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Joomla! Coding Standards

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JavaScript - Joomla 3.x

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Coding Standards

Client Side Syntax Style Guides

Appendices

Contents

  1. Naming Conventions
  2. Syntax Style
  3. Types
  4. Functions
  5. Conditional Statements
  6. Blocks & Multi-line Statements
  7. Comments

Naming Conventions

Use descriptive words or terse phrases for names.

Variables and Functions should be camel case, starting with a lowercase letter: likeThis

Variables

Use names that describe what the variable is:

var element = document.getElementById('elementId');

Iterators are the exception

Use i for index in a loop (and subsequent letters when necessary for nested iteration).

Functions

Use names that describe what the function does:

function getSomeData() {
	// statements
}

Reserved Words

Do not use reserved words for anything other than their intended use. The list of: Reserved Words

Syntax Style

Indentation

  • Don't mix tabs and spaces.
  • Tabs, 4 spaces

Spacing

  • No whitespace at the end of line or on blank lines.
  • Unary special-character operators (e.g., !, ++) must not have space next to their operand.
  • Any , and ; must not have preceding space.
  • Any ; used as a statement terminator must be at the end of the line.
  • Any : after a property name in an object definition must not have preceding space.
  • The ? and : in a ternary conditional must have space on both sides.
  • No filler spaces in empty constructs (e.g., {}, [], fn())
  • New line at the end of each file.

Array:

var array = [ 'foo', 'bar' ];

Function call:

foo( arg );

Function call with multiple arguments:

foo( 'string', object );

Conditional Statements

if ( condition ) {
    // statements
} else {
    // statements
}
while ( condition ) {
    // statements
}
for ( prop in object ) {
    // statements
}
Exceptions

First or only argument is an object, array or callback function.

No space before the first argument:

foo({
    a: 'bar',
    b: 'baz'
});
foo(function() {
    // statements
}, options ); // space after options argument

Function with a callback, object, or array as the last argument:

No space after the last argument.

foo( data, function() {
    // statements
});

Commas

Place commas after:

  • variable declarations
  • key/value pairs

Arrays

Do not include a trailing comma, this will add 1 to your array's length.

No:

array = [ 'foo', 'bar', ];

Yes:

array = [ 'foo', 'bar' ];

Semicolons

Use them where expected.

Semicolons should be included at the end of function expressions, but not at the end of function declarations.

Function Expression:

var foo = function() {
    return true;
};

Function Declaration:

function foo() {
    return true;
}

Quotes

Use ' instead of "

Variables

Avoid Global Variables

No:

foo = 'bar';

No: implied global

function() {
    foo = 'bar';
}

Yes:

var foo = 'bar';

Multiple Variable Declarations

Use one var declaration and separate each variable on a newline ending with a comma.

No:

var foo = 'bar';
var bar = 'baz';
var baz = 'qux';

Yes:

var foo = 'bar',
	bar = 'baz',
    baz = 'qux';

Types

String

  • Concatenate long strings.
  • Place space before closing quote at the end of each string.
  • Concatenation operator at the end of each subsequent string.
var longString = 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. ' +
    'Sed placerat, tellus eget egestas tincidunt, lectus dui ' +
    'sagittis massa, id mollis est tortor a enim. In hac ' +
    'habitasse platea dictumst. Duis erat justo, tincidunt ac ' +
    'enim iaculis, malesuada condimentum mauris. Vestibulum vel ' +
    'cursus mauris.';

Number

Use parseInt() or parseFloat() instead of unary plus, for readability.

No:

var count = +document.getElementById('inputId').value;

Yes:

var count = parseInt(document.getElementById('inputId').value);

Type Checks

  • String: typeof object === 'string'
  • Number: typeof object === 'number'
  • Boolean: typeof object === 'boolean'
  • Object: typeof object === 'object'
  • Plain Object: jQuery.isPlainObject( object )
  • Function: jQuery.isFunction( object )
  • Array: jQuery.isArray( object )
  • Element: object.nodeType
  • null: object === null
  • null or undefined: object == null

Undefined:

  • Global Variables: typeof variable === 'undefined'
  • Local Variables: variable === undefined
  • Properties: object.prop === undefined

Objects

Use the literal, not constructor, syntax.

No:

var myObj = new Object();

Yes:

var myObj = {};

If an object contains more than one key/value pair or an array as a value, each key/value pair should be on its own line.

var myObj = {
	foo: 'bar',
	bar: 'baz',
	baz: 'qux'
};

Arrays

Use the literal, not constructor, syntax

No:

var myArr = new Array();

Yes:

var myArr = [];

If you don't know array length use push method. This will replace the current array.

var myArr = [];
myArr.push('foo');

Functions

Chaining Method Calls

$('.someElement')
	.hide()
	.delay(1000)
	.fadeIn();

Conditional Statements

Use ternary syntax if:

  • One condition
  • Result of either evaluation is one operation.
joomlaRocks ? 'This is true' : 'else it is false';

Otherwise, use standard syntax:

if ( condition ) {
	// statements
} else {
	// statements
}

Cache length in variable for performance:

var i,
    j = myArr.length;

for ( i = 0; i < j; i++ ) {
    // statements
}

With more than one condition:

if ( condition &&
	condition2 &&
	condition3 ) {
    // statements
} else {
    // statements
}

Equality

Use strict equality operator === so that type is considered in comparison. Using == can produce false positives.

// evaluates true
1 == "1"
// evaluates false
1 === "1"

Blocks & Multi-line Statements

Use curly braces on blocks that have more than one statement.

Block with one statement:

if ( test ) return false;

Block with more than one statement:

if ( test ) {
    var foo = 'some string';
    return foo;
}

Comments

Single Line

  • Place above the code it refers to.
  • A space between double forward slashes and comment text.
// I am a single line comment.

Multiline

  • Place above the code it refers to.
  • Opening token placed on the line above first comment line, closing placed below last comment line.
  • Each comment line begins with two astericks followed by a space.
/*
** I am a multiline comment.
** Line two
** Line three
*/

TODO

  • Switch Statements vs other methods like Objects
  • Add jQuery examples
  • Double check accuracy of all examples

With help from: