doc/book/en/development/devweb/js.rst
branchstable
changeset 5151 2f70fa8b6854
parent 4830 10e8bc190695
child 5152 35e6878e2fd0
--- a/doc/book/en/development/devweb/js.rst	Tue Apr 06 10:29:41 2010 +0200
+++ b/doc/book/en/development/devweb/js.rst	Tue Apr 06 15:11:51 2010 +0200
@@ -54,12 +54,225 @@
     ajax request, otherwise the document itself for standard HTTP
     requests.
 
+Important AJAX APIS
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Overview of what's available
+* `jQuery.fn.loadxhtml` is an important extension to jQuery which
+  allow proper loading and in-place DOM update of xhtml views. It is
+  suitably augmented to trigger necessary events, and process CubicWeb
+  specific elements such as the facet system, fckeditor, etc.
+
+* `asyncRemoteExec` and `remoteExec` are the base building blocks for
+  doing arbitrary async (resp. sync) communications with the server
+
+A simple example with asyncRemoteExec
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In the python side, we have to extend the BaseController class. The
+@jsonize decorator ensures that the `return value` of the method is
+encoded as JSON data. By construction, the JSonController inputs
+everything in JSON format.
+
+.. sourcecode: python
+
+    from cubicweb.web.views.basecontrollers import JSonController, jsonize
+
+    @monkeypatch(JSonController)
+    @jsonize
+    def js_say_hello(self, name):
+        return u'hello %s' % name
+
+In the javascript side, we do the asynchronous call. Notice how it
+creates a `deferred` object. Proper treatment of the return value or
+error handling has to be done through the addCallback and addErrback
+methods.
+
+.. sourcecode: javascript
+
+    function async_hello(name) {
+        var deferred = asyncRemoteExec('say_hello', name);
+        deferred.addCallback(function (response) {
+            alert(response);
+        });
+        deferred.addErrback(function () {
+            alert('something fishy happened');
+        });
+     }
+
+     function sync_hello(name) {
+         alert( remoteExec('say_hello', name) );
+     }
+
+A simple example with loadxhtml
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Here we are concerned with the retrieval of a specific view to be
+injected in the live DOM. The view will be of course selected
+server-side using an entity eid provided by the client side.
+
+.. sourcecode: python
+
+    from cubicweb import typed_eid
+    from cubicweb.web.views.basecontrollers import JSonController, xhtmlize
+
+    @monkeypatch(JSonController)
+    @xhtmlize
+    def js_frob_status(self, eid, frobname):
+        entity = self._cw.entity_from_eid(typed_eid(eid))
+        return entity.view('frob', name=frobname)
+
+.. sourcecode: javascript
+
+    function update_some_div(divid, eid, frobname) {
+        var params = {fname:'frob_status', eid: eid, frobname:frobname};
+        jQuery('#'+divid).loadxhtml(JSON_BASE_URL, params, 'post');
+     }
+
+In this example, the url argument is the base json url of a cube
+instance (it should contain something like
+`http://myinstance/json?`). The actual JSonController method name is
+encoded in the `params` dictionnary using the `fname` key.
+
+A more real-life example from CubicWeb
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A frequent use case of Web 2 applications is the delayed (or
+on-demand) loading of pieces of the DOM. This is typically achieved
+using some preparation of the initial DOM nodes, jQuery event handling
+and proper use of loadxhtml.
+
+We present here a skeletal version of the mecanism used in CubicWeb
+and available in web/views/tabs.py, in the `LazyViewMixin` class.
+
+.. sourcecode: python
+
+    def lazyview(self, vid, rql=None):
+        """ a lazy version of wview """
+        w = self.w
+        self._cw.add_js('cubicweb.lazy.js')
+        urlparams = {'vid' : vid, 'fname' : 'view'}
+        if rql is not None:
+            urlparams['rql'] = rql
+        w(u'<div id="lazy-%s" cubicweb:loadurl="%s">' % (
+            vid, xml_escape(self._cw.build_url('json', **urlparams))))
+        w(u'</div>')
+        self._cw.add_onload(u"""
+            jQuery('#lazy-%(vid)s').bind('%(event)s', function() {
+                   load_now('#lazy-%(vid)s');});"""
+            % {'event': 'load_%s' % vid, 'vid': vid})
+
+This creates a `div` with an specific event associated to it.
+
+The full version deals with:
+
+* optional parameters such as an rql expression, an entity eid, an
+  rset
+
+* the ability to further reload the fragment
+
+* the ability to display a spinning wheel while the fragment is still
+  not loaded
+
+* handling of browsers that do not support ajax (search engines,
+  text-based browsers such as lynx, etc.)
+
+The javascript side is quite simple, due to loadxhtml awesomeness.
+
+.. sourcecode: javascript
+
+    function load_now(eltsel) {
+        var lazydiv = jQuery(eltsel);
+        lazydiv.loadxhtml(lazydiv.attr('cubicweb:loadurl'));
+    }
+
+This is all significantly different of the previous `simple example`
+(albeit this example actually comes from real-life code).
+
+Notice how the `cubicweb:loadurl` is used to convey the url
+information. The base of this url is similar to the global javascript
+JSON_BASE_URL. According to the pattern described earlier,
+the `fname` parameter refers to the standard `js_view` method of the
+JSonController. This method renders an arbitrary view provided a view
+id (or `vid`) is provided, and most likely an rql expression yielding
+a result set against which a proper view instance will be selected.
+
+The `cubicweb:loadurl` is one of the 29 attributes extensions to XHTML
+in a specific cubicweb namespace. It is a means to pass information
+without breaking HTML nor XHTML compliance and without resorting to
+ungodly hacks.
+
+Given all this, it is easy to add a small nevertheless useful feature
+to force the loading of a lazy view (for instance, a very
+computation-intensive web page could be scinded into one fast-loading
+part and a delayed part).
+
+In the server side, a simple call to a javascript function is
+sufficient.
+
+.. sourcecode: python
+
+    def forceview(self, vid):
+        """trigger an event that will force immediate loading of the view
+        on dom readyness
+        """
+        self._cw.add_onload("trigger_load('%s');" % vid)
+
+The browser-side definition follows.
+
+.. sourcecode: javascript
+
+    function trigger_load(divid) {
+        jQuery('#lazy-' + divd).trigger('load_' + divid);
+    }
+
+
+Anatomy of a lodxhtml call
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The loadxhtml extension to jQuery accept many parameters with rich
+semantics. Let us detail these.
+
+* `url` (mandatory) should be a complete url, typically based on the
+  JSonController, but this is not strictly mandatory
+
+* `data` (optional) is a dictionnary of values given to the
+  controller specified through an `url` argument; some keys may have a
+  special meaning depending on the choosen controller (such as `fname`
+  for the JSonController); the `callback` key, if present, must refer
+  to a function to be called at the end of loadxhtml (more on this
+  below)
+
+* `reqtype` (optional) specifies the request method to be used (get or
+  post); if the argument is 'post', then the post method is used,
+  otherwise the get method is used
+
+* `mode` (optional) is one of `replace` (the default) which means the
+  loaded node will replace the current node content, `swap` to replace
+  the current node with the loaded node, and `append` which will
+  append the loaded node to the current node content
+
+
+About the `callback` option:
+
+* it is called with two parameters: the current node, and a list
+  containing the loaded (and post-processed node)
+
+* whenever is returns another function, this function is called in
+  turn with the same parameters as above
+
+This mecanism allows callback chaining.
+
+
+Javascript library: overview
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 * jquery.* : jquery and jquery UI library
 
