Extending jQuery

Chapter 5. Collection plugins

This chapter covers

• Defining collection plugins
• Using a plugin framework
• Applying the design principles
• Creating a complete collection plugin

Now that you’ve read the theory behind designing and implementing a plugin, you’ll see how it’s implemented in practice. To make things more concrete, you’ll create a relatively simple plugin that provides a useful service, while still being complex enough to show most of the techniques involved in any plugin.

The plugin you’ll build complements existing functionality provided by the browser. Normal text input fields have a maxlength attribute that allows you to limit how much text may be entered into a field. Such a restriction helps enforce limits that may be imposed ...