Custom Bindings

Binding Registration

Cusom bindings should be registered by extending the current knockout bindingHandlers object.
This is done by adding a new property to the object.

ko.bindingHandlers.newBinding = {
    init: function(element, valueAccessor, allBindings, viewModel, bindingContext) {
    },
    update: function(element, valueAccessor, allBindings, viewModel, bindingContext) {
    }
};

Custom fade in/fade out visibility binding

This example implements a custom binding that toggles visibility (similar to the existing visible binding), but will utilize jQuery’s fading API to animate the transition from visible to invisible.

Custom binding definition:

//Add a custom binding called "fadeVisible" by adding it as a property of ko.bindingHandlers
ko.bindingHandlers.fadeVisible = {
  //On initialization, check to see if bound element should be hidden by default
  'init': function(element, valueAccessor, allBindings, viewModel, bindingContext){
    var show = ko.utils.unwrapObservable(valueAccessor());
    if(!show){
      element.style.display = 'none';
    }
  },
  //On update, see if fade in/fade out should be triggered. Factor in current visibility 
  'update': function(element, valueAccessor, allBindings, viewModel, bindingContext) {
    var show = ko.utils.unwrapObservable(valueAccessor());
    var isVisible = !(element.style.display == "none");
    
    if (show && !isVisible){
      $(element).fadeIn(750);
    }else if(!show && isVisible){
      $(element).fadeOut(750);
    }
  }
}

Sample markup with the fadeVisible binding:

<div data-bind="fadeVisible: showHidden()">
  Field 1: <input type="text" name="value1" />
  <br />
  Field 2: <input type="text" name="value2" />
</div>
<input data-bind="checked: showHidden" type="checkbox"/> Show hidden

Sample view model:

var ViewModel = function(){
    var self = this;
    self.showHidden = ko.observable(false);
}


ko.applyBindings(new ViewModel());

Custom text replace binding

This example is a custom binding that replaces text whenever an input value is updated. In this case, spaces will be replaced with ”+“. It is intended to be used alongside the existing value binding, and shows binding with an object literal.

Sample markup with the replaceText binding:

<input type="text" data-bind="value: myField, replaceText: {value: myField, find:' ', replace:'+'}" />

Custom binding definition:

ko.bindingHandlers.replaceText = {

   //On update, grab the current value and replace text
  'update': function(element, valueAccessor, allBindings, viewModel, bindingContext) {

      //Get the current value of the input 
      var val = ko.utils.unwrapObservable(valueAccessor().value());

      //Replace text using passed in values obtained from valueAccessor()
      //Note - Consider using something like string.js to do the find and replace
      var replacedValue = val.split(valueAccessor().find).join(valueAccessor().replace);

      //Set new value
      valueAccessor().value(replacedValue);
  }
}

Sample view model:

var ViewModel = function(){
  var self = this;
  self.myField = ko.observable("this is a simple test");
}
 

ko.applyBindings(new ViewModel());

Replace with regular expression custom binding

Custom binding definition

function regExReplace(element, valueAccessor, allBindingsAccessor, viewModel, bindingContext) {

  var observable = valueAccessor();
  var textToReplace = allBindingsAccessor().textToReplace || '';
  var pattern = allBindingsAccessor().pattern || '';
  var flags = allBindingsAccessor().flags;
  var text = ko.utils.unwrapObservable(valueAccessor());
  if (!text) return;
  var textReplaced = text.replace(new RegExp(pattern, flags), textToReplace);

  observable(textReplaced);
}

ko.bindingHandlers.regExReplace = {
  init: regExReplace,
  update: regExReplace
}

Usage

ViewModel

ko.applyBindings({
  name: ko.observable(),
  num: ko.observable()
});

View

<input type="text" data-bind="textInput : name, regExReplace:name, pattern:'(^[^a-zA-Z]*)|(\\W)',flags:'g'" placeholder="Enter a valid name" />
<span data-bind="text : name"></span>
<br/>
<input class=" form-control " type="text " data-bind="textInput : num, regExReplace:num, pattern: '[^0-9]',flags: 'g' " placeholder="Enter a number " />
<span data-bind="text : num"></span>