JavaScript

[Krish R]

I maintain scores of personal databases on my phone using Memento. It has brought back to me the excitement I first got from dBase III+ in the 90s - before the dawn of the touchscreen era.

The next exciting aspect is this forum, where i enjoy the abundant guidance of Bill Crews, Eugene Kartov, Tony G and many others; which help enhance my skills in optimizing my databases. As a bonus, I also get humoured by the friendly banter between BC & EK.

The more serious matter now is JavaScript, of which i know nothing. But I am keen on learning it so as to become what you guys may call a 'Power User' of Memento.

Could someone please point me to some book/other resource to get the fundamentals of JS and its use in the Android platform.

Thanks everyone.
Krish, India

[Bill Crews]

Krish, though there are certainly books to read about JavaScript, I for one did not learn it that way, and unless you have a general interest in learning JavaScript for all its various uses, most of which are for client-side or other Web support, I don't recommend going that way.

At the very bottom of each wiki page related to scripting Memento in JavaScript, there is a short table of Links to JavaScript information. In my case, in the beginning, I found the W3Schools Web site on JavaScript to be of the most value. Later and nowadays, the Mozilla MDN Web site for JavaScript is the most useful. See here, for example: http://wiki.mementodatabase.com/index.php/Tips:Using_JavaScript_in_Memento#Links.

What I suggest is to read the sample code in the scripting wiki pages, starting with the JavaScript field, Tips:Using JavaScript in Memento, Trigger Examples, Actions, and Memento JavaScript Library pages. Go example by example, accessing the W3Schools and/or the MDN sites as needed, and master each one, creating test libraries and defining fields, triggers, and actions as you go. I chose to set up a library group for such libraries; I call it Toys.

If you choose to read a JavaScript book to learn JavaScript, just keep in mind that, if you read in sequence, you'll likely learn a whole lot about the Web domain -- how JavaScript addresses it, and how you make things happen there. All this is of little use to you within Memento, and it'll distract you from the task at hand. Nevertheless, I think a good book, if you go this route, would be Learning JavaScript: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-JavaScript-Essentials-Application-Development-ebook/dp/B01BW3N906/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=.

And, of course, there is us, when you have a question. :-)

[Krish R]

Thank you Bill for your lightning response. By some uncanny perception you have inferred correctly my precise ( and limited) need for JS.

Sometime ago, after observing many references to JS in the Group Posts,a sudden urge to learn it, possessed me, and i do remember trying out a book. But after many pages i was not getting anywhere.

I have been visiting the Wiki Memento page which you had initiated, but had missed the *Scripting-tips pages*. I will go back to them and familiarize myself with the way in which JS is used in Memento.

That,along with the W3 you have mentioned, would be more practical and might be a sort of a tutorial.

After i get some familiarity with the grammar of it all, and acquire a decent vocabulary, i may perhaps be able to make some sense of the book you have also suggested.

And , above all, i have the reassurance, that in moments of despair, i can always resort to the 'us' that you have mentioned in the last para.

Thank you,
Krish