Ember.JS

 

by Leonardo Vasconcelos @ Avenue Code
lvasconcelos@avenuecode.com

Oct 7th, 2014

AGENDA


  • Who uses it?
  • Naming Conventions
  • Template
  • Routing
  • Objects
  • Models
  • Controllers
  • Views
  • Workflow
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 Ember.js

Prerequisites



  • HTML
  • Javascript
  • Handlebars Template
  • MVC knowledge
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    Ember.js

Who Uses it?




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    Ember.js

Naming Conventions


  • If you want a page that will be acessed via /avenuecode, you will need:
    • a template named avenuecode
    • a route named AvenuecodeRoute
    • a controller named AvenuecodeController
    • and a View named AvenuecodeView

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 Ember.js

Template


  • Er... I mean, Handlebars!
  • Default template engine for Ember.js
  • Active community
  • Helpers: #link-to, #each, #if, ...
  • Context usage example 
 <script type="text/x-handlebars-template" data-template-name="index">
   <p>Guess who talks today? {{your-variable-name}}</p>
 </script>
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Ember.js

Handlebars


  Ways of organizing your code:

  1. Type the template snippet directly into your index.html file, and deal with the enormous amount of scripts in one file as your project grows, or
  2. Use .hbs files for each template:   Template precompiling

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Ember.js

Outlet


  • Reserved expression
  • Place a template there

 
 <script type="text/x-handlebars-template" data-template-name='application'>
   <p>Static content shown in all pages</p>
   <p>{{#link-to 'about'}}Link for About{{/link-to}}</p>
   {{outlet}}
 </script>

 <script type="text/x-handlebars-template" data-template-name='about'>
   <h1>I will be rendered when the route /about is reached!</h1>
 </script>

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RoutING


  • Router encapsulate the routes and resources
    • Resources group routes together
    • Routes tell templates which model to display
  • Translate URL into nested templates
  • Other cool features including:
    • Path alias
    • Dynamic Segments
    • Objects generated when not found
      • Convention over configuration
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    Ember.js

Router - Example


App.Router.map(function(){
  this.route("about");
  this.resource("posts", function(){
    this.route("new");
  });
  this.resource("post", { path: "/post/:post_id" });
});

App.PostRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
  model: function(params){
    return this.store.find('post', params.post_id);
    // return [ { id: 1, title: "Bla", author: "Dude" } ];
  }
  setupController: function(controller, model) {
    this.controllerFor('topPost').set('model', model);
  }
});
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Ember.js

Objects


  • Classes will extend Ember objects
App.Person = Ember.Object.extend({
  helloWorld: function(){ alert("Hi, my name is " + this.get('name')); }
});

var leo = App.Person.create({ name: 'Leonardo Vasconcelos' });

leo.helloWorld();
  • Ember also has a bunch of helpers
App.User = Ember.Object.extend({
  validUsername: Ember.computed.match('username', /^[a-z0-9]+$/),
  adult: Ember.computed.gte('age', 18),
  canadian: Ember.computed.equal('country', 'CA'),
  canVote: Ember.computed.and('adult', 'canadian')
});
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Ember.js

Computed Properties


  • Watch changes on object fields
  • Update resulting property dynamically
  • Chain watches and updates
App.Person = Ember.Object.extend({
  fullname: function(){
    return this.get('firstName') + ' ' + this.get('lastName');
  }.property('firstName', 'lastName')
});

App.Person = Ember.Object.extend({
  fullname: Ember.computed('firstName', 'lastname', function(){
    return this.get('firstName') + ' ' + this.get('lastName');
  })
});
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Ember.js

Observers


  • Default synchronous watchers
  • Fire whenever a change happens
myObserver: function(){
  alert('Wow! What a view!');
}.observes('bird', 'cloud')

myObserver: Ember.observer('bird', 'cloud', function(){
  alert('Wow! What a view!');
})
  • Outside class definitions
person.addObserver('bird', function(){});
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Ember.js

Bindings


  • Link between two properties
  • One updates, so does the other (on sync)
  • Bindings can happen with any pair of objects

wife = Ember.Object.create({
  householdIncome: 80000
});

husband = Ember.Object.create({
  wife: wife,
  householdIncome: Ember.computed.alias('wife.householdIncome')
});
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Ember.js

