Append and Slide together jQuery

Question

I have this append method which I made to add more input boxes until there is 10 of them which will disable into making more.

i = 0;
$('#add-link').click(function() 
{   
    if(i < 9)
    {
        $('.insert-links').append('<div class="new-link" name="link[]"><input type="text" /></div>');
        i++;
    }
    if(i == 9)
    {
        $('#add-link').html('');    
    }
});

Although, it's good. However, I want to implement a slideDown when appended, I've tried doing this:

$('.insert-links').append('<div class="new-link" name="link[]"><input type="text" /></div>').slideDown("fast");

Which doesn't work at all.

Answer 1

append() returns a reference to the original selector, not what was appended. I think you are looking for this:

$('.insert-links').append('<div style="display: none;" class="new-link" name="link[]"><input type="text" /></div>')
$('.insert-links').find(".new-link:last").slideDown("fast");

Live demo:

http://jsfiddle.net/V4SVt/2/

Answer 2

Although SimpleCoder's solution is perfectly valid, I'd do it like this:

i = 0;
$('#add-link').click(function() {   
    if(i < 9) {
        $('.insert-links').append('<div style="display: none;" class="new-link link_' + i + '" name="link[]"><input type="text" /></div>');
        $('.link_' + i).slideDown("fast");
        i++;
    }
    if(i == 9) {
        $('#add-link').fadeOut('200');
    }
});

The reason for it would be that each link input would get an ID in the form of a second class, which would come very handy for selecting them in case one wants to remove an element, should one accidentally add more than one needs. I have also added a fade out effect on the add-link element so the user doesn't get confused that it just disappeared. Of course, it is just a matter of personal taste, but I find it more user-friendly.

Hope this helps.