In Gmail, you can click one checkbox and then, while holding the Shift key, click another one, which changes the state of all checkboxes in between. I’m interested in understanding how this feature is built. Is it achieved with simple JavaScript techniques or does it rely on a library like jQuery to handle the multi-select action?
I have implemented this functionality primarily with vanilla JavaScript as well. In my experience, the idea is to remember the index of the last clicked checkbox and, when a shift-click is detected, iterate through the checkboxes between that position and the current one to update their checked state. While using a library like jQuery could simplify some event handling and selection aspects, sticking with native JavaScript provides greater control and avoids adding unnecessary dependencies. Properly managing event listeners and understanding the checkbox DOM structure is key to a robust implementation.
I have implemented a similar shift-click functionality simply with native JavaScript, and I found it surprisingly straightforward without the need for additional libraries like jQuery. I tracked the last checkbox clicked and on detecting that the Shift key was pressed, I looped through the document to update each checkbox’s state between the last and current selections. This approach provided full control over the feature with minimal code. It emphasizes that a good understanding of event listeners and DOM traversal can effectively achieve what libraries usually abstract.
Based on my experience, using pure JavaScript works very well for implementing shift-click functionality. I decided to avoid any external libraries and focused on a straightforward approach by storing the index of the last checkbox that was clicked. When the Shift key is detected during a subsequent click, I programmatically loop through the checkboxes between the two indices and update their statuses. This method provides complete control over the logic and eliminates dependencies. Debugging also turned out to be simpler since I fully understand the underlying mechanism without additional abstractions.
i used plain js, saving the last checkbox and detecting shift key to loop though the range. kept it simple without extra libs, works fine for my case.