Summing Up


  1.  Use computed properties to build a new property by synthesizing other properties. It should not contain application behavior. Multiple calls should always return the same value.
  2. Observers should contain behavior that reacts to changes in another property.
  3. Bindings are most often used to ensure objects in two different layers are always in sync.
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Ember.js

Models


  • Class that defines properties and behavior of data
  • Deals with data that might appear in all sessions
  • Can describe relationships with other objects
App.Book = DS.Model.extend({
  title: DS.attr(),
  launchedAt: DS.attr('date'),
  rating: DS.attr('number'),
  genre: DS.belongsTo('genre')
});

App.Genre = DS.Model.extend({
  name: DS.attr(),
  books: DS.hasMany('book', {async: true})
});

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Data Inside Models


  • There are a bunch of ways to access:
    • Hardcoded data inside route objects
    • Local Storage
    • FIXTURES - Ember Data
    • RESTful JSON API
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Ember.js

FIXTURES


  • Mock the data, no back-end
  • Requires id property 

App.ApplicationAdapter = DS.FixtureAdapter.extend();

App.Todo = DS.Model.extend({
  title: DS.attr('string'),
  isCompleted: DS.attr('boolean')
});

App.Todo.FIXTURES = [
  { id: 1, title: 'Learn Ember.js', isCompleted: false },
  { id: 2, title: 'Work for Avenue Code', isCompleted: true },
  { id: 3, title: 'Learn Javascript', isCompleted: true }
];

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Ember.js

REST API


  • Determine the URL based on model names

 
App.ApplicationAdapter = DS.RESTAdapter.extend({
  namespace: 'api/1',
  host: 'http://api.example.com'
});

store.find('user', 1).then(function(user){});

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Ember.js

Controllers


  • Handle non-persisted logic
  • Wrap the model
  • Hold functions, properties and observers
  • 3 types:
    • ObjectController: single model
    • ArrayController: array of models
    • Controller: no model
App.BooksController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({
  sortProperties: ['title'],
  sortAscending: false
});

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Ember.js

Actions


  • All action handlers wrapped in one object
  • Ember convention to keep code organized
App.ReviewsNewController = Ember.Controller.extend({
  actions: {
    createReview: function(){
      var controller = this;
      this.get('model').save().then(function(){
        controller.transitionToRoute('index');
      });
    }
  }
});

<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="reviews/new">
  <button type="submit" {{action 'createReview'}}>Save Review</button>
</script>

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Ember.js

Views


  • Created only when dealing with:
    • Event handling
    • Components
  • Often not needed: Handlebars
  • Lots of hooks
var view = Ember.View.create({
  templateName: 'say-hello',
  name: "Bob"
});

<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="say-hello">
  Hello, <b>{{view.name}}</b>
</script>

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Ember.js

Event Handling


  • A view can call an action from the controller
  • If there is none, it will bubble up to the route
App.ClickableView = Ember.View.extend({
  click: function(event) {
    this.get('controller').send('turnItUp', 11);
  }
});

App.PlaybackController = Ember.ObjectController.extend({
  actions: {
    turnItUp: function(level){ /*Do your thing*/ }
  }
});

{{#view "clickable"}}
This is a clickable area!
{{/view}}
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Ember.js

COMPONENTS


  • Don't Repeat Yourself!
  • Clean up multiple code with same behavior
  • Create reusable script modules 

 <script type="text/x-handlebars-template" data-template-name='book'>
   {{book-details book=this tag='div' class='row'}}
 </script>

 <script type="text/x-handlebars-template" data-template-name='components/book-details'>
   <img {{bind-attr src='book.image'}} />
 </script>
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Workflow
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Ember.js

Conclusion


  • Ember is indicated to a quick-start
  • No boilerplates needed
  • Organized code with naming conventions
  • Relies a lot on Handlebars
  • Easy persistence handling
  • Helpful Object APIs
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 Ember.js

References


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Ember.js

LEARN MORE



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Ember.js

Challenge


  • Build a TODO app using Ember.js
  • Use different types of data storage (at least Fixtures and Local Storage)
  • Improve your layout with Handlebars helpers
  • Use this tutorial as a starting point
  • Send me your solution using a GitHub repository
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 Ember.js

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Ember.js

By Leonardo Dias de Vasconcelos

Source: Avenue Code

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