Uncaught TypeError: Object [object Window] has no method 'each'

Question

I'm creating a jQuery plugin that interacts with Bootstrap, and I get the following error when I call the function on a jQuery element:

Uncaught TypeError: Object [object Window] has no method 'each' 

This is the JavaScript in question:

!function ($) {
$.fn.alertAutoClose = function (interval) {
  setTimeout(function () {
    return $(this).each(function () {
      $(this).hide();
    });
  }, interval);
}(window.jQuery);

This is how the plugin is triggered:

$(".alert").alertAutoClose(1000);

This is the HTML on the page:

<div class="alert fade in">
  <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="alert">&times;</button>
  <strong>Warning!</strong> Best check yo self, you're not looking too good.
</div>

Answer 1

Inside of setTimeout(), this is window, not your object. You would need to save the this reference and do something like this:

!function ($) {
$.fn.alertAutoClose = function (interval) {
     var self = this;
     setTimeout(function () {
       self.hide();
     }, interval);
     return this;
}(window.jQuery);

FYI, you can also accomplish the same thing like this:

!function ($) {
$.fn.alertAutoClose = function (interval) {
     this.delay(interval).hide(1);
     return this;
}(window.jQuery);

When you give .hide() a duration, it turns into an animation so it will work with .delay().

Also, the this value inside a jQuery method is the jQuery object. So, if you want to call a method that applies to all elements in the jQuery object, you can just call the method directly on this. You don't have to turn it into a jQuery object (it already is one) and you don't have to use .each() because most jQuery methods (like .hide() already operate on all elements in the object.