1. Pods
  2. efanXtra 1.1.0
  3. User Guide

efanXtraUser Guide

Overview

efanXtra creates managed libraries of reusable Embedded Fantom (efan) components. Influenced by Java's Tapestry 5, it pairs up Fantom classes and efan template files to encapsulate model / view behaviour.

efanXtra extends efan, is powered by IoC and works great with Slim templates.

efanXtra excels in a BedSheet web environment, where URLs are automatically mapped to efan components (see Pillow), but is presented here context free for maximum reuse. Think email, code generation, blog posts, etc...

Quick Start

Overdue.efan:

Dear <%= userName %>,

It appears the following rented DVDs are overdue:

    <%= dvds.join(", ") %>

Please return them at your convenience.

<% app.renderSignOff("The Management") %>

Overdue.fan:

using afIoc
using afEfanXtra

const mixin Overdue : EfanComponent {

  // use afIoc services!
  @Inject
  abstract DvdService? dvdService

  // mixin fields can be accessed by the template
  abstract Str? userName

  // use lifecycle methods to initialise your components
  @InitRender
  Void initRender(Str userName) {
    this.userName = userName
  }

  // mixin methods can be called from the template
  Str[] dvds() {
    dvdService.findByName(userName)
  }
}

AppModule.fan:

using afIoc

class AppModule {

  static Void bind(ServiceBinder binder) {
    binder.bindImpl(DvdService#)
  }

  @Contribute { serviceType=EfanLibraries# }
  static Void contributeEfanLibs(MappedConfig config) {

    // contribute all components in the pod as a library named 'app'
    config["app"] = AppModule#.pod
  }
}

Then to render an efan component:

efanXtra.component(Overdue#).render("Mr Smith")

Full example source code available on BitBucket.

Components

An efan component consists of a Fantom mixin that extends EfanComponent and a corresponding efan template file.

efanXtra does away with efan's ctx variable and instead lets the template access fields and methods of the component class directly.

Mixins

Component mixins must be const and extend the EfanComponent mixin.

All fields and methods of the mixin are visible and directly accessible in the efan template. Components are created by IoC so feel free to annotate fields with @Inject just as you would with a service class.

See Lifecycle Methods to see how to initialise and pass data into your components.

Templates

By default, efan template files should have the same name as the mixin ( but with an .efan extension) and should lives anywhere in a pod resource dir. For example, if you were to create a component called Layout, you may have the following files:

/fan/components/Layout.fan  --> the mixin class
/fan/components/Layout.efan --> the template file

For efanXtra to find your template file, be sure to add /fan/components/ as a resDir in your build.fan.

ALIEN-AID: Note resource directories in your build.fan are NOT nested. Adding res/ will NOT add /res/components/ - /res/components/ would need to be added separately. Example:

resDirs = [`doc/`, `res/`, `res/components/`]

You can also contribute to TemplateDirectories to keep template files on the file system. This can be very handy for development, as templates on the file system don't require the pod to be re-build (or the application re-started) when they change.

If you wish the template to have a different name to the Fantom class, you can set an explicit Uri with the @EfanTemplate facet. Example:

@EfanTemplate { uri=`fan://acmePod/templates/Notice.efan` }
const mixin Overdue : EfanComponent {
  ...
}

Libraries

Components are organised by libraries. A library encompasses all components within a pod. To use your efan components effectively, you should add your application pod as a library. Do this in your AppModule:

using afIoc
using afEfanXtra

class AppModule {

  @Contribute { serviceType=EfanLibraries# }
  static Void contributeEfanLibs(MappedConfig config) {

    // contribute all components in this pod as a library called 'app'
    config["app"] = AppModule#.pod
  }
}

Library classes are automatically injected as fields into your components. Library classes contain component render methods. In the Overview example, the library (in a field named app) would bave 2 render methods, available for use in your templates:

app.renderOverdue(Str userName)
app.renderSignOff(Str who)

This allows you to render components from within templates by calling <libName>.render<ComponentName>(...). Example:

<% app.renderSignOff("The Management") %>

ALIEN-AID: Library render methods are logged at registry startup so you don't have to remember the method signatures!

Lifecycle Methods

Components can be thought of as having a lifecycle for the duration of their render. Components can be made aware of the lifecycle by annotating callback methods with lifecycle facets. The lifecycle, and all state held in the component, only exists for the duration of the render.

efanXtra Component Lifecycle

@InitRender

A method annotated with @InitRender will be called before any other. It allows you to initialise and prepare your component for rendering.

