$.fn.myPlugin vs $.something.myPlugin in regard to private and public methods

Question

So I can't seem to find astraight answer on this, only vague examples of multiple variations where similar plugin/method declarations are used. I know that by saying

$.fn.myPlugin

I am defining a publicly available plugin method that can be executed on any valid jQuery object where the fn denotes the prototype. My question is then, by defining a method, either inside of my main plugin like so

$.fn.myPlugin.methodName

or outside of my plugin like so

$.something.methodName //where 'something' is in place of 'fn'

does this affect it being a public private/method? and if each is a different type of declaration, what is the difference.

The backstory of why I would like to know, to give some context to the situation, is that I want to define one main plugin that can be called and have run normally, however if the end user wants to redefine some method I have allowed to be public then they can do that. If I have any methods that I don't want the user to redefine but instead provide callbacks so they can hook into it, then I want to make that method private.

If you're setting anything on `$.whatever`, then it's public... — Niet the Dark Absol, Sep 09 '16 at 14:09
so would I then do `$.fn.myPlugin.privateMethod` to declare a private method for myPlugin? — Mike, Sep 09 '16 at 14:13
No. You can't create private methods in public scope like that. Look at the answer provided by @NiettheDarkAbsol below to see how to do it. — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Sep 09 '16 at 14:15
Yea I just saw it pop up after posting that last comment, explains it perfectly. Thank you guys! — Mike, Sep 09 '16 at 14:17

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 09 '16 at 14:11

2

Anything set on $.whatever will be public, and therefore able to be modified by other developers.

If you want private methods, you should create a closure.

(function() {
    function init(jqObj) { ... } // do magic here
    $.fn.myPlugin = function() { init(this); } // avoid exposing core method
    $.fn.myPlugin.publicMethod = function() { ... }
    function privateMethod() { ... }
})();

answered Sep 09 '16 at 14:11

Niet the Dark Absol

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ahhh okay, that makes sense. I do have closure being defined via `(function($) { }(jQuery));` I see now that private methods are just locally scoped functions. That is the piece I was missing, however, are you using the `function(init)` as a private function of the main plugin as to avoid anyone over writing the plugin itself? – Mike Sep 09 '16 at 14:14

$.fn.myPlugin vs $.something.myPlugin in regard to private and public methods

1 Answers1