jquery.smmNestedSortable.js

/*
smmNestedSortable jQuery Plugin 

version : 0.1 

By Simon McManus (simonmcmanus.com)

Licence: BSD Open Source Licence

TODO : 
1: Pass in tolerance paramter.
2: Allow all params available in sortables to be passed into smmNestedSortable.

*/

(function($) {
$.fn.smmNestedSortable = function(options) {
    settings = jQuery.extend({
      serializer: undefined,
	  items: "li",
           helper: "helper",
           connectWith: '.sortable',
           placeholder: 'placeholder',
           sort: function(event, ui) {
               $(ui.placeholder).empty();
               if (ui.position.left - 10 > ui.originalPosition.left)	// make child
               	$(ui.placeholder).append("<ul class='sortable'>" + $(ui.item).html() + "</ul>");
           },
           stop: function(event, ui) {
               $.fn.smmNestedSortable.change(event, ui);
               if (settings.serializer != undefined)
               	settings.serializer();
           }
    }, options);
    this.each(function() {
        $(this).sortable(settings);
    });
    return this;
};
$.fn.smmNestedSortable.change = function(event, ui) {
    if (ui.position.left - 10 > ui.originalPosition.left) {	// make child - could/should add some more check in here.
        if ($(ui.item).prev().is('li')) {
            $(ui.item).prev().append(ui.item);
            $(ui.item).wrap("<ul class='sortable'></ul>");
        }
    } else if (ui.position.left - 10 < ui.originalPosition.left) {	// kill child
        if ($(ui.item).parent().is("ul")) {	// confirm its not the base level element	
            if ($(ui.item).parent().children().length <= 1) {	// if only item in the list
                $(ui.item).parent().replaceWith($(ui.item));	// put outside not inside parent li
            }
        }
    }
    // cleanup unused lists
    $('ul.sortable, ul.sortable li').each(function() {
        if ($(this).text() == "")	// if only item and item is empty.
        	$(this).remove();	// remove the parent li
    });
    $('.sortable').sortable("refresh");
};
})(jQuery);