jQuery to Build Mailto HREF with Multiple Recipients

Question

I don't expect anyone to write this for me, but at least point me in the right direction, as I can't even find a good search phrase to find similar solutions.

I have many mailto links on a web page and they're all categorized by class. I need to offer the ability for a user to select multiple categories using checkboxes and have all matching email addresses be added to one master mailto link. Something like this:

  <p>To send a message to one or more groups, make your selection and click "Send Message."</p>

<input type="checkbox" name="mailing-groups" value="nursing" class="mailing-groups" /> Nursing<br />
<input type="checkbox" name="mailing-groups" value="facilities" class="mailing-groups" /> Facilities<br />
<input type="checkbox" name="mailing-groups" value="board-of-directors" class="mailing-groups" /> Board of Directors

<a id="staff-mailer" href="" class="btn"><em class="icon-ok"></em> Send Message</a>

<a class="nursing" href="mailto:john@doe.com">john@doe.com</a>
<a class="facilities" href="mailto:jane@doe.com">jane@doe.com</a>
<a class="board-of-directors" href="mailto:jack@doe.com">jack@doe.com</a>
<a class="nursing" href="mailto:jason@doe.com">jason@doe.com</a>

<script language="javascript">

    $('.mailing-groups').click(function(){

    var addresses = COMMA-SEPARATED_LIST_OF_ALL_EMAIL_ADDRESSES_WHOSE_CLASSES_MATCH_THE_CHECKBOX_SELECTIONS

    $("#staff-mailer").attr("href", "mailto:" + addresses)

    });

</script>

Answer 1

Try something like:

// initialize empty array on each click of a checkbox 
var addressArray = [];
// find each checkbox that is checked
$("input[name='mailing-groups']:checked").each(function (index, el) {
   var className = $(el).val();
   // use the value of each checked checkbox to find the mailto elements with that class
   $("."+className).each(function (mailindex, mailelement) {
         addressArray.push($(mailelement).text());
   });
});
// create a comma separated string from the array
var addresses = addressArray.join(",");