Re: On-Demand Javascript?

Hi,

> which discusses Dynamic Script Pattern or On-Demand Javascript. I think
> this is a VERY cool feature. Does Jquery support something like this?

I wouldn't put it into jQuery itsself, because then you would need to load
jQuery before you can use the dynamic Script loading. I have developed
something like this which you can se at http://jspax.cdonat.de . I am using
it to load jQuery, jQuery Plugins and some other of my code.

> What are the pros and cons of something like this?

Pros:
- don't need to load everything at startup of your page - faster startup
- don't need to load all the code you don't need on the page:
$('#myElement').click(function() {
        $using('jquery.fx',function() {
                $(this).slideUp('slow');
        });
});
The fx-Plugin is loaded after the first click on the Element and as soon as it
is available the slideUp is executed.
- you can easier modularize your code
- the dynamic script loader can handle dependencies:
$using('com.example.test',function() {...});
Now com/example/test.js could contain
$using('com.example.test2',function() {
        ...;
        $package('com.example.test',{});
});
the dependency is automatically resolved.

Cons:
- you can not be shure that your code was loaded and executed as usual while
the page was loading - document.write() e.g. may behave differently.
- either you need to do synchronous loading like JSON does or you need to work
with callbacks as I do. Synchronous loading blocks the browser, callbacks are
not understood by everyone.
- to load all the scripts your page needs multiple HTTP-Requests are necessary
which increases the overhead.

I hope that helps.

Christof

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