RequireJs - Define vs Require
Essentially, when you use require
you are saying "i want this, but i want all its dependencies too". So in the example below, we're requiring A, but require will search for all dependencies and ensure they are loaded before continuing.
require(['a'], function(a) {
// b, c, d, e will be loaded
});
// File A
define(['b','c','d','e'], function() {
return this;
});
General rule of thumb is you use define
when you want to define a module that will be reused by your application and you use require
to simply load a dependency.
Below is the code that should be inside jquery.my-plugin.js which defines a module called 'jquery.my-plugin' that can be used as a dependency elsewhere.
define(['jquery'], function($) { //jquery is a dependency to the jquery.my-plugin module
$.fn.myPlugin = function(options) { //adds a function to the *global* jQuery object, $ (global since jQuery does not follow AMD)
...
};
});
Below is a section of code where you want to attach your plugin function to the global jQuery object and then use it ...
require(['jquery.my-plugin'], function() { // jquery.my-plugin is loaded which attaches the plugin to the global JQuery object as shown above, then this function fires
//the only reason $ is visible here is because it's global. If it was a module, you would need to include it as a dependency in the above require statement
$('#element').myPlugin(); //the $ refers to the global object that has the plugin attached
});