Core

Core contains an handful of common sense functions used in MooTools.

Function: nil

Returns true if a value is undefined.

Syntax:

nil(obj);

Arguments:

1. obj - (mixed) The object to inspect.

Returns:

• (boolean) If the object passed is null or undefined, returns true. Otherwise, returns false.

Example:

function myFunction(arg){
    if(nil(arg)) alert('The object is null or undefined.');
    else alert('The object is defined.');
}

Notes:

This method is equivalent to $defined from MooTools 1.2, but opposite.

Function: typeOf

Returns the type of object that matches the item passed in.

Syntax:

typeOf(obj);

Arguments:

1. obj - (object) The object to inspect.

Returns:

• 'element' - (string) If object is a DOM element node.
• 'textnode' - (string) If object is a DOM text node.
• 'whitespace' - (string) If object is a DOM whitespace node.
• 'arguments' - (string) If object is an arguments object.
• 'array' - (string) If object is an array.
• 'object' - (string) If object is an object.
• 'string' - (string) If object is a string.
• 'number' - (string) If object is a number.
• 'date' - (string) If object is a date.
• 'boolean' - (string) If object is a boolean.
• 'function' - (string) If object is a function.
• 'regexp' - (string) If object is a regular expression.
• 'class' - (string) If object is a Class (created with new Class, or the extend of another class).
• 'collection' - (string) If object is a native htmlelements collection, such as childNodes, getElementsByTagName, etc.
• 'window' - (string) If object is the window object.
• 'document' - (string) If object is the document object.
• 'event' - (string) If object is an event.
• false - (boolean) If object is undefined, null, NaN or none of the above.

Example:

var myString = 'hello';
typeOf(myString); //Returns "string".

Notes:

This method is equivalent to $type from MooTools 1.2.

Function: instanceOf

Checks to see if an object is an instance of a particular Type.

Syntax:

instanceOf(item, object)

Arguments:

1. item - (mixed) The item which you want to check
2. object - (mixed) The Type you wish to compare with

Returns:

• (boolean) Whether or not the item is an instance of the object.

Examples:

var foo = [];
instanceOf(foo, Array)  // true
instanceOf(foo, String) // false
 
var myClass = new Class();
var bar = new myClass();
instanceOf(bar, myClass)    // true

Function: Object.each

Used to iterate through an object.

Syntax:

Object.each(obj, fn[, bind]);

Arguments:

1. obj - (object) The object to iterate through.
2. fn - (function) The function to test for each element.
3. bind - (object, optional) The object to use as 'this' within the function. For more information see Function:bind.

Argument: fn

Syntax:

fn(item, index, object)

Arguments:

1. item - (mixed) The current item in the array.
2. index - (number) The current item's key.
3. object - (mixed) The actual array/object.

Example:

//Alerts "The first day of the week is Sunday", "The second day of the week is Monday", etc:
Object.each({first: "Sunday", second: "Monday", third: "Tuesday"}, function(value, key){
    alert("The " + key + " day of the week is " + value);
});

Notes:

This method is an object-specific equivalent of $each from MooTools 1.2.

Function: Object.merge

Merges any number of objects recursively without referencing them or their sub-objects.

Syntax:

var merged = Object.merge(obj1, obj2[, obj3[, ...]]);

Arguments:

1. (objects) Any number of objects.

Returns:

• (object) The object that is created as a result of merging all the objects passed in.

Examples:

var obj1 = {a: 0, b: 1};
var obj2 = {c: 2, d: 3};
var obj3 = {a: 4, d: 5};
var merged = Object.merge(obj1, obj2, obj3); //returns {a: 4, b: 1, c: 2, d: 5}, (obj1, obj2, and obj3 are unaltered)
 
var nestedObj1 = {a: {b: 1, c: 1}};
var nestedObj2 = {a: {b: 2}};
var nested = Object.merge(nestedObj1, nestedObj2); //returns: {a: {b: 2, c: 1}}

Function: Object.clone

Returns a copy of an object.

Syntax:

var clone = Object.clone(obj);

Arguments:

1. (obj) The object to clone

Returns:

• (object) A copy of the passed object

Example:

var obj1 = {a: 0, b: 1};
var obj2 = Object.clone(obj1);
 
obj1.a = 42;
alert(obj1.a);  // alerts '42'
alert(obj2.a);  // alerts '0'

Notes:

This is an object-specific equivalent of $unlink from MooTools 1.2.

Function: Object.append

Copies all the properties from the second object passed in to the first object passed in.

Syntax:

Object.append(original, extension);

Arguments:

1. original - (object) The object to be extended.
2. extension - (object) The object whose properties will be copied to original.

Returns:

• (object) The first object passed in, extended.

Examples:

var firstObj = {
    'name': 'John',
    'lastName': 'Doe'
};
var secondObj = {
    'age': '20',
    'sex': 'male',
    'lastName': 'Dorian'
};
Object.append(firstObj, secondObj);
//firstObj is now: {'name': 'John', 'lastName': 'Dorian', 'age': '20', 'sex': 'male'};

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Deprecated Functions

Function: $chk

This method has been deprecated and will have no equivalent in MooTools 2.0.

If you really need this function you can implement it like so:

Example:

var $chk = function(obj){
    return !!(obj || obj === 0);
};

Function: $clear

This method has been deprecated. Please use Function:clear instead.

Function: $defined

This method has been deprecated. Please use nil instead.

Function: $arguments

This method has been deprecated and will have no equivalent in MooTools 2.0.

If you really need this function you can implement it like so:

Example:

var $arguments = function(i){
    return function(){
        return arguments[i];
    };
};

Function: $empty

This method has been deprecated. Use Function.from instead.

Example:

var myFunc = Function.from();
// Or probably better....
var myFunc = function(){};

Function: $lambda

This method has been deprecated. Use Function.from instead.

Example:

myLink.addEvent('click', Function.from(false)); //Prevents a link Element from being clickable.

Function: $extend

This method has been deprecated. Please use Object.append instead.

Function: $merge

This method has been deprecated. Please use Object.merge instead.

Function: $each

This method has been deprecated. Please use Array.each or Object.each instead.

Function: $pick

This method has been deprecated. Please use Array.pick instead.

Function: $random

This method has been deprecated. Please use Number.random instead.

Function: $splat

This method has been deprecated. Please use Array.from instead.

Function: $time

This method has been deprecated. Please use Date.now() instead.

Syntax:

var time = Date.now();

Returns:

• (number) - The current timestamp.

Function: $try

This method has been deprecated. Please use Function.stab instead.

Function: $type

This method has been deprecated. Please use typeOf instead.