Jquery Geocoding Script

Question

The rules for this script are simple:

• If geocode is hit, then just geocode
• If geocode and submit is hit, then geocode and then submit
• If an autosuggest link is hit, then geocode instantly
• In this case, do not re-geocode later when the button is hit

This is my code, based on help and advice from here:

http://jsfiddle.net/spadez/Jfdbz/14/

$(function () {
 var lastQuery = null,
 lastResult = null, // new!
 autocomplete,
 processLocation = function (callback) { // accept a callback argument
 var input = $("#loc"),
 lat = $("#lat"),
 long = $("#lng");
 var query = $.trim(input.val()),
 geocoder;
 // if query is empty or the same as last time...
 if (!query || query === lastQuery) {
 if (callback) {
 callback(lastResult); // send the same result as before
 }
 return; // and stop here
 }
 lastQuery = query; // store for next time
 geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
 geocoder.geocode({
 address: query
 }, function (results, status) {
 if (status === google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
 lat.val(results[0].geometry.location.lat());
 long.val(results[0].geometry.location.lng());
 lastResult = true; // success!
 } else {
 alert("Sorry - We couldn't find this location. Please try an alternative");
 lastResult = false; // failure!
 }
 if (callback) {
 callback(lastResult); // send the result back
 }
 });
 },
 ctryiso = $("#ctry").val(),
 options = {
 types: ["geocode"]
 };
 if (ctryiso !== '') {
 options.componentRestrictions = {
 'country': ctryiso
 };
 }
 autocomplete = new google.maps.places.Autocomplete($("#loc")[0], options);
 google.maps.event.addListener(autocomplete, 'place_changed', processLocation);
 $('#search').click(function (e) {
 var form = $(this).closest('form');
 e.preventDefault(); // stop the submission
 processLocation(function (success) {
 if (success) { // if the geocoding succeeded, submit the form
 form.submit();
 }
 });
 });
 $('#geosearch').click(function (e) {
 var form = $(this).closest('form');
 e.preventDefault(); // stop the submission
 processLocation();
 });
});

I think I have reached the point where it works correctly, and I can't seem to make it any more structured, any more readable, any more efficient or compact. However, I am new to javascript and I would be really open to hear if anyone feels that they can improve on this.

I must admit I a bit pedantic and get a lot of satisfaction out of the refining process!

EDIT: I pasted the code wrong - fixed

Answer 1

Just a few things in no particular order:

• Don't use long as a variable name. It's a reserved word in Javascript and can cause confusion.
• If you're going to disable the country input in your form, you should probably just put the US keyword straight in your code. That is if you don't intend on enabling it.
• You set ctryiso = $("#ctry").val() and then test ctryiso !== ''. Since you hard coded the country value in, that will always be true. Therefore, unnecessary test.
• You don't need to initialize your lastQuery and lastResult to null. Any falsy value will do just fine in JS, including undefined.
• If you look at the jQuery source code you'll see that the .click() simply calls another method and passes the values on. You can save a few function calls if you just call that other method directly.

Like so:

$('#search').click(function (e) {
 //Do stuff
}
//Do this one instead
$('#search').on('click', function (e) {
 //Do stuff
}

The 'click' can be replaced with any event of you're choosing. This gives you enormous power and control when setting up custom events.