jquery.input

A normalized interface for html input elements.

jquery.input exposes a unified interface for interacting with html input elements. You can call the methods on specific input elements $('input[name="foo"]').inputVal('bar'); groups of radio buttons or checkboxes, or non input elements that contain input elements $('.input-container').inputVal({ name: 'bar' }).

Methods

inputVal

"inputVal" works similarly to how jQuery's val method works.

Calling "inputVal" without a parameter gets the inputs value.

var data = $input.inputVal();

Calling "inputVal" with a parameter sets the inputs value.

$input.inputVal('foo');

"inputVal" sets and gets inputs with string, with the exception of checkboxes, multiple select's and multiple file inputs. These elements are get set with arrays (since they can hold multiple values). Note that file inputs cannot be set, and its get value will be the name of its selected file.

// checks checkboxes with values 'a' and 'c', all other checkboxes are unchecked.
$checkboxGroup.inputVal(['a', 'c']);

If "inputVal" is called on an element that is not an input, the selected element's children will be searched for all input elements with name attributes.

<div class="container">
    <input type="text" name="text-input" value="foo">
 
    <select name="multiple-select-input" multiple>
        <option value="a" selected>A</option>
        <option value="b" selected>B</option>
    </select>
 
    <!-- not found, since this element doesn't have a name attribute -->
    <input type="checkbox" value="b">
</div>

// get returns containing input values that have name attributes as an object
// where the keys are the names of the inputs, and the values are the inputs
// values.
$('.container').inputVal();
// in this example will return
// {
//     'text-input': 'foo',
//     'multiple-select-input': ['a', 'b']
// }
 
// set a container by passing an object whose keys are the names attributes
// of the input to set.
$('.container').inputVal({
    'text-input': 'bar',
    'multiple-select-input': ['a']
});

inputOnChange

Detect changes on input attributes. Binds to "change", "keyup", and "keydown" events for text, and text like inputs (textarea, password, etc.) and to the "change" event for other inputs. "inputOnChange" will only be fired if the value has actually changed since the last time the "inputOnChange" callback was fired. This allows the extra responsiveness of binding to both keyup, and keydown, without firing the "inputOnChange" callback more often then necessary.

$input.inputOnChange(function (e) {
    console.log('input has changed', $(this).inputVal());
});

"inputOnChange" may also be called on a an element containing multiple named html input elements. In this case, the "inputOnChange" callback will be fired if any of the inputs change. The value of "this" will be bound to the html element that has changed. (Note that if a group of checkboxes or radio buttons are called, the value of "this" will be the individual input whose value has changed, not the group)

$('.container').inputOnChange(function (e) {
   console.log('input has changed', $(this).attr('name'));
});

inputEnable/inputDisable

May be called on an individual input element or a container of input elements

// equivalent to $input.prop('disabled', true);
$input.inputDisable();
 
// disables all named form inputs in the containing div
$('.container').inputDisable();
 
//inputEnable is analogous to inputDisable
$('.container').inputEnable();

inputClear

Clears the input's value. May be called on an individual element or a container of input elements

$input.inputClear();