Question

So i’m terrible are js, and i’m trying to get a jquery script, to onblur check if the text box has content, and if it does then proceed with the script, this is what i have

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $("#embed").blur(function (){
            $("#embed").val().length > 0){
                $("#fade").fadeIn(1000);olink = $("#embed").val(); 
                $("#oembed").oembed(olink, {
                    embedMethod: "append", 
                    maxWidth: 300, 
                    maxHeight: 150 
                });
            });
        }
    });
</script> 

but i’m getting a syntax error(dreamweaver) on the line that reads

$(“#embed”).val().length > 0){

any suggestions would be great… thanks

Answer 1

This is what your code should look like (in my opinion, of course), properly formatted:

$(document).ready(function() {
    var $embed = $("#embed"),
        $fade = $('#fade'),
        $oembed = $('#oembed'),
        oembed = {
            embedMethod: "append",
            maxWidth: 300,
            maxHeight: 150
        },
        olink;

    $embed.blur(function(){
        if ($embed.val().length){
            $fade.fadeIn(1000);

            olink = $embed.val(); 
            $oembed.oembed(olink, oembed);
        }
    });
});

What was wrong with the code you posted, other than the messy cluster of confusion? Your if() wasn’t… there. You left if( out:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#embed").blur(function (){
        $("#embed").val().length > 0){

Can you see it? Kinda hard to differentiate those three lines. Now look at the code above, which…

1. Properly uses selector caching (var $embed = $("#embed")).
2. Uses var to declare all variables, separated by a , so they’re all local; also…
3. Makes olink a proper non-global-scoped variable (and hey, still works due to closures, how nifty).
4. Moves the oembed object (which I created from that {} being passed as an argument) into a proper variable, cleaning the code up and also caching it.

I think it’s legitimately easier to read and spot problems if you take care when formatting your code and decide to use best practices like caching and non-global variables. The if( was the immediate problem, but the code over all was in need of some attention and a little lovin’ kindness.