul>

I've used a simple list of HTML elements for my example. Having 100 "VIAGRA!!!" labels really wouldn't be helpful.

The MooTools JavaScript

/* usage */
window.addEvent('domready',function() {
	var myFilter = new ElementFilter('search-term', '#my-list label', {
		trigger: 'keyup',
		cache: true,
		onShow: function(element) {
			$(element.get('for')).checked = true;
		},
		onHide: function(element) {
			$(element.get('for')).checked = false;
		}
	});
});

If you aren't familiar with ElementFilter, be sure to read the original post. The only code specific to my purpose is in the onShow and onHide methods. Awesome!

Give it a shot. I'll be bribing my IT team to put something like this in place. It will make managing SPAM much easier!

Recent Features

  • By
    CSS Filters

    CSS filter support recently landed within WebKit nightlies. CSS filters provide a method for modifying the rendering of a basic DOM element, image, or video. CSS filters allow for blurring, warping, and modifying the color intensity of elements. Let's have...

  • By
    Responsive Images: The Ultimate Guide

    Chances are that any Web designers using our Ghostlab browser testing app, which allows seamless testing across all devices simultaneously, will have worked with responsive design in some shape or form. And as today's websites and devices become ever more varied, a plethora of responsive images...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    pointer Media Query

    As more devices emerge and differences in device interaction are implemented, the more important good CSS code will become.  In order to write good CSS, we need some indicator about device capabilities.  We've used CSS media queries thus far, with checks for max-width and pixel ratios.

  • By
    Google Font API

    Google recently debuted a new web service called the Font API.  Google's Font API provides developers a means by which they may quickly and painlessly add custom fonts to their website.  Let's take a quick look at the ways by which the Google Font...

Discussion

  1. Nice! Can this be extended with regular expressions?

  2. David – this is a usability masterpiece. I salute you!

  3. @Chris the Developer: As well you should. ;)

  4. David, simply amazing! You keep on rocking with every Mootools solution.

  5. First time in your blog! Seems quite interesting and of course informative!

  6. rakesh juyal

    Nice one. How about enhancing the code to support multiple search term.

    like if the search term is ap;c then it should select all checkboxes whose label starts with ap [ applet ] or c [ caption, center, cite, code ]

  7. rakesh juyal

    Nice one. How about enhancing the code to support multiple search term.

    like if the search term is ap;c then it should select all checkboxes whose label starts with ap [ applet ] or c [ caption, center, cite, code ]

  8. Mangesh vyas

    Hello sir

    Its really good as always………
    Thanks

  9. scy

    Can this be done with jquery

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!