Getting started

  1. How KO works and what benefits it brings
  2. Downloading and installing

Observables

  1. Creating view models with observables
  2. Working with observable arrays

Computed observables

  1. Using computed observables
  2. Writable computed observables
  3. How dependency tracking works
  4. Pure computed observables
  5. Reference

Bindings

Controlling text and appearance

  1. The visible and hidden bindings
  2. The text binding
  3. The html binding
  4. The class and css bindings
  5. The style binding
  6. The attr binding

Control flow

  1. The foreach binding
  2. The if and ifnot bindings
  3. The with and using bindings
  4. The let binding
  5. The component binding
  6. Binding lifecycle events

Working with form fields

  1. The click binding
  2. The event binding
  3. The submit binding
  4. The enable and disable bindings
  5. The value binding
  6. The textInput binding
  7. The hasFocus binding
  8. The checked binding
  9. The options binding
  10. The selectedOptions binding
  11. The uniqueName binding

Rendering templates

  1. The template binding

Binding syntax

  1. The data-bind syntax
  2. The binding context

Creating custom bindings

  1. Creating custom bindings
  2. Controlling descendant bindings
  3. Supporting virtual elements
  4. Custom disposal logic
  5. Preprocessing: Extending the binding syntax

Components

  1. Overview: What components and custom elements offer
  2. Defining and registering components
  3. The component binding
  4. Using custom elements
  5. Advanced: Custom component loaders

Further techniques

  1. Loading and saving JSON data
  2. Extending observables
  3. Deferred updates
  4. Rate-limiting observables
  5. Unobtrusive event handling
  6. Using fn to add custom functions
  7. Microtasks
  8. Asynchronous error handling

Plugins

  1. The mapping plugin

More information

  1. Browser support
  2. Getting help
  3. Links to tutorials & examples
  4. Usage with AMD using RequireJs (Asynchronous Module Definition)

The "if" and "ifnot" bindings

Purpose

The if binding causes a section of markup to appear in your document (and to have its data-bind attributes applied), only if a specified expression evaluates to true (or a true-ish value such as a non-null object or nonempty string).

The ifnot binding works just like the if binding, except that it inverts the result of whatever expression you pass to it.

if (and ifnot) play a similar role to the visible (and hidden) bindings. The difference is that, with visible, the contained markup always remains in the DOM and always has its data-bind attributes applied—the visible binding just uses CSS to toggle the container element’s visiblity. The if binding, however, physically adds or removes the contained markup in your DOM, and only applies bindings to descendants if the expression is true.

Example 1

This example shows that the if binding can dynamically add and remove sections of markup as observable values change.

Here is a message. Astonishing.

Source code: View

<label><input type="checkbox" data-bind="checked: displayMessage" /> Display message</label>

<div data-bind="if: displayMessage">Here is a message. Astonishing.</div>

Source code: View model

ko.applyBindings({
    displayMessage: ko.observable(false)
});

Example 2

In the following example, the <div> element will be empty for “Mercury”, but populated for “Earth”. That’s because Earth has a non-null capital property, whereas “Mercury” has null for that property.

<ul data-bind="foreach: planets">
    <li>
        Planet: <b data-bind="text: name"> </b>
        <div data-bind="if: capital">
            Capital: <b data-bind="text: capital.cityName"> </b>
        </div>
    </li>
</ul>


<script>
    ko.applyBindings({
        planets: [
            { name: 'Mercury', capital: null }, 
            { name: 'Earth', capital: { cityName: 'Barnsley' } }        
        ]
    });
</script>

It’s important to understand that the if binding really is vital to make this code work properly. Without it, there would be an error when trying to evaluate capital.cityName in the context of “Mercury” where capital is null. In JavaScript, you’re not allowed to evaluate subproperties of null or undefined values.

Parameters

  • Main parameter

    The expression you wish to evaluate. For the if binding, if it evaluates to true (or a true-ish value), the contained markup will be present in the document, and any data-bind attributes on it will be applied; if your expression evaluates to false, the contained markup will be removed from your document without first applying any bindings to it. For the ifnot binding, the behavior is reversed.

    If your expression involves any observable values, the expression will be re-evaluated whenever any of them change. Correspondingly, the markup within your if or ifnot block can be added or removed dynamically as the result of the expression changes. data-bind attributes will be applied to a new copy of the contained markup whenever it is re-added.

  • Additional parameters

    • None

Note: Using “if” and “ifnot” without a container element

Sometimes you may want to control the presence/absence of a section of markup without having any container element that can hold an if or ifnot binding. For example, you might want to control whether a certain <li> element appears alongside siblings that always appear:

<ul>
    <li>This item always appears</li>
    <li>I want to make this item present/absent dynamically</li>
</ul>

In this case, you can’t put if on the <ul> (because then it would affect the first <li> too), and you can’t put any other container around the second <li> (because HTML doesn’t allow extra containers within <ul>s).

To handle this, you can use the containerless control flow syntax, which is based on comment tags. For example,

<ul>
    <li>This item always appears</li>
    <!-- ko if: someExpressionGoesHere -->
        <li>I want to make this item present/absent dynamically</li>
    <!-- /ko -->
</ul>

The <!-- ko --> and <!-- /ko --> comments act as start/end markers, defining a “virtual element” that contains the markup inside. Knockout understands this virtual element syntax and binds as if you had a real container element.

Note: “ifnot” is the same as a negated “if”

The following markup:

<div data-bind="ifnot: someProperty">...</div>

… is equivalent to the following:

<div data-bind="if: !someProperty()">...</div>

… assuming that someProperty is observable and hence you need to invoke it as a function to obtain the current value.

The main reason to use ifnot instead of a negated if is just as a matter of taste: many developers feel that it looks tidier.

Dependencies

None, other than the core Knockout library.