Component#readDOMAttr()

Normally, Ember's component model is "write-only". The component takes a bunch of attributes that it got passed in, and uses them to render its template.

One nice thing about this model is that if you try to set a value to the same thing as last time, Ember (through HTMLBars) will avoid doing any work on the DOM.

This is not just a performance optimization. If an attribute has not changed, it is important not to clobber the element's "hidden state". For example, if you set an input's value to the same value as before, it will clobber selection state and cursor position. In other words, setting an attribute is not always idempotent.

This method provides a way to read an element's attribute and also update the last value Ember knows about at the same time. This makes setting an attribute idempotent.

In particular, what this means is that if you get an <input> element's value attribute and then re-render the template with the same value, it will avoid clobbering the cursor and selection position.

Since most attribute sets are idempotent in the browser, you typically can get away with reading attributes using jQuery, but the most reliable way to do so is through this method.