Adding the addBack function to jQuery version 1.7.2

Question

I am currently using jQuery 1.7.2. I have added a jQuery.UI dropdown element to my application but I am getting an error when I try to close it.

Object has no method addBack

I found the answer here: jsTree Object has no method addBack

Turns out the addBack method wasnt added until v1.8. I'm not able to update to 1.8 for a few reasons, so is it possible to add the addBack function to v1.7.2?

I think this is the correct addBack function:

 addBack: function( selector ) {
                return this.add( selector == null ?
                 this.prevObject : this.prevObject.filter(selector)
           );
   }

Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

To extend jquery methods:

$.fn.addBack = function (selector) {
    return this.add(selector == null ? this.prevObject : this.prevObject.filter(selector));
}