Proper design of REST-powered list in Ember.js - ember.js

I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around the following:
There's a view that displays the list of items
I take the list of items from the backend via RESTful interface in JSON using ember-data and hand-crafted adapter
In my view I do something like this:
{{#collection contentBinding="App.recentAdditionsController"}}
...
{{/collection}}
App.recentAdditionsController is defined like this:
App.recentAdditionsController = Em.ArrayController.create({
refresh: function(query) {
var items = App.store.findAll(App.Item);
this.set('content', items);
}
});
And... this doesn't work. The reason being App.store.findAll() returning ModelArray which is much like ArrayController itself.
I saw people doing something like this:
App.recentAdditions = App.store.findAll(App.Item);
I could imagine doing it like that, but how would I refresh the list at will (checking if there's anything new).
Hope all is clear more or less.

I've verified that you can use a ModelArray inside an ArrayController. Here's a jsFiddle example: http://jsfiddle.net/ebryn/VkKX2/

"Now the question is how to make the list update itself if there are new objects in the backend?"
Use App.Model.filter to keep your recordArray in sync. Add the query hash when the filter is invoked to ensure than an initial query was made.
model: ->
App.Model.filter {page: 1}, (data) ->
data
edit: Just saw how old the question was, but leaving it here in case it helps someone.

Related

How to render an Ember template to a string? [duplicate]

I just want to run the template string against an object and examine the result
I have a string that is a template. I've "compiled" it. Now I want to run it against an object and examine the result.
But this doesn't work:
var template = '<div>{{#each items}}<div>{{item}}</div>{{/each}}</div>';
var compiled = Ember.Handlebars.compile(template);
var result = compiled({ items: [1, 2, 3] }); // ERRORS
What I want to get is the DOM result of running my compiled string against an object. In other words, a set of DOM elements that looks something like this:
<div>
<div>1</div>
<div>2</div>
<div>3</div>
</div>
It appears that Ember.Handlebars.compile is very tightly coupled to other parts of an Ember application, to the point it expects a lot of things to be populated in the context I'm passing ot the compiled function. I have yet to figure out what all of these things are, or if there is a better way to create a context to pass to the compiled function.
Other things:
I don't want to use plain "non-Ember" Handlebars.
I'd like to avoid creating an Ember Application if I can.
I don't really want to answer questions about "why" I want to do this. This is what I want to do. :P
Why do you want to do this? ;)
Honestly the easiest way to do this will be to create a view. Ember hooks up a bunch of fancy rendering stuff when it calls compile due to the data binding etc, so it's difficult to create it straight from the compile function (it passes in a slew of additional stuff, like buffers etc...)
var view = Ember.View.extend({
template:Ember.Handlebars.compile('hello <div>{{#each item in view.items}}<div>{{item}}</div>{{/each}}</div>')
});
var foo = view.create({ items: [1, 2, 3] });
foo.appendTo('#blah');
Example
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/qeyenuyi/1/edit
// you must wait for all bindings to sync before you can check the contents of #blah:
var empty = $('#blah').html(); // this will be empty
Ember.run.next(function(){
var notEmpty = $('#blah').html(); // this will have the proper result in it
});
or you can hook up to the didInsertElement callback
var foo = view.create(blah);
foo.didInsertElement = function(){
console.log(foo.$().html());
}
foo.appendTo('#blah');
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/qeyenuyi/6/edit
The bindings are still in tact when you create a Ember handlebars template, so you can modify the object passed in and it will update the template.
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/qeyenuyi/2/edit

Force a controller to always act as a proxy to a model in Ember

I'm looping through a content of an ArrayController whose content is set to a RecordArray. Each record is DS.Model, say Client
{{# each item in controller}}
{{item.balance}}
{{/each}}
balance is a property of the Client model and a call to item.balance will fetch the property from the model directly. I want to apply some formatting to balance to display in a money format. The easy way to do this is to add a computed property, balanceMoney, to the Client object and do the formatting there:
App.Client = DS.Model({
balance: DS.attr('balance'),
balanceMoney: function() {
// format the balance property
return Money.format(this.get('balance');
}.property('balance')
});
This serves well the purpose, the right place for balanceMoney computed property though, is the client controller rather than the client model. I was under the impression that Ember lookup properties in the controller first and then tries to retrieve them in the model if nothing has been found. None of this happen here though, a call to item.balanceMoney will just be ignored and will never reach the controller.
Is it possible to configure somehow a controller to act always as a proxy to the model in all circumstances.
UPDATE - Using the latest version from emberjs master repository you can configure the array controller to resolve records' methods through a controller proxy by overriding the lookupItemController method in the ArrayController. The method should return the name of the controller without the 'controller' suffix i.e. client instead of clientController. Merely setting the itemControllerClass property in the array controller doesn't seem to work for the moment.
lookupItemController: function( object ) {
return 'client';
},
This was recently added to master: https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js/commit/2a75cacc30c8d02acc83094b47ae8a6900c0975b
As of this writing it is not in any released versions. It will mostly likely be part of 1.0.0.pre.3.
If you're only after formatting, another possibility is to make a handlebars helper. You could implement your own {{formatMoney item.balance}} helper, for instance.
For something more general, I made this one to wrap an sprintf implementation (pick one of several out there):
Ember.Handlebars.registerHelper('sprintf', function (/*arbitrary number of arguments*/) {
var options = arguments[arguments.length - 1],
fmtStr = arguments[0],
params = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1, -1);
for (var i = 0; i < params.length; i++) {
params[i] = this.get(params[i]);
}
return vsprintf(fmtStr, params);
});
And then you can do {{sprintf "$%.2f" item.balance}}.
However, the solution #luke-melia gave will be far more flexible--for example letting you calculate a balance in the controller, as opposed to simply formatting a single value.
EDIT:
A caveat I should have mentioned because it's not obvious: the above solution does not create a bound handlebars helper, so changes to the underlying model value won't be reflected. There's supposed to be a registerBoundHelper already committed to Ember.js which would fix this, but that too is not released yet.

