Load jQuery in a js, then execute a script that depends on it

Question

I have a unique issue -

I am designing a web application that creates widgets that a user can then embed in their own page (blog posts, mostly). I want them to just have to embed one line, so I just had that line be an include statement, to pull a Javascript off my server.

The problem is, I am building the widget code using jQuery, and I need to load the jQuery plugin, since I obviously don't know whether or not my users will have it available. I thought 'this should be pretty simple'....

function includeJavaScript(jsFile) {
  var script = document.createElement('script');
  script.src = jsFile;
  script.type = 'text/javascript';
  document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
}

includeJavaScript('http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js');
jQuery();

So, I am appending the jQuery file to the head, then afterwards, trying to run a jQuery function. Trouble is, this doesn't work! Everytime I run it, I get the error that variable jQuery is not defined. I have tried a few things. I tried putting the jQuery functions in an onLoad trigger, so that the whole page (including, presumably, the jQuery file) would load before it called my script. I tried putting the jQuery function in a seperate file, and loading it after loading the jQuery lib file. But I get the idea I'm missing something simple - I'm new to jQuery, so if I'm missing something obvious, I apologize...

EDIT

OK,I tried the suggestion offered by digitalFresh, as follows (using Safari 5, if that helps), but I still get the same error?

function test() {
    jQuery()
}

var script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.src = 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js';
script.onload = test(); //execute
document.body.appendChild(script);

EDIT

OK, I FINALLY got it to work, in an offhand suggestion from Brendan, by putting the call ITSELF in an 'onload' handler, like so:

function addLoadEvent(func) { 
      var oldonload = window.onload; 
      if (typeof window.onload != 'function') { 
        window.onload = func; 
      } else { 
        window.onload = function() { 
          if (oldonload) { 
            oldonload(); 
          } 
          func(); 
        } 
    } 
} 
addLoadEvent( function() {
    var script = document.createElement("script");
    script.type = "text/javascript";
    script.src = 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js';
    document.body.appendChild(script);
    jQuery();
});

At this point, as you can see, I don't even have to put it in an 'onload' - it just works. Though I have to admit, I still don't understand WHY it works, which bothers me...

Answer 1

The solution you end up using works but slow to start, and not 100% fail proof. If someone rewrites window.onload your code will not run. Also window.onload happens when all the content on the page is loaded (including images) which is not exactly what you want. You don't want your script to wait that long.

Fortunately <script> elements have their own onload (ready) event, which can be used to couple other scripts with them.

function include(file, callback) {
  var head      = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
  var script    = document.createElement('script');
  script.type   = 'text/javascript';
  script.src    = file;
  script.onload = script.onreadystatechange = function() {
    // execute dependent code
    if (callback) callback();
    // prevent memory leak in IE
    head.removeChild(script);
    script.onload = null;
  };
  head.appendChild(script);
}

include('http://ajax.googleapis.com/.../jquery.min.js', myFunction);

In this case the function will be called exactly when jquery is available. Your code is fail proof and starts quickly.

Answer 2

The script is not loaded or executed when you call the jQuery function. Thats why you get the error that jQuery is not defined.

I answered this problem on Loading Scripts Dynamically. The script is simple for all browsers except IE. Just add an onload event listener