Javascript Kata » Echo chamber

Javascript for PHP lovers

Dan — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:57:23 +0000

I’m not a PHP guy and I like to use standards for the languages I’m using so this php.js thing is not for me at all. In fact, I really dislike PHP and though I use it often, there is no reason in the world I would want to use its syntax to write javascript.

Import the librairie (packed) and write javascript like you never wrote it before.

Example, you want to use the good ol’ strrpos to find position of last occurrence of a char in a string (example from the site)

strrpos(‘Kevin van Zonneveld’, ‘e’);

would return 16.

But what happens if a non-PHP guy as to modify your PHPed javascript?

Flot : a new plotting plugin for jQuery

Dan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:18:01 +0000

As you probably know, I’m a big fan of jQuery because it is more integrated with CSS than scriptaculous. Someone have made a new plotting plugin for jQuery called Flot and this is awesome. The examples are really looking good.

Intuitive Date Input Selection : a calendar with a special twist

Dan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:48:50 +0000

If you’re a javascripter, chances are that you coded an infamous javascript calendar in your life. I saw somewhere that at the moment of his death, an normal javascripter will have coded an average of 7.4 javascript calendar. If we estimate that there is 2.3 million javascripters in the world, it means that there will be about 17 020 000 javascript calendar when the first generation of javascripter will be extinct. I don’t remember where I was those numbers but I guess they are accurate…

Today I will present 13.51% of all the calendars that Nathaniel Brown will have done in his life : DateTime Toolbocks. But this one has a little twist. Apart being an ugly looking calendar that shows up when you click on an ugly looking icon, it has an intuitive date input selection. It means that it parses natural language and transform it into a datetime value. You want to select a date to be last week? You simply write last week and the date will be last week.

But there’s a lot more of possible (taken from the site)

Today
tod
tomorrow
tom
yesterday
6
6th
6th October
3rd of Feb
10th Feb 2004
14th of Februrary
12 feb
1 ja
mon
Friday
next Friday
next fri
next m
last Monday
last mon
last m
2004-8-8 (ISO)
2004-04-04
1/24/2005 (US)
4/26
10-24-2005
Next Week
Last Year
Next Month
18.11.2004
2 years ago
ten days from now
11 years from today

Tips on bookmarklet

Dan — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:01:48 +0000

Gary Haran wrote stuff you should know about bookmarklet and answer the question that’s on everybody’s lips : what is the maximum number of characters that a bookmarklet can have? And the answer is… 508!

I also wrote a complete article on how to write a bookmarklet.

JavaScript Closures for Dummies

Dan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:01:46 +0000

Closures are really powerful in javascript. The problem with them is that a lot of javascripters don’t understand them well. When I first started working seriously with closures, I had so many questions and no answers… until I read JavaScript Closures for Dummies. Don’t be fooled by the “for dummies” that could make you think about low-quality information as every “for dummies” books. The article of Morris Johns is detailed and precise… but lenghty.

Don’t forget to del.icio.us it and use it as a reference!

Easy cross-browser compatibility with IE7.js

Dan — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:41:46 +0000

I spent a lot of time testing cross-browser compatibility on the last site I did. My friend Frank of Ruby Fleebie is loosing hours trying to be compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer. So, when I heard that a simple javascript file could help us in our work, I thought that it would be nice to share it with you.

Here it is : IE7.js version 2.0 (beta). Check out the demo page and start having fun again by worrying less with cross-browser compatibility.

I also started the Not tested in IE initiative. What is it? It is for developers who don’t want to test if the page or site displays correctly in Internet ExplorerÂ©. You just add the following logo on your site and you’re ready to go!

I proudly announce you that I hate PHP is the first site that joined the initiative. Look at the bottom of the page for the logo.

Tablesorter 2.0 : Simple table sorter with jQuery

Dan — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:56:01 +0000

Here’s something we’re always ask : “Can we see the list in the order we want?” In a programmer’s language, it means that the client wants to be able to sort a HTML table by clicking on the header row. You have two choices : server-side or client-side. If you choose server-side, you’ll have to query all the data to the DB with a different “ORDER BY” clause. That’s not nice for your DB and your DBA will probably hate you. If you choose client-side, you’ll have to write A LOT of code. That is not nice for your phalanges and they will probably hate you.

God finally sent us a third option : Tablesorter 2.0 (a jQuery plugin).

It’s easy to use and it just works! Take a look at the simplest example possible and don’t forget there’s a lot more to do.