Utility Functions

CanJS provides a plethora of utility methods. These methods are usually mapped to similar methods in the library that underlies CanJS, but for libraries that do not have the given methods, CanJS provides them for you. This way, you can create plugins for CanJS that work no matter what library someone else is using.

String utilities

can.trim removes leading and trailing whitespace.

can.trim(' foo '); // 'foo'

can.esc escapes HTML code.

can.esc('<foo><bar>'); // '&lt;foo&gt;&&lt;bar&gt;'

can.getObject looks up an object by path.

can.('foo.bar', [{foo: {bar: 'baz'}}]); // 'baz'

can.capitalize capitalizes a string.

can.('fooBar'); // 'FooBar'

can.sub allows micro-templating.

can.sub('{greet}, world!', {greet: 'Hello'}); // 'Hello, world!'

can.deparam transforms a form-encoded string into an object..

can.deparam('foo=bar&hello=world'); // {foo: 'bar', hello: 'world'}

Array utilities

can.makeArray converts array-like objects into real Arrays.

can.makeArray({0: 'foo', 1: 'bar', length: 2}); // ['foo', 'bar']

can.isArray checks if an object is an Array.

can.isArray([]); // true

can.map converts an array into another array using a callback.

can.map(['foo', 'bar'], function(element, index) {
    return el.toUppercase();
}); // ['FOO', 'BAR']

can.each iterates through an array.

can.each([{prop: 'foo'}, {prop: 'bar'}], function(element, index) {
    // this callback will be called with:
    // element = {prop: 'foo'}, index = 0
    // element = {prop: 'bar'}, index = 1
});

Object utilites

can.extend extends one object with the properties of another.

var first  = {},
    second = {a: 'b', c: 'd'},
    third  = {c: 'e'};

var extended = can.extend(first, second, third);
extended === first; // true
first;  // {a: 'b', c: 'e'}
second; // {a: 'b', c: 'd'}
third;  // {c: 'e'}

can.param turns an object into a query string.

can.param({a: 'b', c: 'd'}); // 'a=b&c=d'

can.isEmptyObject checks whether an object is empty.

can.isEmptyObject({});           // true
can.isEmptyObject({foo: 'bar'}); // false

Function utilites

can.proxy returns a function that calls another function with a set context.

var f = can.proxy(function(str) {
    return this.a + str;
}, {a: 'b'});
f('bar'); // 'bbar'

can.isFunction checks whether an object is a function.

can.isFunction({});             // false
can.isFunction(function() { }); // true

Event utilities

can.bind binds a callback to an event on an object.

can.bind(obj, eventName, handler); // Binds handler on obj's eventName event.

can.unbind unbinds a callback from an event on an object.

can.unbind(obj, eventName, handler); // Unbinds handler from obj's eventName event.

can.delegate binds a callback to an event on an all elements that match a selector.

can.delegate(obj, eventName, handler); // Binds handler on eventName events from all elements under obj that match selector.

can.undelegate unbinds a callback from an event on an all elements that match a selector.

can.undelegate(obj, eventName, handler); // Unbinds handler from eventName events from all elements under obj that match selector.

can.trigger triggers an event on an object.

can.trigger(obj, eventName, args); // Executes all handlers attached to obj for eventName with args as additional arguments.

AJAX utilites

can.ajax will make an AJAX call and return a Deferred that resolves when the call has returned.

can.ajax({
    url: '/path/to/url',
    type: 'GET',
    async: true,
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function(json) { },
    error: function(xhr) { }
});

Element utilities

can.$ creates a library-wrapped NodeList.

can.$(div.bar); // (in jQuery, a jQuery.fn object)

can.append appends elements to the elements in a NodeList.

can.append(nodelist, content); // Appends content to each element in nodelist.