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JavaScript jQuery Basics (2014) Creating a Simple Lightbox Perform: Part 1

Michele Kempinsky
Michele Kempinsky
12,201 Points
Posted by Michele Kempinsky
Michele Kempinsky
12,201 Points

Need help grasping this concept.

$("imgageGallery a").click(function()){ var href= $(this).attr("href"); console.log();

I'm having a little trouble breaking down and understanding this piece of code. I understand that $("imgageGallery a").click(); is an event method. But, can someone break down the rest a bit more? Why are we using a function here? What is the $(this) really doing?

Please help slow it down a little for me :) thanks!

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

You've got an extra parenthesis in there, and you misspelled "imgage", but I know what you mean. Whenever you set up an event method, you pass it a function to perform any time that event happens.

I'll try to break it down:

$("#imageGallery a")   :point_left: select all the links (a) that are inside the imageGallery
.click(   :point_left: make something happen when they are clicked on
function(){   :point_left: run this function when one is clicked
var href=   :point_left: store something in the variable href
$(this)   :point_left: look at the specific link that was clicked
.attr("href");   :point_left: get the value of the href attribute it has (and store that)
console.log(href);   :point_left: now write that out to the console
});   :point_left: that's the end of the function (and the click handler)

Is it clear now?

William Bok
William Bok
6,842 Points
William Bok
William Bok
6,842 Points

That was a great breakdown thanks :)