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other siblings (div#one and div#three)
$('#two,#four').radioClass('hilite');
Solution
Write a simple plugin to add the .radioClass() method to jQuery:
// Remove the specified class from every sibling of the selected
// element(s), then add that class to the selected element(s).
// Doing it in that order allows multiple siblings to be selected.
//
// Thanks to Ext Core for the idea.
jQuery.fn.radioClass = function( cls ) {
return this.siblings().removeClass(cls).end().addClass(cls);
};
This is a short enough function that it’s not too hard to follow as a one-liner, but
indenting the code as described in Recipe 5.4 makes it completely clear how it works:
jQuery.fn.radioClass = function( cls ) {
return this // Start chain, will return its result
.siblings() // Select all siblings of selected elements
.removeClass(cls) // Remove class from those siblings
.end() // Go back to original selection
.addClass(cls); // Add class to selected elements
};
Discussion
The composer Igor Stravinsky is reported to have said, “Good composers borrow; great
composers steal.” He apparently stole the quote from T.S. Eliot, who wrote, “Immature
poets imitate; mature poets steal.”
Good ideas come from many places, and other JavaScript libraries are chock-full of
good code and ideas. If there is code in another open source library that you can use
or that you can translate to work with jQuery, you’re free to do that—if you respect
the other author’s copyright and license.
For information on open source and free software, see the following
sites:
• http://www.opensource.org/
• http://www.fsf.org/
You may not even need the actual code in a case like this one, where the implementation
is very simple and just the idea of having a “radio class” method is the missing link.
While not required, it’s a good courtesy to give credit to the source of the idea.
5.5 Borrowing Code from Other Libraries | 95