Abandoned - Not maintained anymore

jQache - A simple jQuery selector (object) cache

jQache is a simple jQuery selector (object) cache. Simply add ".q" after "$" when selecting elements and you should be good to go.

Don't wrap jQuery again and again and again... on DOM-elements. Use a selector cache in combination with careful chaining.

Wanna see jQache performance in action? -> http://jsperf.com/jqache

Why should I care about caching?

Have you ever caught yourself doing this?

$("myElement").addClass("myClass");
$("myElement").removeAttr("style");
$("myElement").show("fast");

You did? You are doing it wrong!

You wrap the jQuery object around $("myElement") everytime you invoke $().

A better solution would be chaining, like this:

$("myElement").addClass("myClass")
    .removeAttr("style")
	.show("fast");

But if you're going to put this into a function, like this:

var myFunc = function() {
	
	$("myElement").addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

you wrap the jQuery object around myElement everytime you invoke myFunc().

The efficient way of solving this task is to cache your jQuery object.

var myElement = $("myElement");

var myFunc = function() {
	
	myElement.addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

But if you want to have a fresh jQuery object of myElement in another function (to grab newly created elements too), you are going to write hacky code, like this:

var myElement = $("myElement");

var myFunc = function() {
	
	myElement.addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

var myFreshFunc = function() {
	
	$("myElement").addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

With jQache your code would look like this:

var myFunc = function() {
	
	$.q("myElement").addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

var myFreshFunc = function() {
	
	$.q("myElement", true).addClass("myClass")
		.removeAttr("style")
		.show("fast");
}

You could also define custom names, set a refresh interval and declare namespaces (scroll down to read more about that kind of stuff).

Performance

jQache comes with a small performance test. Wanna see some results? Here you go:

10 Times
 Without cache:         13 ms
 With jQache:           5 ms
 Performance increase:  61.54 %

100 Times
 Without cache:         58 ms
 With jQache:           18 ms
 Performance increase:  68.97 %

1000 Times
 Without cache:         421 ms
 With jQache:           176 ms
 Performance increase:  58.19 %

10000 Times
 Without cache:         3982 ms
 With jQache:           1786 ms
 Performance increase:  55.15 %

Setup

Just load ```

# Basic usage

`set` and `get`? You dont need them. If you hit it once, you get the exact same object the next time 
until you set the `clear` argument to `true`.

### $.q( *string* selector, [ *bool* clear ] )

```javascript
// copy $(".item") into jQache and do stuff
$.q(".item").css("display", "none");

// use your previously stored $(".item") and do more stuff
$.q(".item").css("color", "red");

// fetch a fresh copy of $(".item") into jQache
$.q(".item", true).css("display", "block");

A little more advanced usage

You can assign names to objects, or even declare them in their own namespace. Additionally you can go completely crazy and define some interval.

$.q.assign( object options )

If you don't need namespaces:

// equivalent to $.q(".item")
$.q.assign({
    selector: ".item"
});

// assign name "inventory" to $(".item")
$.q.assign({
    selector: ".item",
    name: "inventory"
});

// get assigned objects
$.q("inventory");

// refresh this object every 60 seconds
$.q.assign({
    selector: ".item",
    name: "inventory",
    interval: 60
});

If you DO need namespaces:

// assign a namespace
$.q.assign({
    selector: ".item",
    name: "inventory",
    namespace: "lists"
});

// get objects from namespace
$.q.lists("inventory");

// get fresh objects from namespace
$.q.lists("inventory", true);

// get everything from namespace
$.q.lists();

.q.clear( [ string namespace ] )

If you want to completely clear the cache or a certain namespace.

//clear everything
$.q.clear();

//clear namespace
$.q.clear("lists");

Example

Markup

    <ul>
        <li class="list"></li>
    </ul>

Script

$.fn.ready( function(){

    console.log ( $.q(".list") ); // 1 element

    $("ul").append("<li class='list'> item </li>");
    $("ul").append("<li class='list'> item </li>");

    console.log ( $.q(".list") ); // still 1 element
    console.log ( $.q(".list", true) ); // 3 elements
});

License

BSD 3-Clause License Copyright (c) 2012, Danny "danwit" Witting All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
  this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
  this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
  and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

* Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors
  may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
  without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.