Question

I have the following code:

  function submitHandler($link, $modal, close) {

    var $form = $modal.find('#main-form');
    var $submitBt = $modal.find('.block-footer button:contains("Submit")');
    var oSubmit = {
        $form: $form,
        $modal: $modal,
        action: $form.attr('data-action'),
        entity: $form.attr('data-entity'),
        href:   $form.attr('data-href'),
        row: $link.attr('data-row'),
        $row: $('#row_' + $link.attr('data-row')),
        $submitBt: $submitBt
    };

    if (!$form.valid || $form.valid()) {
        $submitBt.disableBt();
        $modal.removeBlockMessages()
            .blockMessage('Contacting Server, please wait ... ', { type: 'loading' });
        $.ajax({
            url: oSubmit.href,
            dataType: 'json',
            type: 'POST',
            data: $form.serializeArray()
        })
        .done(function (json, textStatus, XMLHttpRequest) {
            json = json || {};
            if (json.success) {
                submitSuccessModal(oSubmit, json);
                if (close == true) {
                    $modal.closeModal();
                    if (oSubmit.action == "Create") {
                        $('#createLink').prop('disabled', false);
                    }
                }
            } else {
                submitFailModal(oSubmit, json);
            }
        })
        .fail(function (XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            setTimeout(function () {
                $modal
                    .removeBlockMessages()
                    .blockMessage('Could not contact server, please try again', { type: 'error' });
                $submitBt.enableBt();
            }, 1000);
            return false;
        });
    };
};

What’s the best way to move the functionality out of my $.ajax and out into a function for “done” and another function for “fail”. Also what parameters should I be passing to these functions? I guess what I am most confused about is what should I do about the variables I have declared at the top of my code. Should I pass these also to the external functions as in the .done I do reference some of them.

Answer 1

What you have to now makes use of what is known as anonymous functions. You pass a reference to an anonymous function (a function without a name) into the done and fail functions.

Perhaps to better organize your code (or to make these functions shareable with other code), all you need to do is give these functions a name and move them outside the ajax() call. We’ll call them onDone and onFail, though you can of course call them whatever makes sense.

Notice I reference them without parathesis, since I’m referring to the function object itself, and not the return value of the called function.

  function onDone(json, textStatus, XMLHttpRequest) {
       json = json || {};
       if (json.success) {
           submitSuccessModal(oSubmit, json);
           if (close == true) {
               $modal.closeModal();
               if (oSubmit.action == "Create") {
                   $('#createLink').prop('disabled', false);
               }
           }
       } else {
           submitFailModal(oSubmit, json);
       }
   }

   function onFail(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
       setTimeout(function () {
           $modal
               .removeBlockMessages()
               .blockMessage('Could not contact server, please try again', { type: 'error' });
           $submitBt.enableBt();
       }, 1000);
       return false;
   }

   $.ajax({
       url: oSubmit.href,
       dataType: 'json',
       type: 'POST',
       data: $form.serializeArray()
   })
   .done(onDone) //Reference to onDone, without parenthesis
   .fail(onFail);