Ember.Controller array content filtering

I have a fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/kristaps_petersons/9wteJ/2/ it loads 3 objects and shows them in a view. Data is shown alright, but i can not filter it before i show it.
This
nodes: function(){
this.get('controller.content').filter(function(item, idx, en){
console.log('should log this atleast 3x')
})
return this.get('controller.content')
}.property('controller.content')
method is called when template iterates over array of values, but it never goes in to the loop and print console.log('should log this atleast 3x') why is that?
You are trying to replace controller.content while also binding to it. You need to define another property, such as filteredContent and bind it to controller.content. Take a look at how Ember.SortableMixin computes the variable arrangedContent for controllers with a sortProperties variable defined. Using that method as a template I would implement it like this:
filteredContent: Ember.computed('content', function() {
var content = this.get('content');
return this.filter(function(item, idx, en) {
console.log('should log this atleast 3x');
});
}).cacheable()
This should be implemented in the controller, not the view. The controller is the place for data manipulation, computed properties, and bindings.
Then bind the view layout to filteredContent instead of content to show the filtered data. Then both the original content and the filtered content are available.
Ok i got it working, but it feels a bit strange. First i moved method to Controller class and changed it to look like this:
nodes: function(){
console.log('BEFORE should log this atleast 3x', this.get('content.length'))
this.get('content').forEach(function(item, idx, en){
console.log('should log this atleast 3x')
})
console.log('AFTER should log this atleast 3x', this.get('content.length'))
return this.get('content')
}.property('content').cacheable()
as it should be same as buuda's recomedation, because as i understand from docs .poperty() is the same as Ember.computed. As it was still not working, i changed .property('content') to .property('content.#each') and it was working. Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/kristaps_petersons/9wteJ/21/ . I guess, that tempate first creates a binding to controller.content and as content itself does not change does not notify this method again, instead template pulls data as it becomes available.

Strange behaviour with ember.js embedded content

I have a strange bug that is causing me to scratch my head.
I have an Ember.State where I new up a controller each time it is entered:
show: Ember.State.extend({
enter: function(manager, transition) {
this._super(manager, transition);
var contact = App.store.find(App.Contact, App.appController.get('params'));
App.set('selectedContactController', App.SelectedContactController.create({}));
//TODO: Why do I have to do this when I have just called create?
if(App.getPath('selectedContactController.content') && App.getPath('selectedContactController.content.length') > 0){
App.setPath('selectedContactController.content', Ember.A());
}
In another part of the code, I set the controller's content to an array that is loaded from the data store.
I have put a comment above the line I am writing this question about. I have to clear the content collection even if I call create. This has confused me.
The SelectedContactController looks like this:
App.SelectedContactController = Ember.ArrayProxy.extend(App.FeedScroller, {
The content property comes from the App.FeedScroller mixin that looks like this:
App.FeedScroller = Ember.Mixin.create(Ember.Evented, {
content: Ember.A(),
Anybody any idea why the content property does not get destroyed when create({}) is called?
When you do this:
App.SelectedContactController.create({})
You are still inheriting the default properties, some of which come from the mixin in the prototype chain.
If you don't want those default properties in the instance you create, you'll have to explicitly pass them as null
App.SelectedContactController.create({content:null})
Take a look at this jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/lifeinafolder/ag2Nb/
Hope this helps.

