How can I bind to jQuery UI tab event click/select/active? - event-handling

Question

I'm a beginner/intermediate level developer/programmer. I've got jQuery-UI-Tabs that I'm building in jQuery like so (they show up and function fine):
var paymentTabs = $('<div id="paytabs">');
...
var paymentTabList = $('<ul>');
paymentTabs.append(paymentTabList);
if($.inArray('check',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li>Pay with an E-Check</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCheck);
}
if($.inArray('card',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li>Pay with a Credit/Debit Card</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCard);
}
if($.inArray('code',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li>Business Office Use Only</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCode);
}
paymentTabs.tabs({show: function(event, ui) {
item.currentMethod = ui.panel.id;
self._refreshCart();
}
});
paymentTabs.tabs({show: function(event, ui) {
item.currentMethod = ui.panel.id;
self._refreshCart();
}
});
Binding to them does not work:
$( "#paytabs" ).on( "tabsselect", function(event, ui) {
alert("tab has been clicked.");
});
Neither does this:
$( "#paytabs" ).bind( "tabsselect", function(event, ui) {
alert("tab has been clicked.");
});
I also tried tabsactivate instead of tabsselect. I tried selecting by class and by id. I tried selecting transverse and walking the DOM. Eventually, I'm going to use the function that I bind to the tab, to add a 3% fee to the billing total. I will also make this function change the JSON key, attribute "required" to "true" for a specified input element. This is critical for me to get this function bound... I really appreciate the help.

Answer 1

Look here: http://api.jqueryui.com/tabs/#event-activate
Bind to the tab 'activate' event. So when a tab is clicked the activate function is fired.
Like This:
$("#paytabs").tabs({
activate: function( event, ui ){
/* do something here */
}
});
or
$("#paytabs").on( "tabsactivate", function( event, ui ){
/* do something here */
});

Answer 2

Here is what worked for me. Aran's solution worked in part (thank you Aran).
Step One:
Bind to tabs activate as Aran described, but directly on the element as it is instantiated. There is no need for an element selector if you do this.
billing_div.append('<h3>Payment Information</h3>');
var paymentTabs = $('<div id="paytabs">').tabs({select: function( event, ui ) {alert("tab has been clicked.");}});
billing_div.append(paymentTabs);
Step Two:
Add classes manually/problematically. remember to include ui-tabs-selected only for the tab which tab is selected at page load.
var paymentTabList = $('<ul>').addClass('ui-tabs-nav ui-helper-reset ui-helper-clearfix ui-widget-header ui-corner-all');
paymentTabs.append(paymentTabList);
if($.inArray('check',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li class="ui-state-default ui-corner-top ui-tabs-selected ui-state-active">Pay with an E-Check</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCheck);
}
if($.inArray('card',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li class="ui-state-default ui-corner-top">Pay with a Credit/Debit Card</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCard);
}
if($.inArray('code',options.methods) != -1){
paymentTabList.append('<li class="ui-state-default ui-corner-top">Business Office Use Only</li>');
paymentTabs.append(payByCode);
}