Jquery confirmation box

Question

I'm looking to create a generic confirmation box that can be used by multiple widgets easily, but I'm running into problems with scope and was hoping for a clearer way of doing what I'm trying to do.

Currently I have the following -

(function() {

    var global = this;
    global.confirmationBox = function() {
    config = {
        container: '<div>',
        message:''
    }
    return {
        config: config,
        render: function(caller) {
            var jqContainer = $(config.container);
            jqContainer.append(config.message);
            jqContainer.dialog({
                buttons: {
                    'Confirm': caller.confirm_action,
                     Cancel: caller.cancel_action
                }
            });
        }
    }
} //end confirmationBox
global.testWidget = function() {
    return {
        create_message: function(msg) {
            var msg = confirmationBox();
            msg.message = msg;
            msg.render(this);
        },
        confirm_action: function() {
            //Do approved actions here and close the confirmation box
            //Currently not sure how to get the confirmation box at
            //this point
        },
        cancel_action: function() {
            //Close the confirmation box and register that action was 
            //cancelled with the widget. Like above, not sure how to get
            //the confirmation box  back to close it
        }
    }
}//end testWidget
})();
//Create the widget and pop up a test message
var widget = testWidget();
widget.create_message('You need to confirm this action to continue');

Currently I'm just looking to do something as simple as close the box from the within the widget, but I think I've wrapped my own brain in circles in terms of what knows what. Anyone want to help clear my befuddled brain?

Cheers, Sam

The resulting code:

I thought it might be useful for people who find this thread in later days looking for a solution to a similar problem to see the code that resulted from the helpful answers I got here.

As it turns out it was pretty simple in the end (as most of the frustrating mind-tangles are).

 /**
 * Confirmation boxes are used to confirm a request by a user such as
 * wanting to delete an item
 */
 global.confirmationBox = function() {
    self = this;
    config = {
        container: '<div>',
        message: '', 
    }
    return {
        set_config:config,
        render_message: function(caller) {
            var jqContainer = $(config.container);
            jqContainer.attr('id', 'confirmation-dialog');
            jqContainer.append(config.message);
            jqContainer.dialog({
               buttons: {
                   'Confirm': function() {
                       caller.confirm_action(this);
                    },
                   Cancel: function() {
                       caller.cancel_action(this);
                   }
               }
           });
        }
    }
 } // end confirmationBox

 global.testWidget = function() {
    return {
        create_message: function(msg) {
            var msg = confirmationBox();
            msg.message = msg;
            msg.render(this);
        },
        confirm_action: function(box) {
            alert('Success');
            $(box).dialog('close'); 
        },
        cancel_action: function(box) {
            alert('Cancelled');
            $(box).dialog('close'); 
        }
    }
}//end testWidget

Answer 1

Try something like this:

(function() {

    var global = this;
    /*****************This is new****************/
    var jqContainer;


    global.confirmationBox = function() {
    config = {
        container: '',
        message:''
    }
    return {
        config: config,
        render: function(caller) { 

            // store the container in the outer objects scope instead!!!!
            jqContainer = $(config.container);

            jqContainer.append(config.message);
            jqContainer.dialog({
                buttons: {
                    'Confirm': caller.confirm_action,
                     Cancel: caller.cancel_action
                }
            });
        }
    }
} //end confirmationBox
global.testWidget = function() {
    return {
        create_message: function(msg) {
            var msg = confirmationBox();
            msg.message = msg;
            msg.render(this);
        },
        confirm_action: function() {
            //Do approved actions here and close the confirmation box
            //Currently not sure how to get the confirmation box at this point

            /*******Hopefully, you would have access to jqContainer here now *****/

        },
        cancel_action: function() {
            //Close the confirmation box and register that action was 
            //cancelled with the widget. Like above, not sure how to get
            //the confirmation box  back to close it
        }
    }
}//end testWidget
})();
//Create the widget and pop up a test message
var widget = testWidget();
widget.create_message('You need to confirm this action to continue');

If that doesnt work, try defining your callbacks (confirm_action, cancel_action) as private members of your object. But they should be able to access the outer scope of your main object.

Answer 2

You could pass jqContainer to the confirm/cancel functions.

Alternately, assign jqContainer as a property of caller. Since the confirm/cancel functions are called as methods of caller, they will have access to it via this. But that limits you to tracking one dialog per widget.

Answer 3

I tried this code out and the dialog appears, but not the test message...

What am I missing?

I changed render_message to render to fix a typo, too.