Newly added elements using delegate() won't bind jscolor.js

Question

I have a simple form, where each line consists of 3 input fields. on one of those fields, I use jscolor.js (field has a class="color" and thus binds the JS).

However, when I add new lines using jQuery's delegate(), the input field doesn't bind the JS and the expected functionality is not there. http://jsfiddle.net/alexwald/qARzP/

<script>
var line = '<li class="form_line" id="line">    
              <span>
                <label for="item">Item:</label>
                <input type="text" required="required" placeholder="what item is this?" id="item" name="item[]>
              </span>
              <span>
                <label for="amount">Amount: </label>
                <input required="required"  type="number" id="amount" name="amount[]>
              </span>
              <span>
                <label for="color">Color: </label>
                <input type="text" required="required" class="color {pickerClosable:true, hash:true ,pickerFace:3,pickerBorder:0}" id="color" name="color[]">
              </span>
            </li>';

$(document).ready(function() {          
  $("form").delegate(".add", "click", function(){        
    $('ul').append(line); 
  }); // end of adding                              
}); //end of main func 
</script>

I think the problem is either in:

• how I define the line variable, or
• I'm using an improper selector with .delegate, so it should be something else and not form..?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

There are several problem to your code:

1. You are using IDs in your "line" variable. ID must be unique within an HTML document. You'd better use name attributes, or create a new line differently so you can change the IDs.

2. Why do you delegate the 'click' event for the 'Add' button ? Event delegation is used be able to automatically "bind" events to elements created dynamically. In your example, the "Add" button, is static to the page, you don't need to use delegate, simply .click() or .bind().

3. After creating the new line, you have to explicitly initialize your jscolor on the new field, it's not going to happen automatically. When your page is first parsed, the existing <input class="color" /> are initialized by the jscolor plugin, but insterted elements afterwards are not anymore, the script has run already.

Here's some modified code:

<script> 
    var line = '<li class="form_line" id="line"><span><label>Item:</label><input type="text" required="required" placeholder="what item is this?" name="item"></span><span><label>Amount: </label><input required="required" type="number" name="amount"></span><span><label>Color: </label><input type="text" required="required" class="color {pickerClosable:true, hash:true ,pickerFace:3,pickerBorder:0}" name="color"></span></li>';

    $(document).ready(function() {

       var $ul = $('#formulario'); // the UL, select it once and r-use this selection

       $('.add').click(function(e) {
           var $line = $(line);
           $line.appendTo($ul);

           // initialize the new jscolor instance
           new jscolor.color($line.find('input[name=color]')[0], {});

       });


    }); //end of main func 
</script>

And this jsfiddle for testing.