Creating a JS Library

15-05-2019

Lately I've been dabbling in JS libraries. Specifically I've been trying my hand at creating a few.

• Muds - A simple, open source WYSIWYG editor
• DobBot - A framework for creating a randomized, dotted background pattern.

While I don't claim to be an expert on the field. I did learn a thing or two in the process.

The dream!

var instance = new myLibrary({
  selector: "#selector",
  anOption: 123,
  anotherOption: "Some option"
)};

The example above is a brilliant way of initializing a new instance of a library or module. My initial goal was create something that would adhere to this format.

I found that It would take 3 simple steps.

• Create some way of handling initial settings or options
• Figure out a way of overwriting these
• Write the library logic itself

Creating the library

Start out by creating a new self invoking function like so

(function(){

})();

Next step is to name the library, thus making it globally accessible: window.myLib = myLib;

You can now initialize the library like so

<script src="path/to/my/library.js"></script>
<script>
    var instance = new myLib({

    )};
</script>

next we need to add some default options

(function(){
    myLib.defaults = {
        selector: '',
        text: 'Hello World!',
        color: 'black'
    };
    window.myLib = myLib;
})();

With our default options in place. It's time to write the logic that'll merge our user-defined options with the defaults

(function(){
    const myLib = function(opts) {
        // Merge default options with user options
        this.options = Object.assign(myLib.defaults, opts);

        // Define merged options
        this.selector = document.querySelector(this.options.selector);
        this.text = this.options.text;
        this.color = this.options.color;
    }
    myLib.defaults = {...};
    window.myLib = myLib;
})();

With this in place, all there's left to do, is to write the library logic itself.

This demo library simply prints a text.

(function(){
    const myLib = function(opts) {...}

    // library logic
    myLib.prototype.init = function() {     
        this.selector.style.color = this.color;
        this.selector.innerHTML = this.text;
    };

    myLib.defaults = {...};
    window.myLib = myLib;
})();

Now you can run the init function and you're all set!

(function(){
    const myLib = function(opts) {
        ...
        this.init();
    }

    myLib.prototype.init = function() {...};
    myLib.defaults = {...};
    window.myLib = myLib;
})();

User options

The user can overwrite our default options when initializing the library like this:

<script src="path/to/my/library.js"></script>
<script>
    var instance = new myLib({
        selector: '#myLibrary',
        text: 'Hello Earth!',
        color: 'red'
    )};
</script>

Browser support

While Object.assign() is amazing, it's not supported by Internet Explorer 11. So if you need to support IE11 you'll have to merge the options manually. Merging the the options can be done by looping through the attributes like this:

function merge_options(defaults,user_options) {
    let new_options = {};
    let attrname;
    for (attrname in defaults) {
        new_options[attrname] = defaults[attrname];
    }
    for (attrname in user_options) {
        new_options[attrname] = user_options[attrname];
    }
    return new_options;
}
this.options = merge_options(myLib.defaults, opts);

Simply replace the following with the example above

this.options = Object.assign(myLib.defaults, opts);

Example

See the Pen JS Library example by Tristan White (@triss90) on CodePen.