plugd

Yet another Dojo namespace: plugd is a collection of useful functionality built on and around Base dojo.js ... also known as Dojo: the missing APIs.

PlugD requires Dojo 1.3.0 or higher. PlugD 0.0.3 supports Dojo 1.2.x.

To begin, download either file: dojo-x.x.x-plugd.js is a replacement dojo.js, including this magic in base automatically (with zero side effects). base-x.x.x.js Can be downloaded and included in the page alongside a "clean" dojo.js -- Read on for all the details.

About

These are experiments in extensions on Base Dojo (and probably more specifically dojo.query).

They are new, partially untested (though just common sense variations on existing Dojo functionality), and do many things Dojo would not. For instance, with plugd base you can write Dojo code like:

$("p.baz")
    .appendTo("body")
    .addClass("bar")
    .onclick(function(e){
       e.target.innerHTML = "Wow, JavaScript"; 
    });

... while retaining the full capabilities of Dojo library. Start with the 26k dojo.js, add 1k of additional magic and viola -- All the simple API's, plus the additional potential progressive power of an entire library of professional-grade JavaScript utilities.

The API's found in plugd are loosely based on "my favorite bits of jQuery" ... this is not meant to be a 'compatibility shim' of any kind, it is simply the addition of functions and helpers to Dojo Base. Added magic.

plugd adds several convenience functions, all located in the dojo namespace. For instance, by loading base.js into a page, the following new Dojo API's are made available:

• dojo.show(), dojo.hide(), dojo.toggle()
• dojo.conflict()
• dojo.wrap()
• dojo.create()
• dojo.load()
• dojo.qw()

And the following methods are added to dojo.NodeList (what you get back from calling dojo.query() (or $() after running dojo.conflict()):

• .wrap()
• .show(), .hide(), .toggle()
• .val()
• .append()
• .appendTo()
• .create()
• .animate()
• .destroy()
• .hover()
• .end() (and stash() for private use)

As well as optionally overloading dojo.query to act as a DOM-Creation function instead of just a CSS3 Selector querying engine:

dojo.query("<a href='foo.html'>bar</a>")
    .appendTo("body")
    .addClass("baz") 
    .onclick(function(e){ ... })

... and that's just all in Base Plugd! There are other modules for HTML escaping, form overlaying, and other visual tricks in subversion. You can download just base.js, or checkout the whole plugd namesapce into your Dojo tree for all unit tests and code!

Getting Started

Starting with plugd is easy. You need Dojo, and the base.js file from the project.

Load them into a page:

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/dojo/1.2.0/dojo/dojo.xd.js"></script>
<script src="base.min.js"></script>

If you are new to Dojo, the SitePen QuickStart is an excellent starting point for learning about Base functionality and Dojo patterns.

Also -- because this is merely an extension of Dojo, the entire Dojo Toolkit library of functionality is available by issuing a simple call: dojo.require("some.Module"); -- all the tutorials and community articles out there relating to Dojo > 1.0 are applicable. There is nothing that cannot be accomplished with Dojo, regardless of which API style you prefer.

Start small - and build up to what you need.

See the GettingStarted guide for more information, or look over the full API docs for each function.

How can I help?

To start, try it out! Plop base.js into any Dojo-enabled page and play around with the API's it provides. If something doesn't work as you'd expect, or some convenient function is missing, mention it in the issue tracker. This is a very young project, and is a great place to show off your (d)HTML-foo!

All contributions must be covered under a Foundation CLA to ensure IP cleanliness and to enable any of these functions to be potentially merged into Dojo itself. We won't know the true usefulness and stability of these functions without you, so play around, and leave some feedback.

Got a plugin?

Propose it in the tracker! We'd love to collect a great deal of these small JavaScript plugins building on Base Dojo -- if you have something designed with little to no external dependencies, we'd love to see it! Let us know.

License

plugd is 100% original work, and is available under the same dual New BSD / Academic Free License as Dojo - you are free to use it under the same terms and conditions of the "real" Dojo Project.