What is the best way to set a variable with an if, else if, else statement

Question

There has to be a better way to set the variable $callLinkContainer in the following code block:

var $callLinkContainer;
if ( $callLink.closest('class1-tel').length > 0 ) {
     $callLinkContainer = $('body').find('.class1-container');
} else if ( $callLink.closest('.class2').length > 0 ) {
     $callLinkContainer = $('body').find('.class2-container');
} else {
     $callLinkContainer = $callLink.closest('.class3');
}

Previously, I had used a ternary operator to set the variable, but I'm pretty sure the third condition makes that impossible. I'd like to make this code more concise if it's possible to do so.

Why do you need $('body').find(...) in the first two assignments? — BoltClock
– BoltClock, Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:35
This is just a snippet from a much larger piece of code. I'm basically looking for data-attributes on containers of links and setting the variable to that value. — Evicted Cache
– Evicted Cache, Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:37

Aurélien Gasser · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 01:57:20Z

2

You can use several ternary operators with indentation

var $callLinkContainer = $callLink.closest('class1-tel').length > 0 
  ? $('body').find('.class1-container')
  : $callLink.closest('.class2').length > 0 
    ? $('body').find('.class2-container')
    : $callLink.closest('.class3');

The priority of the operators is so that you don't need to add parenthesis like in

a ? b : (c ? d : e)

You might want to add them for extra clarity, though.

edited Apr 29, 2014 at 1:57

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 1:47

Aurélien Gasser

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Comments

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 01:43:49Z

1

You can nest conditional operators. The code is shorter, and with appropriate line breaks and indentation it's as readable as the if statements.

$callLinkContainer = $callLink.closest('class1-tel').length ?
    $('.class1-container') :
    ($callLink.closest('.class2').length ?
        $('.class2-container') :
        $callLink.closest('.class3'));

edited Apr 29, 2014 at 1:43

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 1:38

Barmar

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9 Comments

willlma Over a year ago

FWIW, you can remove the > 0s

wingedsubmariner Over a year ago

You can safely break this into multiple lines to improve readability - semicolon inference won't get in the way.

Barmar Over a year ago

I did break it into multiple lines.

Barmar Over a year ago

OK, now I've broken it into more lines -- it is indeed more readable.

Sunjay Varma Over a year ago

Please don't do that even if it is on multiple lines. That's horribly unreadable. There's nothing wrong with a few if statements if it dramatically simplifies your code.

|

Gio · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 02:15:36Z

0

I'd like to do the next suggestion

Encapsulate the code in several functions

function isCallLinkClosest(var callLinkSelector){ 
    return $callLink.closest(callLinkSelector).length > 0;
}

function getCallLinkContainer(var containerSelector){
    return $('body').find(containerSelector);
}

function getDataAttributeByClass(){ 
    if ( isCallLinkClosest('class1-tel')) {
     return getCallLinkContainer('.class1-container');
    } else if ( isCallLinkClosest('.class2')) {
     return getCallLinkContainer('.class2-container');
    } else {
     return $callLink.closest('.class3');
    }
}

This is the best suggestion that I can do with the given information :)

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 2:15

Gio

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Comments

w35l3y · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 02:44:40Z

0

Do .class1-tel, .class2 or .class3 exist at the same time?
If not, then you could possibly do something like this:

var $callLinkContainer = ($callLink.closest('.class1-tel, .class2').length
    ? $('body').find('.class1-container, .class2-container')
    : $callLink.closest('.class3'));

If you could be more specific about class names and dom structure, the code could be even easier.

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 2:44

w35l3y

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