The @InitRender method may take any arguments, the signature will be mimicked by the containing library's render method. Example, if your @InitRender looks like:

const mixin MyComponent : EfanComponent {

  @InitRender
  Bool? initRender(Int x, Str y) { ... }
}

then the library render method will look like:

Obj? renderMyComponent(Int x, Str y, |->| bodyFunc := null) { ... }

This lets you pass any arguments you want into your components.

@InitRender methods may return Bool. If true, the template is rendered as usual. If false, then template rendering is skipped.

@BeforeRender

A method annotated with @BeforeRender is invoked after @InitRender but before any template rendering. It may optionally take a StrBuf as a parameter, this will hold the contents of the current render buffer.

@BeforeRender methods may return Bool. If true, the template is rendered as usual. If false, then template rendering is skipped.

@AfterRender

A method annotated with @AfterRender is invoked after the template has rendered. It may optionally take a StrBuf as a parameter, this will hold the contents of the current render buffer.

@AfterRender methods may return Bool. If true, the template rendering ends. If false, template rendering is sent back to @BeforeRender. In this way, simple loops may be set up.

Render Variables

Efan components can store state! Components may be const and they may be mixins, but they can still store variables that can be accessed and used by the rendering template. Taking the Overdue component as an example:

using afEfanXtra

const mixin Overdue : EfanComponent {

  abstract Str? userName

  @InitRender
  Void initRender(Str userName) {
    this.userName = userName
  }
}

userName is a render variable used by the efan template. Before initRender() is called, all render variables are reset to null (hence they need to be nullable). They may then be initialised during initRender(), and used and / or reset at any other point in the rendering lifecycle.

Note that state is not preserved between different renderings of the component.

Use with Slim

efanXtra works great with Slim! Just add the following to your AppModule and efanXtra will automatically pick up component templates with the extension .slim:

using afIoc
using afSlim
using afEfanXtra

class AppModule {

  static Void bind(ServiceBinder binder) {
    binder.bindImpl(Slim#)
  }

  @Contribute { serviceType=TemplateConverters# }
  internal static Void contributeSlimTemplates(MappedConfig config, Slim slim) {
    config["slim"] = |File file -> Str| { slim.parseFromFile(file) }
  }
}

Release Notes

v1.1.0

  • New: Template files are optional! Small components may just override renderTemplate() instead.
  • Chg: Overhauled and tidied up the public API and documentation. (Breaking change.)
  • Chg: Type checks involving Lists and Maps are more lenient when calling lifecycle methods.

v1.0.14

v1.0.12

  • Chg: Components may now have threaded services injected into them!

v1.0.10

  • New: Added EfanLibraries.callMethod() hook for Pillow.
  • Chg: Components automatically use the pod that the component mixin was defined in.
  • Chg: ComponentCompiler callbacks now take the component type.
  • Chg: FindEfanByFacetValue is public for use by Pillow.
  • Chg: Render methods are searched for on the component instance, not just the mixin. This is so it may still be called if it's added dynamically.

v1.0.8

  • New: fandoc files may be used as efan templates!

v1.0.6

v1.0.4

  • Chg: @InitMethods may now only return Void or Bool. Throw BedSheet's ReProcessErr if you wish to perform a different action.
  • Chg: Multiple components may now share the same template file.

v1.0.2

  • Chg: Overhauled API documentation.
  • Chg: Tweaked some method signatures with correct nullable types.

v1.0.0

  • New: Introduced component lifecycle methods: @InitRender, @BeforeRender & AfterRender.
  • New: Added @Abstract facet to mark base components.
  • Chg: Template rendering is held in a single mutable StrBuf so it may be manipulated by lifecycle methods.
  • Chg: Components are now defined by extending EfanComponent, not by annotating with a @Component facet.
  • Chg: Renamed to efanXtra (from efanExtra).

v0.0.8

  • New: Added EfanTemplateDirectories service which scans external directories for efan templates.
  • New: Compilation err msgs are updated with code hints should a simple component rendering typo be spotted. (ALIEN-AID)

v0.0.6

  • New: Fields may be annotated with any facet, not just @Inject. Think @Config!!!
  • Chg: Updated to efan-1.3.2
  • Chg: Better Err msgs if component template not found.

v0.0.4

  • New: Component templates can be specified via the @Component.template field.
  • New: Added a contributable EfanTemplateFinders service.
  • New: Ability to suppress startup log messages.
  • New: Added compiler hooks (mainly for Pillow).
  • New: efanXtra.component() returns component instances.
  • Chg: @Component facet is inherited.

v0.0.2

  • New: Preview Release