How to call elements inside user defined methods of an jQuery plugin

Question

I have a jQuery Plugin which accept multiple elements and some methods to be called like:

(function($){

  methods = {
    init : function( options, callbacks) {
      $.fn.myPlugin.settings = $.extend({
        'userDefinedMethod': function() {}
      }, options);

      return this.each(function(){
        $.fn.myPlugin.settings.userDefinedMethod();
      }
    }
  }

  $.fn.myPlugin = function(method) {
    if ( methods[method] ) {
      return methods[method].apply( this, Array.prototype.slice.call( arguments, 1 ));
    } else if ( typeof method === 'object' || ! method ) {
      return methods.init.apply( this, arguments );
    } else {
      $.error( 'Method ' +  method + ' does not exists on jQuery.myPlugin' );
    }
  }

})(jQuery);

An simple example which will make you understand what I want to achieve:

$(document).ready(function(){
  $('#myElement1, #myElement2, #myElement3').myPlugin({
    userDefinedMethod: function() {
      // I want here to use the elements in selector
      $(this).css('color', 'black');
    }
  });
});

I know that $(this) in the example above will represent the jQuery Plugin Object but I want somehow to use each element in the provided selector.

Answer 1

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('#myElement1, #myElement2, #myElement3').myPlugin({
        userDefinedMethod: function () {
            // I want here to use the elements in selector
            $(this).css('color', 'red');
        }
    });
});

(function ($) {

    methods = {
        init: function (options, callbacks) {
            //don't set the settings to shared object
            this.settings = $.extend({
                userDefinedMethod: $.noop
            }, options);

            return this.each($.proxy(function (idx, el) {
                //use Function.call() to set a custom execution context
                this.settings.userDefinedMethod.call(el);
            }, this))
        }
    }

    $.fn.myPlugin = function (method) {
        if (methods[method]) {
            return methods[method].apply(this, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1));
        } else if (typeof method === 'object' || !method) {
            return methods.init.apply(this, arguments);
        } else {
            $.error('Method ' + method + ' does not exists on jQuery.myPlugin');
        }
    }

})(jQuery);

Demo: Fiddle

Answer 2

In methods.init function this will be the jQuery object obtained by quering the selector. So, if you want to send this to userDefinedMethod just use apply or call when you call that function:

...
var methods = {
    init : function( options, callbacks) {
      $.fn.myPlugin.settings = $.extend({
        'userDefinedMethod': function() {}
      }, options);

      $.fn.myPlugin.settings.userDefinedMethod.call(this);
      // or if you want to send the arguments
      // $.fn.myPlugin.settings.userDefinedMethod.apply(this, arguments);
      return this;
    }
}
...

Also, don't forget that you didn't use var for declaring methods. methods will become a magic global variable...

I also corrected the missing ) that was generating a syntax error.

JSFIDDLE