How to apply 'Blink' feature in Ember Table? - javascript

in Ember Table, I need to change style of a cell with the change of particular cell content. I need to add color to cell with value update (that I have already done) and remove styles after 1 second (that I want to do).
I have called setTimeout when applying color and removed color within setTimeout. It does not work all the time. some cell colors are not removed.
(this gets worse when scrolling). I assume after 1 second, Ember cannot find the particular cell element.
I use and Ember table component and assigned a contentBinding and columnBinding. I added a template for the Ember.Table.TableCell component and added class names.
Added Main Function and modified Jsbin example below.

I can't guarantee that this will answer your question, but here are a bunch of things that jump out at me when reading this code. I think they are best formatted as an "answer".
You should avoid side-effects, like calling setTimeout, within a computed property. Computed properties in Ember are lazy, so they only update when their value is needed. Consider using an Observer, or just a function, in cases like this. This is almost certainly related to your problem.
Instead of setTimeout, use Ember.run.later or similar Ember functions. This will make sure your code respects the Ember run loop.
Your customColor computed property doesn't depend on previousColumnValue, even though it uses it. This is related to the side-effects discussion: you should try to re-architect your code if possible.
Other than that, you have a lot of the right ideas. I'm fairly sure this can be done with Ember Table - the AJAX example is an example of Ember Table cells dealing with asynchrony.
I recommend debugging by first trying to create a minimal example in JS Bin, using the Ember Table starter kit. This will also be useful if you'd like more help - it makes it easy for people like me to play with your setup until it works.

Related

Angular: Proper way to inform nested property change between different components

I have an application that shows and manipulates users' information in a table with many columns. The user model has quite a few deep nested properties, each table column represent a property. To better explain, I created this simplified app at stackbliz. The real application has more columns and is relatively organised into more layers/components.
Basically, each column is a component that has an #Input person. While Location property value is changed by clicking itself, another component LOS needs to be aware of it and change its text colour, if location becomes 'J'.
Normally, this isn't working as the person reference of each #Input is not changed, so the change detection is not firing.
Please ignore the pipe used as it's just a way to show one component has to react if a property is changed in another component. I can mark it as impure but it seems not a good way as it will run too many times unnecessarily.
Also, I know I can make it work by using getter or a function to read the property in another component template, I have included the code as comment in stackblitz app. But it can unnecessarily run many times as well.
Question
I wonder if there is another better, cleaner and intuitive way to notify nested property changes between components. It could be a better way of organising the object and its property, passing them to different components, or other techniques that don't bring performance overheads.
Thanks in advance
Component Structure
You need a a RowComponent to segregate each row and its data and coloring of the LOS column (which may differ between rows).
After adding this component, I would not use LocationComponent or LengthofstayComponent as there is not much to them and your code will become cluttered with passing values between them.
Implementing the color changing
I recommend using a BehaviorSubject, a corresponding Observable and the async pipe. Every time the async pipe, emits, a change detection cycle will be intiated.
In RowComponent add:
showColorSubject = new BehaviorSubject<boolean>(false);
showColor$ = this.showColorSubject.asObservable();
If we call next on the Subject in changeLocation:
this.showColorSubject.next(this.person.location.code === "J");
then showColor$ will emit true/false accordingly in the RowComponent template where we use the async pipe to selectively enable the color class:
[class.color]="showColor$ | async"
Stackblitz
https://stackblitz.com/edit/so-color-row-cell?file=src%2Fapp%2Frow%2Frow.component.html
(Formatting is messed up but I'll leave that to you)

