Jquery Geocoding Script

Question

The rules for this script are simple:

• If geocode is hit, then just geocode
• If geocode and submit is hit, then geocode and then submit
• If an autosuggest link is hit, then geocode instantly
• In this case, do not re-geocode later when the button is hit

This is my code, based on help and advice from here:

http://jsfiddle.net/spadez/Jfdbz/14/

$(function () { var lastQuery = null, lastResult = null, // new! autocomplete, processLocation = function (callback) { // accept a callback argument var input = $("#loc"), lat = $("#lat"), long = $("#lng"); var query = $.trim(input.val()), geocoder; // if query is empty or the same as last time... if (!query || query === lastQuery) { if (callback) { callback(lastResult); // send the same result as before } return; // and stop here } lastQuery = query; // store for next time geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder(); geocoder.geocode({ address: query }, function (results, status) { if (status === google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) { lat.val(results[0].geometry.location.lat()); long.val(results[0].geometry.location.lng()); lastResult = true; // success! } else { alert("Sorry - We couldn't find this location. Please try an alternative"); lastResult = false; // failure! } if (callback) { callback(lastResult); // send the result back } }); }, ctryiso = $("#ctry").val(), options = { types: ["geocode"] }; if (ctryiso !== '') { options.componentRestrictions = { 'country': ctryiso }; } autocomplete = new google.maps.places.Autocomplete($("#loc")[0], options); google.maps.event.addListener(autocomplete, 'place_changed', processLocation); $('#search').click(function (e) { var form = $(this).closest('form'); e.preventDefault(); // stop the submission processLocation(function (success) { if (success) { // if the geocoding succeeded, submit the form form.submit(); } }); }); $('#geosearch').click(function (e) { var form = $(this).closest('form'); e.preventDefault(); // stop the submission processLocation(); }); }); 

I think I have reached the point where it works correctly, and I can't seem to make it any more structured, any more readable, any more efficient or compact. However, I am new to javascript and I would be really open to hear if anyone feels that they can improve on this.

I must admit I a bit pedantic and get a lot of satisfaction out of the refining process!

EDIT: I pasted the code wrong - fixed

Answer 1

Just a few things in no particular order:

• Don't use long as a variable name. It's a reserved word in Javascript and can cause confusion.
• If you're going to disable the country input in your form, you should probably just put the US keyword straight in your code. That is if you don't intend on enabling it.
• You set ctryiso = $("#ctry").val() and then test ctryiso !== ''. Since you hard coded the country value in, that will always be true. Therefore, unnecessary test.
• You don't need to initialize your lastQuery and lastResult to null. Any falsy value will do just fine in JS, including undefined.
• If you look at the jQuery source code you'll see that the .click() simply calls another method and passes the values on. You can save a few function calls if you just call that other method directly.

Like so:

$('#search').click(function (e) { //Do stuff } //Do this one instead $('#search').on('click', function (e) { //Do stuff } 

The 'click' can be replaced with any event of you're choosing. This gives you enormous power and control when setting up custom events.