MooTools

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MooTools is an open source, lightweight, modular object-oriented programming JavaScript Web application framework released under the MIT License. The aim of the software is to allow intermediate to advanced Web developers to write cross-browser JavaScript in an elegant, flexible, and efficient way. The framework includes built-in functions for manipulation of CSS, DOM elements, native JavaScript objects, Ajax requests, and more. MooTools also provides a detailed, coherent application programming interface (API).^[1]

[edit] Benefits

MooTools aims to provide the user with a number of advantages over native JavaScript. Advantages include:

• An extensible and modular framework where the developer can choose which components to use.^[2]
• MooTools follows object-oriented practices and the DRY principle.^[3]
• An advanced effects component, with optimized transitions such as easing equations used by many Flash developers.^[4]
• Enhancements to the DOM, enabling developers to easily add, modify, select, and delete DOM elements.^[5]

[edit] Components

MooTools includes a number of components but not all need to be loaded for each application. Some of the component categories are:

• Core: a collection of utility functions that all the other components require.^[6]
• Class is MooTools base library for Class object instantiation.^[7]
• Natives: a collection of JavaScript Native Object enhancements. The Natives add functionality, compatibility and new methods that simplify coding.
• Element contains a slew of enhancements and compatibility to the HTML Element object.^[8]
• Fx is an advanced effects API to animate Elements.^[9]
• Request: provides XHR interface, Cookie, JSON, and HTML retrieval specific tools for developers to exploit.^[10]
• Window: provides a cross-browser interface to the Client specific information, for instance window size^[11].

[edit] Browser Compatibility

MooTools is compatible and tested with^[12]:

• Safari 2+
• Internet Explorer 6+
• Mozilla Firefox 2+
• Opera 9+
• Camino 1.5+

[edit] Object-oriented Programming

MooTools contains a robust Class creation and inheritance system that resembles most Object-oriented programming languages. For example, the following is MooTools' equivalent of the examples in Wikipedia's polymorphism page:

 var Animal = new Class({
 
    initialize: function(name){
        this.name = name;
    }
 
 });
 
 var Cat = new Class({ 
    Extends: Animal,
 
    talk: function(){
        return 'Meow!';
    }
 
 });
 
 var Dog = new Class({
 
    Extends: Animal,
 
    talk: function(){
        return 'Arf! Arf';
    }
 
 });
 
 var Animals = {
    a: new Cat('Missy'),
    b: new Cat('Mr. Bojangles'),
    c: new Dog('Lassie')
 };
 
 for(var animal in Animals) alert(Animals[animal].name + ': ' + Animals[animal].talk());
 
 // alerts the following:
 //
 // Missy: Meow!
 // Mr. Bojangles: Meow!
 // Lassie: Arf! Arf!

[edit] Related

• Moo.fx

[edit] See also

• Ajax framework
• Rich Internet application
• Web 2.0
• Comparison of JavaScript frameworks
• XMLHttpRequest

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• mootools.net - The Official MooTools website
• - The Official MooTools User Group
• The MooTorial
• Mootools Essentials (book)
• jQuery vs MooTools: Choosing Between Two Great JavaScript Frameworks
• Clientcide Blog and Plugins by Aaron Newton
• Guillermo Rauch - MooTools Articles, Tutorials, Tips and Plugins by Guillermo Rauch
• David Walsh Blog - MooTools Tutorials and Plugins by David Walsh
• mooforum - The Unofficial MooTools Community
• List of Really Useful Plugins and Resources For MooTools
• MooTools 1.1 Plugins
• Free Mootools Plugins
• A widgets library built on mootools