creatable

Create DOM Elements with nestable arrays that reflect the structure of HTML:

document.body.appendChild(Creatable.create(
    ["#content", [
        ["h1.prominent", "Blogs"],
        ["ul", [
            ["li a", { href: "http://functionsource.com" }, "FunctionSource"],
            ["li a", { href: "http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com" }, "Javascript, Javascript"],
            ["li a", { href: "http://ejohn.org/category/blog" }, "John Resig"]
        ]]
    ]]
))

Results in:

<div id="content">
    <h1 class="prominent">Blogs</h1>
    <ul>
        <li><a href="http://functionsource.com">FunctionSource</a></li>
        <li><a href="http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com">Javascript, Javascript</a></li>
        <li><a href="http://ejohn.org/category/blog">John Resig</a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

It all happens with one function: Creatable.create

Creatable.create([TAGNAME, ATTRIBUTES, CHILDREN|CONTENT]) // returns a native DOM element
Creatable.create(["a", { href: "http://google.com" }, "Google"]);

Why?

• Switching in and out of Javascript and whatever templating language you use is ugly.
• No special templating language syntax. 100% pure Javascript.
• Implement view composition using plain, old functions.
• Properly formatted input still reflects the actual structure of HTML for readability.

Documentation

Specify ids and classes with css-syntax

Creatable.create(["div#footer", [
    ["p.fine-print", "Don't forget to read this!"]
]])

<div id="footer">
    <p class="fine-print">Don't forget to read this!</p>
</div>

Document Fragments

Creatable.create([[
    ["p", "First paragraph!!!"],
    ["p", "Second paragraph!!!"],
    ["p", "Third paragraph I'm bored"]
]]);

<p>First paragraph!!!"</p>
<p>Second paragraph!!!"</p>
<p>Third paragraph I'm bored</p>

HTML is automatically escaped

Creatable.create(['p', 'Something <strong>important</strong> to say.'])

<p>Something &lt;strong&gt;important&lt;/strong&gt; to say.</p>

You can unescape HTML by adding { html: true }

Creatable.create(['p', { html: true }, 'Something <strong>important</strong> to say.'])

<p>Something <strong>important</strong> to say.</p>

Highly compatible with underscore and functional programming

var links = [
    { url: "http://functionsource.com", label: "FunctionSource" },
    { url: "http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com", label: "Javascript, Javascript" },
    { url: "http://ejohn.org/category/blog", label: "John Resig" }
];
 
var buildLinkItem = function(model) {
    return ["li", [
        ["a", { href: model.url }, model.label]
    ]];
};
 
Creatable.create(["ul", _.map(links, buildLinkItem)])

<ul>
    <li><a href="http://functionsource.com">FunctionSource</a></li>
    <li><a href="http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com">Javascript, Javascript</a></li>
    <li><a href="http://ejohn.org/category/blog">John Resig</a></li>
</ul>

Built-in support for jQuery elements

Creatable.create(["#myModule", [
    ["h1", "This is a header"],
    "Some text.",
    $("<div><p>Go, Go jQuery</p></div>")
]])

<div id="myModule">
    <h1>This is a header</h1>
    Some text.
    <div><p>Go, Go jQuery</p></div>
</div>

Use it to return a string of HTML instead of a DOM node

var html = Creatable.createHtml(['a#go.small.button', 'test']);
console.log(html); //<a id="go" class="small button">test</a>

Unit Tests

creatable has full unit test coverage using mocha.

Installation

Just include creatable.js in your HTML:

<script src="creatable.js"></script>