{{outlet}}, {{view}}, {{render}}, and {{control}} helpers - ember.js

I am trying to put together a simple master-details Ember app. Directory tree on one side and file list on another.
Ember offers few helpers to render context into a view. Which of them I can use for:
Subtrees of the directory tree.
Details list.
In fact, would be very helpful if someone can point me to any docs I can read about the difference between {{render view}}, {{view view}} and {{control view}} helpers and how to use them properly.
Thanks a lot!

{{view "directory"}} renders the view within the context of the current controller.
{{render "directory"}} renders the view App.DirectoryView with template directory within the context of the singleton App.DirectoryController
{{control directory}} behaves the same way as render only it creates a new instance of App.DirectoryController every time it renders (unlike render which uses the same controller instance every time).
Update 18 Feb 2014: {{control}} has been removed.
The last two helpers are relatively new, so there isn't much documentation about them. You can find {{view}} documentation here.
Now looking at your use case, I don't think you need any of these helpers. Just use nested routes and the {{outlet}} helper and it should just work.
App.Router.map(function(){
this.resource('directories', function() {
this.resource('directory', { path: '/:directory_id'}, function() {
this.route('files');
});
});
});
You can build on that following this guide.
UPDATE: {{render}} now creates a new instance every time if you pass a model.

For a very good explanation of the helpers render, partial, outlet and template have a look at this question.
Just as a rough a summary, how one might use those helpers:
{{render "navigation"}} -> Renders the NavigationController and NavigationView at this place. This is helper is good for places, where the Controller and View do not change, e.g. a navigation.
{{outlet "detailsOutlet"}} -> This will provide a stub/hook/point into which you can render Components(Controller + View). One would use this with the render method of routes. In your case you will likely have a details route which could look like this. This would render the DetailsController with DetailsView into the outlet 'detailsOutlet' of the index template.
App.DetailsRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
renderTemplate: function() {
this.render('details', { // the template/view to render -> results in App.DetailsView
into: 'index', // the template to render into -> where the outlet is defined
outlet: 'detailsOutlet', // the name of the outlet in that template -> see above
});
}
});
{{view App.DetailsView}} -> This will render the given view, while preserving the current context/controller. One might change the context, e.g. using your master entity and pass its details to a view like this:
{{view App.DetailsView contextBinding="masterEntity.details"}}
This is helper is useful, when you want to encapsulate certain parts of a component in subviews, that have own custom logic like handling of actions/events.
{{control}} I know that control instantiates a new controller every time it is used, but I cannot see a good fit for your, nor have i a good example for using it.

To Understand the difference between ember {{render}},{{template}},{{view}},{{control}}
you can refer this article
http://darthdeus.github.io/blog/2013/02/10/render-control-partial-view/

Related

How do I set a class on a parent element when a route is the first one loaded?

I have an Ember demo app that works fine if the first route loaded is 'index', 'list' or 'list/index', but not if the first route loaded is 'list/show'. Code is at https://github.com/DougReeder/beta-list , demo is running at https://ember-demo.surge.sh To see the problem, set your window narrower than 640px and surf to https://ember-demo.surge.sh/list/5 You'll see the list panel, rather than the detail panel.
The underlying problem is that, when the route is 'list/show', the divs with class 'panelList' and 'panelDetail' should also have the class 'right'.
I can't set this in the template, because panelList and panelDetail are created by the parent 'list' template. If I move panelList and panelDetail to the child templates 'list/index' and 'list/show', then the list gets re-rendered when going from 'list/index' to 'list/show' which would be a terrible performance hit.
Currently, I use the 'didTransition' action to toggle the class 'right'. This is called both then transitioning from 'list/index' to 'list/show', and when 'list/show' is the initial route. Unfortunately, if 'list/show' is the first route, none of the DOM elements exist when 'didTransition' is called.
I can envision two routes to a solution, but don't know how to implement either:
Toggle the class 'right' on some action which happens after DOM elements exist.
Insert conditional code in the 'list' template, which sets the class 'right' on 'panelList' and 'panelDetail' if the actual route is 'list/show'.
Suggestions?
Answer current as of Ember v2.12.0
You can use the link-to helper to render elements other than links, with styles that change based on the route. Utilizing the activeClass, current-when, and tagName properties, you can basically have that element be styled however you want depending on which route you are on. For example, to render your panelList div:
{{#link-to tagName='div' classNames='panelList' activeClass='right' current-when='list/show'}}
More markup
{{/link-to}}
I love a trick with empty component. In didInsertElement and willDestroyElement hooks you can add and remove a css class from parent element or (I like it better) body. Here is a code:
import Ember from 'ember';
export default Ember.Component.extend({
bodyClass: '',
didInsertElement() {
const bodyClass = this.get('bodyClass');
if (bodyClass) {
Ember.$('body').addClass(bodyClass);
}
},
willDestroyElement() {
const bodyClass = this.get('bodyClass');
if (bodyClass) {
Ember.$('body').removeClass(bodyClass);
}
}
});
I use it in template (in my example it's a template of player route) like this
{{body-class bodyClass='player-page-active'}}
To apply classes to parent element, you can use this.$().parent(), but using body is more reliable. Note that this component will create an empty div, but it shouldn't be a problem (can be in rare cases, fix it with classNames and css if needed).
Sukima suggested looking at currentRouteName, and I thus found hschillig's solution, which I simplified for my case. In the controller, I created an isShow function:
export default Ember.Controller.extend({
routing: Ember.inject.service('-routing'),
isShow: function() {
var currentRouteName = this.get('routing').get('currentRouteName');
return currentRouteName === 'list.show';
}.property('routing.currentRouteName'),
In the template, I now use the if helper:
<div class="panelList {{if isShow 'right'}}">
RustyToms's answer eliminates the need for adding a function to the Controller, at the expense of being less semantic.

