Is this a valid test to check if a URL refers to an Image in JS/jQuery

Question

$(function() {
    $("<img>", {
        src: "http://goo.gl/GWtGo",
        error: function() { alert("error!"); },
        load: function() { alert("ok"); }
    });
});

Got inspiration from How can I test if a URL is a valid image (in javascript)?

UPDATE

The next step will be: how can I encapsulate this logic into a function. I tried this -> http://jsfiddle.net/wp7Ed/2/

$(function() {
    function IsValidImageUrl(url) {
        $("<img>", {
            src: url,
            error: function() { return false; },
            load: function() { return true; }
        });
    }
    alert(IsValidImageUrl("http://goo.gl/GWtGo"));
    alert(IsValidImageUrl("http://error"));
});

but of course it fails... how can I return from an internl event handler? Or how can I implement this?

Answer 1

You cannot ever turn an asynchonous call into a synchronous one in javascript.

error and load are asynchronous events, so you have to do it like this:

function IsValidImageUrl(url) {
    $("<img>", {
        src: url,
        error: function() { alert(url + ': ' + false); },
        load: function() { alert(url + ': ' + true); }
    });
}

IsValidImageUrl("http://goo.gl/GWtGo");
IsValidImageUrl("http://error");

or you can parse in callback function you define elsewhere like this:

function myCallback(url, answer) {
    alert(url + ': ' + answer);
}

function IsValidImageUrl(url,callback) {
    $("<img>", {
        src: url,
        error: function() { callback(url, false); },
        load: function() { callback(url, true); }
    });
}

IsValidImageUrl("http://goo.gl/GWtGo", myCallback);
IsValidImageUrl("http://error", myCallback);

The clean and performant version skips the jQuery overhead like this

function myCallback(url, answer) {
    alert(url + ': ' + answer);
}

function IsValidImageUrl(url, callback) {
    var img = new Image();
    img.onerror = function() { callback(url, false); }
    img.onload =  function() { callback(url, true); }
    img.src = url
}

IsValidImageUrl("http://goo.gl/GWtGo", myCallback);
IsValidImageUrl("http://error", myCallback);