Creating a React component and states from regex string matches

I'm moving the frontend of a project I'd written primarily with php and jquery over to react as a learning exercise. So far it just seems to be making everything a bit more convoluted but I'm hoping I'll see the benefits soon. Right now it's just good to be familiarising myself with something far more current than what I was using. But I digress...
There's one particular situation I'm translating at the moment that feels simple to do in jquery but feels like I'm having to choose between a bunch of cumbersome or not-recommended solutions with react, such as dangerouslysetinnerhtml
A user can input their own list, as raw text, which the app parses using regex to highlight quantities and items, illustrated above as highlighted by rose and green. New lines are parsed as list elements, highlighted in peach. The parsed quantities can be scaled using a range input, shown above the list. The example UI shows an example after parsing a raw string of text.
Previously - jquery
When I was using jquery I replaced regex matches with <span> elements containing data attributes to create new elements I could target. The quantity scaling function in the app could now reference the original quantity of a list item at any time using a data attribute.
e.g. I need 10 cars is parsed to become <li>I need <span class='highlight quantity' data-count='10'>10</span> <span class='highlight item' data-item='cars'>cars</span></li>
With jquery, whenever the input range is dragged, I just target all elements on the page that have the quantity class, reference their data-count and replace the span value with the current range value multiplied by that data-count. This worked well.
Now - React
I'm getting my head around react components. Referencing the illustration, above, I have a component for dialogs (as there will be other dialogs too), a component for the range input of dialogs, a component for the list, and a component for list items.
As before, when I drag the input range, I want the quantities on the page to change to reflect the new scale set by a user. When picking up react I became familiar with component states and props and thought these would solve my problem beautifully. If I had a scale state I could pass it through the components and anything in the hierarchy could reference it. As I understood it, the hierarchy was important and it was important to hold the state at the top so that lower-level components could be 'fed' it, if that's a good way of putting it. This appeared to be best practice.
But I'm having a tough time getting it to jump through hoops. Maybe I've misunderstood?
Two uncertainties
1
If I've understood the hierarchy of states correctly, I'm setting the state initially inside the App() function, like so:
function App() {
const [scaleValue, setScaleValue] = useState();
const handleScaleChange = (childData) => {
setScaleValue(childData);
}
return (
<React.Fragment>
/~~~/
<UserList rawstring={userText} scale={scaleValue} />
/~~~/
<Dialogs scale={scaleValue} setscale={setScaleValue} parentCallback={handleScaleChange}/>
</React.Fragment>
);
}
But I must use a callback function to change the state as the dialog range I'm using is nested a few levels down in components - passing it back to the state in the parent App() function and then back down to all the nested components using props. It felt much easier to just target elements with a matching class name in jquery and I'm not yet seeing the advantage of having components using states. I thought being able to target list item components with quantity states would have advantages in React that were more apparent.
2
Perhaps the main thing that has me stumped on how to proceed. In jquery, when I was parsing a raw string provided by the user, into html that I could target with specific classes, I just used some regex functions to return html that could be inserted into the dom. Example of the html is per the earlier example:
I need 10 cars is parsed to become <li>I need <span class='highlight quantity' data-count='10'>10</span> <span class='highlight item' data-item='cars'>cars</span></li>
With react, I parse the same string to the same html fine, but I've no idea how to handle it from there, logically? If I return it and insert it, it is treated as raw text and renders the html tags on page. I can use dangerouslysetinnerhtml and it shows fine, but I've loud and clear got the message that this is heavily discouraged. I want to use best practices.
In fact, I likely don't want to be returning quantities wrapped in targetable classes. I gather that I want to be able to assign states to a list item component. I have absolutely no idea what's the best approach (logically) to do this with react. I could return an array from the regex parsing but this feels needlessly complex compared to replacing a matched sub string with a wrapped version of itself.
I feel at this point I may be approaching the translation wrong (or my understanding of using the component system and states) as this feels so much more convoluted than the jquery approach I was using.
not-recommended solutions with react, such as dangerouslysetinnerhtml
