Implement MooTools’ Elements.addEvent in jQuery

By  on  

One thing that I've always disliked about the jQuery JavaScript framework is its syntax for adding event listeners to elements. The way to add a click event to an element using jQuery is:

$('#myElement').click(function() {
	//do work
});

I love OOP so the above code tells me that a click is being triggered, not that it's going to add a listener to the element. There's nothing wrong with jQuery using that syntax; I simply don't prefer it. What I do when I need to work with jQuery is Moo-ify its syntax when I can. Here's how you can implement MooTools' "addEvent" syntax in MooTools.

The jQuery JavaScript

jQuery.fn.addEvent = jQuery.fn.bind; //updated

We add the "addEvent" function to the jQuery.fn object. Pretty simple.

The Usage

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#myElement').addEvent('click',function(){ alert('w00t'); });
});

Looks a lot like MooTools, no? If you like jQuery's syntax of .click() type events, read my post: Implementing jQuery-Like Event Syntax in MooTools

Recent Features

  • By
    Chris Coyier’s Favorite CodePen Demos

    David asked me if I'd be up for a guest post picking out some of my favorite Pens from CodePen. A daunting task! There are so many! I managed to pick a few though that have blown me away over the past few months. If you...

  • By
    Facebook Open Graph META Tags

    It's no secret that Facebook has become a major traffic driver for all types of websites.  Nowadays even large corporations steer consumers toward their Facebook pages instead of the corporate websites directly.  And of course there are Facebook "Like" and "Recommend" widgets on every website.  One...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Create Custom Events in MooTools 1.2

    Javascript has a number of native events like "mouseover," "mouseout", "click", and so on. What if you want to create your own events though? Creating events using MooTools is as easy as it gets. The MooTools JavaScript What's great about creating custom events in MooTools is...

  • By
    Introducing MooTools LazyLoad

    Once concept I'm very fond of is lazy loading. Lazy loading defers the loading of resources (usually images) until they are needed. Why load stuff you never need if you can prevent it, right? I've created LazyLoad, a customizable MooTools plugin that...

Discussion

  1. More concise :

    jQuery.fn.addEvent = jQuery.fn.bind;

  2. Well put Pierre…well put.

  3. I too prefer verbs like el.setStyle v. el.css. But swapping syntax would totally goof me up!

  4. I don’t get it, why not just use

    $('#myelement').bind('click', function() {...});
    

    It’s even shorter than ‘addEvent’

  5. I agree with Corey, $().bind is exactly what you’re looking for…

  6. Bo Hunter

    I would have to agree, this is nothing more than an alias.

  7. Mysteriously enough in jQuery version 1.4 I get this:

    $(“#website_stock”).addEvent is not a function

    When I set it as just click(fn) it works in Firefox, but not in IE8. It doesn’t return any errors – just the functions do NOT run whatsoever. Same with the bind() option – works in FF on mac, not on IE8.

  8. Pradeep

    Hi David,
    In this site, the two sides with name older and newer and toggle in-out,how to implement it please send me the complete demo with code if possible.
    Thanks in advance

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