Introducing MooTools Dotter

It's best practice to provide an indicator of some sort when performing an AJAX request or processing that takes place in the background. Since the dawn of AJAX, we've been using colorful spinners and imagery as indicators. While I enjoy those images, I am a Web Developer and prefer JavaScript/text-based solutions. That's where my inspiration for MooTools Dotter came from.

Dotter is a plugin that allows you to create XHTML-based periodical indicators quickly and easily.

The XHTML

<div id="dot-me-1">(Dotter will be here)</div>

Simply create a containing XHTML element that the Dotter instance will live in.

The CSS

You can style the contianer however you'd like. Dotter could care less about your styling...and that's a good thing.

The MooTools JavaScript

/* dotter */
var Dotter = new Class({
	
	/* implements */
	Implements: [Options,Events],

	/* options */
	options: {
		delay: 1000,
		dot: '.',
		message: 'Loading',
		numDots: 3,
		property: 'text',
		reset: false/*,
		onDot,
		onStart,
		onStop
		*/
	},
	
	/* initialization */
	initialize: function(container,options) {
		/* set options */
		this.setOptions(options);
		this.container = document.id(container);
		this.dots = 0;
		this.running = false;
	},
	
	/* adds dot */
	dot: function() {
		if(this.running) {
			var text = this.container.get(this.options.property);
			this.dots++;
			this.container.set(this.options.property,(this.dots % this.options.numDots != 0 ? text : this.options.message) + '' + this.options.dot);
		}
		return this;
	},
	
	/* loads or resets the dotter */
	load: function() {
		this.loaded = true;
		this.dots = 0;
		this.dotter = function(){ this.dot(); this.fireEvent('dot'); }.bind(this);
		this.periodical = this.dotter.periodical(this.options.delay);
		this.container.set(this.options.property,this.options.message + '' + this.options.dot);
		return this;
	},
	
	/* start the dotter */
	start: function() {
		if(!this.loaded || this.options.reset) this.load();
		this.running = true;
		this.fireEvent('start');
		return this;
	},
	
	/* stop the dotter */
	stop: function() {
		this.running = this.loaded = false;
		$clear(this.periodical);
		this.fireEvent('stop');
		return this;
	}
});

Options for Dotter include:

• delay: (defaults to '1000') The speed at which the dotter show add dots.
• dot: (defaults to '.') The character or string that you want to be the "dot."
• message: (defaults to 'Loading') The string that preceeds the dots.
• numDots: (defaults to 3) The number of dots to go to before clearing.
• property: (defaults to 'text') The container's attribute to set each time. The alternative would "HTML."
• reset: (defaults to false) Defines whether to reset the dotter text on restart.

Events for Dotter include:

• Dot: Fires on each dot placement.
• Start: Fires when the Dotter starts.
• Stops: Fires when the Dotter stops.

The Usage

/* simple instance */
var myDotter = new Dotter('dot-me-1');
document.id('start').addEvent('click',function() { myDotter.start() });
document.id('stop').addEvent('click',function() { myDotter.stop() });

/* advanced usage */
var myDotter3 = new Dotter('dot-me-3',{
	periodical: 500,
	dot: '.',
	numDots: 5,
	onDot:function() {
		this.container.setStyles({
			'border-color': '#ccc',
			'background-color': '#eee'
		});
		var effect = new Fx.Morph(this.container,{
			duration: 400
		});
		effect.start({
			'background-color': '#fffea1',
			'border-color': '#fc0'
		});
	},
	onStart: function() {
		this.container.setStyle('visibility','visible');
	},
	onStop: function() {
		this.container.setStyle('visibility','hidden');
	}
});
document.id('start3').addEvent('click',function() { myDotter3.start() });
document.id('stop3').addEvent('click',function() { myDotter3.stop() });

Per usual, simply set the options and events as you wish and move on with more difficult things! Waiting on an AJAX response (onRequest) is a prefect scenario to use Dotter.

Who needs imagery to build an indicator? Simply use Dotter! Any and all suggestions are welcome.