Ember.js how to design different representations of Data (with TodoMVC as an example)?

I would like to know what's the best way of designing the display of different representations of the same data model in Ember.js. To ask my question, I'll use the TodoMVC of Ember.JS, which has 3 representations of todo-data:
any todo, i.e. the entire todo list (TodosIndexRoute)
todos that are still active and incomplete (TodosActiveRoute)
todos that have been completed (TodosCompletedRoute)
Currently, you can see each of the 3 by clicking on the words at the bottom of the list, directing to a different URL each time. Since currently each representation has a route, it makes sense that each representation gets its unique URL. The main page displays the entire todo list (1.).
A. What is the best ember.js design to make the main page display all 3 representations (i.e. under just one URL)?
B. How about the best design that displays all 3 on the main page as well as on separate pages?
Currently I only figured out a clumsy way and made this modified TodoMVC app that shows incomplete and completed lists at the bottom of the page.
In index.html, I added new named lists:
{{#each todosactive itemController="todo"}}
{{ title }},
{{/each}}
In the js router, I copied TodosActiveRoute and TodosCompletedRoute into TodoIndexRoute, which is code duplication, very bad.
Todos.TodosIndexRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
setupController: function () {
var todos = Todos.Todo.find();
this.controllerFor('todos').set('filteredTodos', todos);
var todos_active = Todos.Todo.filter(function (todo) {
if (!todo.get('isCompleted')) {
return true;
}
});
this.controllerFor('todos').set('todosactive', todos_active);
...
});
I feel like I'm missing an elegant way of doing this, but my current ember.js knowledge is very limited. Should I use {{partial}}, {{render}}, render, or something else?
I tried {{ partial }} and {{ render }}, but I can't get them to display any data .
Thanks for helping out.
A) Ember tries to work really closely with urls. This is a good thing since if you want to share a url, the view should be consistent. The url is a powerful tool and each unique url should link to the same unique page. Having one url that links to multiple views isn't great, and certainly not shareable. If you have some time listen to some talks by Tom Dale and Yehuda Katz for an interesting overview of ember and what they're trying to do.
B) You can include different views on one page. Have a look at the guides, most notably on rendering templates and using helpers for more information on including different views under one url.
A) To display all 3 representations in one view, we actually just need the basic model in the single route. The key is for the controller to give you flavors of that model. The other important thing is to use data binding in the handlebars template. You can see the running version here.
In the IndexRoute, add a model that gets the plain todos list:
Todos.TodosIndexRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
model: function(params) {
return Todos.Todo.find();
},
...
Make a TodosListView that doesn't need to have anything:
Todos.TodoListView = Ember.View.extend();
In the controller, add 2 computed properties that returns the desired arrays:
Todos.TodosController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({
...
todosActive: function() {
return this.filterProperty('isCompleted', false);
}.property('#each.isCompleted'),
todosCompleted: function() {
return this.filterProperty('isCompleted', true);
}.property('#each.isCompleted'),
...
Finally, in the HTML template:
<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="todos">
Active:
{{#view Todos.TodoListView lalaBinding="todosActive"}}
{{#each view.lala}}
{{title}},
{{/each}}
{{/view}}
Completed:
{{#view Todos.TodoListView dataBinding="todosCompleted"}}
{{#each view.data}}
{{title}},
{{/each}}
{{/view}}
</script>
note the dataBinding.
Thanks to the folks on #emberjs irc for helping out.