That's not what dangerouslySetInnerHTML is about. It's about the fact that an unsanitized string containing HTML/JS could pose a security threat (XSS mostly). In other words, in React you have to explicitly use dangerouslySetInnerHTML if you need to be unsafe, but it's your responsibility to protect yourself, hence the name. Doesn't mean it's not recommended, just tells you to be extra careful.
the hierarchy was important and it was important to hold the state at
the top so that lower-level components could be 'fed' it, if that's a
good way of putting it.
Indeed, at first it might look overly complicated for no good reason. Today.
A few months from now if you'll have to go through that code again, or worse, if someone else will have to, this structure enforcing rules and structure makes it far more easier to make changes. You can simply right click on the "callback" function and "go to definition" in your IDE of choice and see where it's defined, instead of hoping it's not hidden in some JS file or relying on search when the function is named "handleClick" in a project with one thousand click handlers.
It felt much easier to just target elements with a matching class name in jquery
Of course it was, anyone with minimal experience in a large scale project knows this. There always are trade-offs. You need to judge if it makes sense to loose simplicity for the sake of maintainability based on the scale of the project.
With react, I parse the same string to the same html fine, but I've no idea how to handle it from there, logically?
You are mixing parsing with generating HTML. You were parsing the string and generating HTML. With React you have to parse the string and generate JSX. If your code was separating these two concerns then it would have been a lot clearer what the difference is.
Again, if you are the only one working on this and know you'll never touch it again, why bother separating these two parts? On the other hand if you do expect to touch that piece of code later or know there will be other people working on it then the smart option would be to split it so that you can properly unit test it.
I can use dangerouslysetinnerhtml and it shows fine, but I've loud and clear got the message that this is heavily discouraged. I want to use best practices.
No, that's not the point. If you use dangerouslySetInnerHTML then how are you going to interact with those highlighted numbers? document.querySelectorAll? That is indeed against the purpose of React. I think my answers above make it clear what a more suitable approach would be.
feels needlessly complex compared to replacing a matched sub string with a wrapped version of itself.
And it is because you don't understand why someone would use React. You think React is a replacement for jQuery and it is not. It is a way of writing JavaScript applications so that you don't end up with a pile of code no one can follow. Which is a problem that only exists if you eventually end up with a lot of code. Your application has what, 100 lines of JavaScript? Why are you even using jQuery?
My advice is:
Understand that people that make deliberate choices don't choose React because it's fashionable but because it solves some problems.
Figure out what those problems are. I've listed a big one, which is maintainability and that structure and separation of concerns are part of the solution.
Decide if you care about any of the problems React helps solve in any of the projects you work (or will work) on.
If you do care about these problems then put yourself in the appropriate state of mind. React is not meant to replace jQuery, find a project that would benefit from using React.
Understand that React is not the one and only tool you'll ever need.
Some more advice:
definitely have a look at useReducer and then (if you need the extra juicy bits) Redux for state management. All beginner tutorials try to stay away from them but IMO React is an empty shell without proper state management.
React is a clean way of turning state into HTML/CSS. The philosophy is that any action (e.g. a click on a "add a new row" button) should produce a state mutation that translates into manipulating some data, NOT the DOM. Your JSX is one representation of that data! And React does a great (fast) job at manipulating the DOM to reflect the new JSX representation. So start thinking your application in terms of input-output, data structures and actions/reducers that manipulate these data structures.
force yourself to unit test (or, better, TDD) your actions and reducers. Completely decoupled from JSX and DOM! Your entire application logic should be testable in Node CLI. This to me (that you can completely separate logic from presentation) is a major win (and is the base of React Native too).
have a look at https://storybook.js.org/ - this one is another one of those fantastic tools (not only for React) that will completely change your development experience.
be wary of using "component libraries". Most "complicated" things turn into child's play when you really understand how to design them correctly.
be prepared to spend 3x the time you spent before on implementing really simple stuff for a while, until you familiarize yourself with the core concepts and philosophy.

