Beginning JavaScript

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