+* cubicweb.ajax.js : concentrates all ajax related facilities (it
+  extends jQuery with the loahxhtml function, provides a handfull of
+  high-level ajaxy operations like asyncRemoteExec, reloadComponent,
+  replacePageChunk, getDomFromResponse)
+
 * cubicweb.python.js : adds a number of practical extension to stdanrd
   javascript objects (on Date, Array, String, some list and dictionary
   operations), and a pythonesque way to build classes. Defines a
@@ -69,11 +282,6 @@
   in various other cubicweb javascript resources (baseuri, progress
   cursor handling, popup login box, html2dom function, etc.)
 
-* cubicweb.ajax.js : concentrates all ajax related facilities (it
-  extends jQuery with the loahxhtml function, provides a handfull of
-  high-level ajaxy operations like asyncRemoteExec, reloadComponent,
-  replacePageChunk, getDomFromResponse)
-
 * cubicweb.widgets.js : provides a widget namespace and constructors
   and helpers for various widgets (mainly facets and timeline)
 
@@ -83,5 +291,6 @@
 
 * cubicweb.facets.js : used by the facets mechanism
 
-xxx massmailing, gmap, fckcwconfig, timeline-bundle, timeline-ext,
-calendar, goa, flotn tazy, tabs, bookmarks
+There is also javascript support for massmailing, gmap (google maps),
+fckcwconfig (fck editor), timeline, calendar, goa (CubicWeb over
+AppEngine), flot (charts drawing), tabs and bookmarks.