How to implement Medium-style commenting interface in VueJS

I really like the commenting interface employed by Medium, allowing users to highlight a portion of an article and comment on that specific part.
I would like to implement a similar commenting facility in a VueJS app.
I found this package which does something similar: http://aroc.github.io/side-comments-demo/, but I want to try to find something that has been updated more recently. Also, it requires jquery, which I don't currently use and I would like to avoid adding that dependency if possible.
I would love to know if anyone has seen anything that could help.
I have created a sample at https://codesandbox.io/s/medium-style-text-select-comment-box-h5o9r
Here I am adding the comments component to the root component such that it is available globally. On component mount() hook, I am attaching a mouseup method to the window object where any selections done are checked using
if (window.getSelection() && !window.getSelection().isCollapsed) {
//execute only with the getSelection() method is available
//and the current selection is not collapsed
}
Once we do have a selection, the position on the page is calculated using the selection position and its dimensions and the floating comments component is positioned accordingly.
We can get the selected text using
window.getSelection().toString();
I would advise you to go through the sandbox as there are a lot of things going on which are not in this answer.

Correct way to hide components in React.js

Say you are passing a prop called show to a component. If the prop value is true, you should render the full component normally. If it is false, you should not display anything.
You can do this two ways.
return null in the render method of the component.
apply a CSS class containing display: none attribute to the component's DOM element.
Which ones is the correct or the preferred way?
I do not think there will be any definite answer for this question.
Each approach has its benefits and drawbacks.
With CSS you have:
it might work faster
no need to think about restoring child control states if control is shown again.
With returning null:
the total rendered DOM might be considerably smaller. This is important if you have many such components that might be hidden.
there will be no collisions in rendered html. Lets say you have tabular view. Each tab is its own complex form with many child controls. If you have some raw javascript/jquery/whatever working with their ids/classnames etc. - its quite hard to ensure each tab/form has unique ids, unless you do not render them.
From my point of view the decision will be based upon the structure of your control. If it have complex structure with many nested children and you do not have any means of restoring their states when switched on again - go with CSS, but I would say this is a short term solution for quite simple controls only. In all other cases I would go with not rendering a component.
If you think you would need to display the component again, during that page life, then I would recommend using css way, as the impact on DOM manipulation would be less in that case. In some other cases probably returning null would be more helpful.
For the most part, your two solutions are interchangeable. They both "work" fine.
I would warn against preemptive optimization in choosing which of these methods to choose. If you do need to eventually modify your code and try the other method, this is an absurdly simple swap to make and shouldn't be an obstacle. So don't worry about it until there's a reason to worry about it.
I'm the OP.
If components are hidden depending on the screen size, CSS media queries and display: none works the best if the app is pre-rendered using something like react-snap. This is because, if the pre-rendered device and the viewing device don't match, the layout would change when the app rehydrates if the component hiding logic is in JS.
Related to that, we need to be careful that even though the component is not "shown" with CSS display: none, the component is still there and if there are effects, they will still fire.

How to modify a large number of elements in DOM without sacrificing usability?

I have a list with quite a few elements (each of them is a nested div). Each element has a custom onclick handler.
JS updates the list several times per second, this may result in:
adding or removing some elements
changing text in some elements
changing styles in some elements
changing height of some elements
etc.
Most of the time the update makes small changes to the majority of the elements.
To minimize reflows I should remove the list from DOM, make the changes and append it back. The problem I have with this approach is that when user selects some text, the next update will reset the selection. (And the next update comes within a second) If user clicks a button his click may fail to register if there was an update between mose_down and mouse_up.
I understand when the selection resets on text that have been changed. It makes sense. But with such approach any selection in this list will reset.
Is there any better way to do this? How would you implement such list?
This list is fully generated by JS. If I'm removing it from DOM anyway, is there any benefit to modifying it instead of recreating it from scratch? Creating it anew each time would require less code.
This sounds like 2 way data binding, there are a couple of good custom solutions to data-binding answers on here: Handy stack link. Alternatively backbone.js and knockout.js have good techniques amongst quite a few other frameworks (angular ect).
Additionally, if you want to have a pop at it yourself (which I highly recommend to get a better understanding) you could use the proposed 'Object Observe' function. There's some handy documentation with some examples on how this works over at Mozilla. as well as The trusty HTML5 Rocks, which is a nice simple tutorial on using the new Object.Observe functionality, well worth a read.
Hope this helps!

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