The JavaScript Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks (Paperback)

“Take control with the ultimate JavaScript toolkit”

Among the 101 Tips, Tricks & Hacks you'll learn how-to:

• Create a slick yet accessible drop-down menu system
• Take control of your web pages with the DOM
• Validate forms in real time using regular expressions
• Optimize your code so that it runs faster
• Manage style sheets and modify styles on-the-fly
• Produce sophisticated drag-and-drop interaction
• Enhance your site with slick, animated transitions
• Create AJAX applications with the XMLHttpRequest object

…and much more.  Far too many things to mention here!

0. Preface
   • Who Should Read this Book?
   • What’s in this Book?
   • The Book’s Web Site
     • The Code Archive
     • Updates and Errata
   • The SitePoint Forums
   • The SitePoint Newsletters
   • Your Feedback
   • Acknowledgements
1. Getting Started with JavaScript
   • JavaScript Defined
   • JavaScript’s Limitations
     • Security Restrictions
   • JavaScript Best Practices
   • Providing for Users who Don’t Have JavaScript (Progressive Enhancement)
   • Separating Content from Behavior (Unobtrusive Scripting)
   • Using Braces and Semicolons (Consistent Coding Practice)
   • Adding a Script to a Page
     • Putting HTML Comments Around Code
     • The language Attribute
   • Getting Multiple Scripts to Work on the Same Page
   • Hiding JavaScript Source Code
   • Debugging a Script
     • Understanding a Browser’s Built-in Error Reporting
     • Using alert
     • Using try-catch
     • Writing to the Page or Window
     • Using an External Debugger
   • Strict Warnings
   • Summary
2. Working with Numbers
   • Doing Math with JavaScript
   • Rounding a Number to x Decimal Places
   • Creating and Constraining Random Numbers
   • Converting a Number to a String
   • Formatting Currency Values
   • Converting a String to a Number
   • Converting Numbers to Ordinals (-st, -nd, -rd, -th)
   • Summary
3. Working with Strings
   • Including a Special Character in a String
   • Transforming the Character Case of a String
   • Encoding a URL
   • Comparing Two Strings
   • Finding a Substring within a String
   • Splitting a String into Substrings
   • Creating a Regular Expression
   • Testing whether a String Matches a Regular Expression
   • Testing whether a String Contains Only Numeric Data
   • Testing whether a String is a Valid Phone Number
   • Testing whether a String is a Valid Email Address
   • Searching and Replacing Text using a Regular Expression
   • Summary
4. Working with Arrays
   • Using Array-literals
   • Creating an Array of Arrays
   • Indexing an Array with Strings Instead of Numbers
   • Turning an Array into a String
   • Adding or Removing Members from an Array
   • Sorting an Array into Alphabetical or Numeric Order
   • Sorting a Multi-dimensional Array
   • Sorting an Array Randomly
   • Summary
5. Navigating the Document Object Model
   • Accessing Elements
   • Creating Elements and Text Nodes
   • Changing the Type of an Element
   • Removing an Element or Text Node
   • Reading and Writing the Attributes of an Element
   • Getting all Elements with a Particular Attribute Value
   • Adding and Removing Multiple Classes to/from an Element
   • Summary
6. Processing and Validating Forms
   • Reading and Writing the Data in a Text Field
   • Reading and Setting the State of a Checkbox
   • Reading and Setting the State of a Radio Button
   • Reading and Setting the Value of a Select Box
   • Validating a Mandatory Text Field
   • Validating a Numeric Field
   • Validating an Email Address Field
   • Checking for Unselected Radio Buttons
   • Stopping a Form Being Submitted Unless all its Fields are Valid
   • Validating a Form with an Unknown Number of Fields
   • Printing Inline Error Messages when Validating a Form
   • Making Form Fields Appear or Disappear, Based on the Value of other Fields
   • Summary
7. Working with Windows and Frames
   • Using Popup Windows
     • What’s Wrong with Popups?
     • How Do I Minimize the Problems?
   • Opening Off-site Links in a New Window
   • Communicating Between Frames
   • Getting the Scrolling Position
   • Making the Page Scroll to a Particular Position
   • Getting the Viewport Size (the Available Space inside the Window)
   • Summary
8. Working with Cookies
   • Writing Cookies
   • Reading a Cookie
   • Setting a Cookie to Expire at a Specific Date and Time
   • Making a Cookie Accessible Only from a Specific Domain or Path
   • Circumventing Browser Restrictions on the Number of Cookies you can Use
   • Summary
9. Working with Dates and Times
   • Getting the Date and Time
   • Formatting a Date into a Sentence
   • Formatting the Time into a 12- or 24-hour Clock
   • Comparing Two Dates
   • Formatting the Difference Between Dates
   • Summary
10. Working with Images
    • Preloading Images
    • Swapping One Image for Another
    • Displaying an Image at Random
    • Making a Slideshow of Several Images
    • Making an Image Fade in or out
    • Making an Image-based Clock that Updates in Real Time
    • Making a Progress Indicator
    • Summary
