Using JQuery in custom fields

At the moment I'm creating a custom field for tagging content items. I prototyped my custom field in html using JQuery. But when I wanted to convert this to the actual custom field I ran into a problem. As you might know Sitecore uses the Prototype library for all of it's javascript. And prototype uses the same dollar sign for all of its functions and variables as JQuery does. But JQuery provides a noConflict function where you can reassign the default $.

But then came the next challenge. I needed to use the noConflict function before all other javascript was called. Luckally I remembered that I have seen it before in other custom fields that are on the Shared Source environment. So I started browsing the source code of Alexey Rusakov's project (Sitecore Fieldtypes) and I found the InjectScripts class which provides an option to add HTML to the section of the Content Editor. There I just added a reference to my JQuery library and off course calling the .noConflict funtion.

namespace Sitecore.SharedSource.Taxonomy {
  class AddScripts {
    public void Process(PipelineArgs args) {
      if (Sitecore.Context.ClientPage.IsEvent) return;

      HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current; if (context == null) return;

      Page page = context.Handler as Page; if (page == null) return;

      Assert.IsNotNull(page.Header, "Content Editor tag is missing runat='value'");

      string[] scripts = new[] { "/sitecore modules/Shell/Taxonomy/jquery-1.4.1.min.js" };

      foreach (string script in scripts) {
        page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("".FormatWith(script)));
        page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("$.noConflict();"));
      }
    }
  }
}

So now I can call my JQuery by using "jQuery" in stead of "$" and the field works.

In my opinion this is just an example of how the Shared Source environment can help you. So if you have created a module, field or any thing else please put it on the Shared Source environment so others can benefit from it.