How do I bind a controller to the view when the controller is create by Ember.js

this question is slightly related to How to display the “content” of an ObjectController?
However, in the provided solution and all other examples I can find the controllers are always created explicitly. The nice thing about Ember.js is that the Route takes care of mostly everything. So I don't want to create the controller but want to bind it to a view:
{{view App.myview controllerBinding="App.applicationController"}}
You can see the complete example in this fiddle. The example is not that great because Ember usually sets the controller of a child view to its parent view.
In the end I need to know, how I can access a controller which is created by Ember from a view.
Thanks for any help!
Update:
I provided the wrong fiddle or it did not save my changes. Here is the link to the right version: http://jsfiddle.net/ncaZz/1/
What should I provide in line 9 in the templates?
From the view you can access the controller with
this.controller
If you need other controllers than your view controller you can use the needs in the viewcontroller:
App.DatasetEditController = Ember.ObjectController.extend({
needs: ['mappingIndex']
});
and then use:
this.controller.mappingIndex
You don't really need to bind to it. You can access the controller from the view by calling it like this.
this.get('controller');
Updated Answer:
You really should not have your click event inside your view. Your actions should either be in your controller or your router.
Your template should become
<span style="background-color: green" {{action doStuff}}>
Click
</span>
and you should have a controller that should have this
App.MyController = Em.Controller.extend({
needs: ['application'],
doStuff: function(){
this.get('controllers.application').foo();
}
});
Also, the MyView and MyController should be capitalized, because when extending these items from ember that are not instances, and the capitalization is required. The view should only really have stuff in the didInsertElement that handles special things like any kind of jquery animations or initializing a date picker. But, the "ember way" is to have action in the router or controller.

How do I setup an Ember View class to be appended to a particular container?

Ember.View has a nice method called .appendTo("#container") which would allow me to specify a container div for the view. However, when I use the router and .connectOutlet method, an instance of my view is created automatically based on convention and is added to the page body element by default. Is there a way to configure the class definition of the view so that upon creation it will be inside my desired #container. Here is my view:
Jimux.BuildsView = Em.View.extend({
templateName: 'builds',
appendTo: '#jimux-header', #this was just a guess and did not work. but does some propery like this exist for the view?
tagName: 'div',
listVisible: true,
...
Another way to ask this question is: how do I tell Ember router to append a view to a particular item in the dom? By default the router appends the view to the body.
And here is the router bit:
# Connect builds controller to builds view
router.get('applicationController').connectOutlet("builds","builds", Jimux.buildsController)
To clarify, I dont want to put my whole Ember app in a container. I have several views in my application, and most of them are fine directly in the body. But there are a couple like the one mentioned in this question, which I want to put inside "#application-header" div.
You can specify the root element for your application object.
window.App = Ember.Application.create({
rootElement: '#ember-app'
});
Edit:
Having re-read your question, I think you should look into named outlets, so you could do something like:
<div id="application-header">
{{outlet builds}}
</div>
{{outlet}}
well..after understanding your question, i remember having same trouble. Also, thing is i didn't find any way to do this even after going through the Ember code. But later i understood that its for good purpose only. I know you already might have come across with handlebars with which we can acheive this. If we give a view a ID to get appended, we are constraining the application and the whole use of ember becomes useless. Ok coming to you question, as far as i know, we can acheive that appending mustache templates in you div element of HTML.
<div id="jimux-header">
{{view Jimux.BuildsView}}
</div>
This way we can use the Jimux.BuildsView where ever you want and as many times possible. The Beauty of Ember you have to say...
Just add rootElement in the application object.
var App = Ember.Application.create({
rootElement: '#container'
});

How can I bind the element ID for an Ember View?

My model "content.id" contains a string, e,g "123":
{{view Em.TextArea idBinding="content.id"}}
Instead of just setting the id of this view to "123", I'd like it to be "message-123", basically customizing the string being used. Sadly, Ember does not allow bindings to be functions, which would solve my problem (I could define such a function on the controller).
What's the best way to achieve this?
You could define a computed property in the controller (or elsewhere):
The controller
MyApp.ApplicationController = Ember.Controller.extend({
content: "a-content",
editedContent: function() {
return "message-" + this.get('content');
}.property('content')
});
The view
MyApp.FooView = Ember.View.extend({
    tagName: 'p'
});
The template (where content is a String, here)
{{#view MyApp.FooView elementIdBinding="editedContent"}}
{{content}}
{{/view}}
And the JSFiddle is here.
EDIT
How can the view see the property editedContent since it belongs on the ApplicationController controller?
The router, after started, automatically render the ApplicationView, or its template when there is no ApplicationView defined. If you want more detail, I suggest you to read the Ember guide: Understanding the Ember.js Router: A Primer.
And {{editedContent}} directly get the controller editedContent property, because the default view context is its controller, as you can read in Ember Blog - 1.0 Prerelease:
The {{#view}} helper no longer changes the context, instead maintaining the parent context by default. Alternatively, we will use the controller property if provided. You may also choose to directly override the context property. The order is as follows:
Specified controller
Supplied context (usually by Handlebars)
parentView's context (for a child of a ContainerView)