11. Detecting Browser Differences
    • Identifying Support for a Particular Feature
    • Identifying a Particular Browser
    • Detecting Quirks Mode and Standards Mode
    • Summary
12. Using JavaScript with CSS
    • Changing the Style of a Single Element
    • Changing the Style of a Group of Elements
    • Retrieving the Computed Style of an Element
    • Making a Style Sheet Switcher
      • Maintaining Alternate Style Sheet States
    • Making a Style Sheet Switcher that Handles Multiple Media Types
    • Reading and Modifying an Existing Style Sheet
    • Adding New Style Sheet Rules
    • Deleting a Rule from a Style Sheet
    • Creating a New Style Sheet
    • Summary
13. Basic Dynamic HTML
    • Handling Events
      • The Short Way: Using Event Handlers
      • The W3C Way (Event Listeners)
        • Referencing the Target Element
        • What is Event Bubbling, and How do I Control it?
    • Finding the Size of an Element
    • Finding the Position of an Element
    • Detecting the Position of the Mouse Cursor
    • Displaying a Tooltip when you Mouse Over an Element
    • Sorting Tables by Column
    • Summary
14. Time and Motion
    • Using setTimeout and setInterval
    • Making an Object Move Along a Set Path
    • Making Animation Less Jerky
      • Animation Frame Times
      • Changing Between Frames
      • Complexity of the Animation
      • The Speed of the Computer
      • The Speed of the Browser
    • Implementing Drag-and-drop Behavior
    • Reordering a List Using Drag-and-drop Functionality
    • Making a Scrolling News Ticker
    • Creating Clip-based Transition Effects
    • Making a Slider Control
    • Summary
15. DHTML Menus and Navigation
    • Making a Drop-down or Fly-out Menu
    • Adding Arrows to Indicate the Presence of a Submenu
    • Adding Timers so the Menus Don’t Open and Close so Abruptly
    • Making Sure the Menus Stay Inside the Window
    • Making the Menus Display Over select Elements
    • Making a Folder Tree or Expanding Menu
      • Discussion
    • Indicating Expanded Branches in a Menu
    • Allowing Only One Menu Branch to Be Open at Any Time
    • Opening the Current Sub-branch Automatically
    • Summary
16. JavaScript and Accessibility
    • Is JavaScript Inaccessible?
      • What is Accessibility?
      • Who are the Affected Users?
    • Making Scripts Accessible to the Keyboard
    • Using Device-independent Event Handlers
    • Making Scripts Accessible to the Keyboard as well as the Mouse
      • Rollovers and Revealing Content
      • Form Validation
      • Drag-and-drop Functionality
      • AJAX and other Remote Scripting Techniques
    • Making title Attribute Tooltips Display on Focus
    • Making a DHTML Menu Accessible to the Keyboard
    • Making a DHTML Menu Usable via the Keyboard
    • Making a DHTML Slider Control Accessible to the Keyboard
    • Making Scripts Accessible to Screen Readers
      • JavaScript Behaviors
        • Rollovers and Revealing Content
        • Form Validation
        • Non-user-initiated Scripts
        • AJAX and other Remote Scripting Techniques
      • Tricks and Hacks
      • Towards Best Practice
        • The Mission
        • The Joy of Mode
        • Reaching toward a Best Practice Approach
        • Into the Future
    • Summary
17. Using JavaScript with Flash
    • Detecting whether Flash is Installed in a Browser
    • Communicating Between JavaScript and Flash
      • FSCommand
      • Flash/JavaScript Integration Kit
    • Summary
18. Building Web Applications with JavaScript
    • Retrieving Data Using XMLHttpRequest
      • Requesting Data from a Server
      • Parsing the Data
      • Caching
      • AJAX Frameworks
    • Retrieving Data without Using XMLHttpRequest
    • Creating Custom Dialogs (Such as Popup Forms)
    • Creating Editable Elements
    • Controlling Text Selections
    • Creating an Auto-complete Text Field
    • Summary
19. Object Orientation in JavaScript
    • What’s so Good about Object Orientation?
      • Abstraction
      • Encapsulation
      • Class Inheritance
      • Polymorphism
    • Object Based Code vs Object Oriented Code
    • Writing an Object Oriented Script
    • Creating Methods for an Object
      • Prototype-based Method Creation
    • Modelling Inheritance
    • Understanding Scope
    • Implementing Namespaces
    • Summary
20. Keeping up the Pace
    • Making Scripts Run Faster
      • Saving References to Objects you Use Frequently
      • Using Ternary Operators and Switch Statements
      • Optimizing Loops
      • Avoiding eval
      • Avoiding Strict Warnings
      • Optimizing for a Particular Browser
    • Writing Scripts Using Less Code
      • Dividing Tasks into Functions (or Using OO)
      • Using Arrays and Iteration to Avoid Code Repetition
      • Compacting Conditions and Return Statements
    • Optimizing Scripts for the Web
      • Removing Comments and Unnecessary Whitespace
      • Compacting the Names of Variables and Properties
    • Avoiding Memory Leaks
      • Avoiding Circular References
      • Cleaning Up After the Fact
    • Making Scripts Run Before the Load Event
    • Summary
21. Index