Question

I have two functions:

function animateOpen(){
    var originalPosition = $(this).css("left");
    var distance = $(this).getHorzontalDistanceToCenter();
    $(this).animate("left", "+="+distance);
    $('#button').click( function (){
        $(this).animate("left", originalPosition+"px");
    });
}
function animateClose(){
    $('#button').click();
}

I want to convert this code to the bottom form (to remove the dependency on button):

function animateClose(){
    $(this).animate("left", originalPosition+"px");
}
function animateOpen(){
    var originalPosition = $(this).css("left");
    var distance = $(this).getHorzontalDistanceToCenter();
    $(this).animate("left", "+="+distance);
}

The problem is, how does animateClose get the originalPosition? Can I somehow put it in $(this)?

Answer 1

You can save the original position using $(this).data('original_left', my_value)

And afterwards, get the saved value with $(this).data('original_left')