Adding item to filtered result from ember-data

I have a DS.Store which uses the DS.RESTAdapter and a ChatMessage object defined as such:
App.ChatMessage = DS.Model.extend({
contents: DS.attr('string'),
roomId: DS.attr('string')
});
Note that a chat message exists in a room (not shown for simplicity), so in my chat messages controller (which extends Ember.ArrayController) I only want to load messages for the room the user is currently in:
loadMessages: function(){
var room_id = App.getPath("current_room.id");
this.set("content", App.store.find(App.ChatMessage, {room_id: room_id});
}
This sets the content to a DS.AdapterPopulatedModelArray and my view happily displays all the returned chat messages in an {{#each}} block.
Now it comes to adding a new message, I have the following in the same controller:
postMessage: function(contents) {
var room_id = App.getPath("current_room.id");
App.store.createRecord(App.ChatMessage, {
contents: contents,
room_id: room_id
});
App.store.commit();
}
This initiates an ajax request to save the message on the server, all good so far, but it doesn't update the view. This pretty much makes sense as it's a filtered result and if I remove the room_id filter on App.store.find then it updates as expected.
Trying this.pushObject(message) with the message record returned from App.store.createRecord raises an error.
How do I manually add the item to the results? There doesn't seem to be a way as far as I can tell as both DS.AdapterPopulatedModelArray and DS.FilteredModelArray are immutable.
so couple of thoughts:
(reference: https://github.com/emberjs/data/issues/190)
how to listen for new records in the datastore
a normal Model.find()/findQuery() will return you an AdapterPopulatedModelArray, but that array will stand on its own... it wont know that anything new has been loaded into the database
a Model.find() with no params (or store.findAll()) will return you ALL records a FilteredModelArray, and ember-data will "register" it into a list, and any new records loaded into the database will be added to this array.
calling Model.filter(func) will give you back a FilteredModelArray, which is also registered with the store... and any new records in the store will cause ember-data to "updateModelArrays", meaning it will call your filter function with the new record, and if you return true, then it will stick it into your existing array.
SO WHAT I ENDED UP DOING: was immediately after creating the store, I call store.findAll(), which gives me back an array of all models for a type... and I attach that to the store... then anywhere else in the code, I can addArrayObservers to those lists.. something like:
App.MyModel = DS.Model.extend()
App.store = DS.Store.create()
App.store.allMyModels = App.store.findAll(App.MyModel)
//some other place in the app... a list controller perhaps
App.store.allMyModels.addArrayObserver({
arrayWillChange: function(arr, start, removeCount, addCount) {}
arrayDidChange: function(arr, start, removeCount, addCount) {}
})
how to push a model into one of those "immutable" arrays:
First to note: all Ember-Data Model instances (records) have a clientId property... which is a unique integer that identifies the model in the datastore cache whether or not it has a real server-id yet (example: right after doing a Model.createRecord).
so the AdapterPopulatedModelArray itself has a "content" property... which is an array of these clientId's... and when you iterate over the AdapterPopulatedModelArray, the iterator loops over these clientId's and hands you back the full model instances (records) that map to each clientId.
SO WHAT I HAVE DONE
(this doesn't mean it's "right"!) is to watch those findAll arrays, and push new clientId's into the content property of the AdapterPopulatedModelArray... SOMETHING LIKE:
arrayDidChange:function(arr, start, removeCount, addCount){
if (addCount == 0) {return;} //only care about adds right now... not removes...
arr.slice(start, start+addCount).forEach(function(item) {
//push clientId of this item into AdapterPopulatedModelArray content list
self.getPath('list.content').pushObject(item.get('clientId'));
});
}
what I can say is: "its working for me" :) will it break on the next ember-data update? totally possible
For those still struggling with this, you can get yourself a dynamic DS.FilteredArray instead of a static DS.AdapterPopulatedRecordArray by using the store.filter method. It takes 3 parameters: type, query and finally a filter callback.
loadMessages: function() {
var self = this,
room_id = App.getPath('current_room.id');
this.store.filter(App.ChatMessage, {room_id: room_id}, function (msg) {
return msg.get('roomId') === room_id;
})
// set content only after promise has resolved
.then(function (messages) {
self.set('content', messages);
});
}
You could also do this in the model hook without the extra clutter, because the model hook will accept a promise directly:
model: function() {
var self = this,
room_id = App.getPath("current_room.id");
return this.store.filter(App.ChatMessage, {room_id: room_id}, function (msg) {
return msg.get('roomId') === room_id;
});
}
My reading of the source (DS.Store.find) shows that what you'd actually be receiving in this instance is an AdapterPopulatedModelArray. A FilteredModelArray would auto-update as you create records. There are passing tests for this behaviour.
As of ember.data 1.13 store.filter was marked for removal, see the following ember blog post.
The feature was made available as a mixin. The GitHub page contains the following note
We recommend that you refactor away from using this addon. Below is a short guide for the three filter use scenarios and how to best refactor each.
Why? Simply put, it's far more performant (and not a memory leak) for you to manage filtering yourself via a specialized computed property tailored specifically for your needs