How to use 'If $(this) has data-attribute'

Sander Schaeffer picture Sander Schaeffer · Mar 17, 2014 · Viewed 43.5k times · Source

I'm with a little problem. I've got a few buttons, each with a different data-function="" attribute. I want to execute a little script to check which of the buttons has been clicked.

<a href="#" class="functionButton" data-function="blogFunctionaliteit">Blog</a>
<a href="#" class="functionButton" data-function="offerteFunctionaliteit">Offerte</a>
<a href="#" class="functionButton" data-function="overzichtFunctionaliteit">Offerte</a>

I simply want a script that says

if $(this) has <data-function="blogFunctionaliteit"> { }
if $(this) has <data-function="offerteFunctionaliteit"> { }
if $(this) has <data-function="overzichtFunctionaliteit"> { }
else { // do nothing }

I've tried lots of thing, but everything doesn't seem to be working, including

if ($(this).attr('data-function', 'blogFunctionaliteit') { } - Which results in a yes, always, as it only checks if the object has the first parameter, instead of checking them both.

Thanks in advance for writing the correct jQuery code or could advice me to use something else.

Answer

ReeCube picture ReeCube · Mar 17, 2014

For the short way, try this:

if ($(this).data("function") === 'blogFunctionaliteit') {
    // TODO: enter your code...
} else if ($(this).data("function") === 'offerteFunctionaliteit') {
    // TODO: enter your code...
} else if ($(this).data("function") === 'overzichtFunctionaliteit') {
    // TODO: enter your code...
} else {
    // do nothing
}

Meanwhile I've earned a lot of experience with JavaScript and I have some improvements for my own code suggestion. If anyone is reading this answer I would highly recommend to use the following code:

var self = this;
var $self = $(self);
var dataFunction = $self.attr('data-function');

switch (dataFunction) {
  case 'blogFunctionaliteit':
    // TODO: enter your code...
    break;
  case 'offerteFunctionaliteit':
    // TODO: enter your code...
    break;
  case 'overzichtFunctionaliteit':
    // TODO: enter your code...
    break;
  default:
    // do nothing
    break;
}

But why the hell you should use this? It's a lot more complicated! Well, yes it is, but here's why:

Trust me, you will have a less problems with JavaScript if you start writing your code like the second code snippet.