User:The Transhumanist/Workshop boilerplate/Bodyguard function

Bodyguard function

The bodyguard function assigns an alias for a name within the function, and reserves that alias for that purpose only. For example, if you want "t" to be interpreted only as "transhumanist".

Since the script uses jQuery, we want to defend jQuery's alias, the "$". The bodyguard function makes it so that "$" means only "jQuery" inside the function, even if it means something else outside the function. That is, it prevents other javascript libraries from overwriting the $() shortcut for jQuery within the function. It does this via scoping.

The bodyguard function is used like a wrapper, with the alias-containing source code inside it, typically, wrapping the whole rest of the script. Here's what a jQuery bodyguard function looks like:

1 ( function($) {
2     // you put the body of the script here
3 } ) ( jQuery );

See also: bodyguard function solution.

To extend that to lock in "mw" to mean "mediawiki", use the following (this is what the script uses):

1 ( function(mw, $) {
2     // you put the body of the script here
3 } ) (mediawiki, jQuery);

For the best explanation of the bodyguard function I've found so far, see: Solving "$(document).ready is not a function" and other problems   (Long live Spartacus!)