Beginning JavaScript (eBook)

About the authors Jeremy McPeak is a professional programmer and analyst who works extensively with JavaScript and C#. He coauthored both of the previous editions of Beginning JavaScript, and authored the well-reviewed JavaScript 24-Hour Trainer. He contributes to the online, web-centric learning site Tuts+ Code, covering topics such as JavaScript, C#, and the .NET Framework. Paul Wilton owns his own company, providing online booking systems to vacation property owners, which is largely developed using JavaScript.

INTRODUCTION xix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO JAVASCRIPT AND THE WEB 1

Introduction to JavaScript 1

Where Do My Scripts Go? 7

Your First Simple JavaScript Program 9

Writing More JavaScript 10

A Brief Look at Browsers and Compatibility Problems 15

Summary 16

CHAPTER 2: DATA TYPES AND VARIABLES 17

Types of Data in JavaScript 18

Variables--Storing Data in Memory 20

Using Data--Calculations and Basic String Manipulation 26

Data Type Conversion 38

Arrays 43

Summary 52

CHAPTER 3: DECISIONS AND LOOPS 55

Decision Making--The if and switch Statements 56

Looping--The for and while Statements 76

Summary 84

CHAPTER 4: FUNCTIONS AND SCOPE 87

Creating Your Own Functions 88

Scope and Lifetime 92

Functions as Values 94

Summary 97

CHAPTER 5: JAVASCRIPT--AN OBJECT?]BASED LANGUAGE 99

Object?]Based Programming 100

JavaScript's Native Object Types 105

Creating Your Own Custom Objects 144

Creating New Types of Objects (Reference Types) 148

Summary 151

CHAPTER 6: STRING MANIPULATION 153

Additional String Methods 154

Regular Expressions 158

The String Object 175

Using the RegExp Object's Constructor 183

Summary 191

CHAPTER 7: DATE, TIME, AND TIMERS 193

World Time 194

Timers in a Web Page 200

Summary 203

CHAPTER 8: PROGRAMMING THE BROWSER 205

Introduction to the Browser's Objects 206

Determining the User's Browser 218

Summary 225

CHAPTER 9: DOM SCRIPTING 229

The Web Standards 231

The Document Object Model 234

Manipulating the DOM 259

Summary 268

CHAPTER 10: EVENTS 271

Types of Events 272

Connecting Code to Events 273

The Standard Event Model 283

Event Handling in Old Versions of Internet Explorer 298

Writing Cross?]Browser Code 307

Native Drag and Drop 317

Summary 333

CHAPTER 11: HTML FORMS: INTERACTING WITH THE USER 335

HTML Forms 336

Traditional Form Object Properties and Methods 338

HTML5 Form Object Properties and Methods 375

Summary 386

CHAPTER 12: JSON 391

XML 392

JSON 393

Summary 400

CHAPTER 13: DATA STORAGE 403

Baking Your First Cookie 404

Creating a Cookie 416

Getting a Cookie's Value 419

Cookie Limitations 424

Cookie Security and IE 425

Web Storage 426

Summary 432

CHAPTER 14: AJAX 435

What Is Ajax? 436

Using the XMLHttpRequest Object 438

Creating a Simple Ajax Module 441

Validating Form Fields with Ajax 444

Things to Watch Out For 453

Summary 462

CHAPTER 15: HTML5 MEDIA 463

A Primer 464

Scripting Media 467

Summary 481

CHAPTER 16: JQUERY 483

Getting jQuery 484

jQuery's API 485

Summary 504

CHAPTER 17: OTHER JAVASCRIPT LIBRARIES 505

Digging into Modernizr 506

Diving into Prototype 515

Delving into MooTools 531

Summary 546

CHAPTER 18: COMMON MISTAKES, DEBUGGING,

AND ERROR HANDLING 549

D'oh! I Can't Believe I Just Did That: Some Common Mistakes 550

Error Handling 555

Debugging 563

Summary 583

APPENDIX A: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES 587

APPENDIX B: JAVASCRIPT CORE REFERENCE 653

APPENDIX C: W3C DOM REFERENCE 683

APPENDIX D: LATIN?]1 CHARACTER SET 715

INDEX 723