Determine if an element is a jQueryUI Widget

Question

I have written a jquery-ui widget using the Widget Factory...

I need to be able to determine in code whether the element is already a widget or not...

My investmentGrid widget is created on #container with $('#container').investmentGrid()

I need to be able to determine elsewhere in the code if $('#container') is already an investmentGrid

Answer 1

@Boycs: As per my understanding, using Widget Factory protects you from instantiating a plugin multiple times on the same element. (ref: http://jqueryui.pbworks.com/widget-factory)

In addition if you want to confirm if "container" is already an investment grid you can try the following option from inside your plugin code:

this.element.data("investmentGrid") === this;

For more details you can refer to docs.jquery.com/UI_Developer_Guide

Answer 2

You can query the element's jQuery.data() function, like so:

if ($('#container').data('investmentGrid')) {
   ...
}