Fauxlect

Note: This library is currently under active development and is likely incomplete at the moment you are reading this.

Easily create and manage a stylized <select> list.

Example

Get the library

npm install fauxlect

Setup your DOM

Setup a container element for your component. The <select> list will be transparently injected into this node which means you can style this element as you wish.

#select-component {
  position: relative; /* This is required. See "caveats" */
  width: 160px;
  height: 42px;
  background-color: #008AE6;
  -webkit-transition: background-color 144ms ease-out;
}

#select-component.fauxcus {
  background-color: #0070BA;
}

<form>
  <label>Chicago's Teams</label>
  <div id="select-component">
    <span>Select one</span>
  </div>
</form>

Create your component

var Fauxlect = require('fauxlect');

var fauxlect = new Fauxlect({
  selector: '#select-component',
  options: [
    {value: '', display: 'Pick one'},
    {value: 'bears', display: 'Chicago Bears'},
    {value: 'blackhawks', display: 'Chicago Blackhawks'},
    {value: 'bulls', display: 'Chicago Bulls'},
    {value: 'cubs', display: 'Chicago Cubs'}
  ],
  onComponentStateChange: function (payload) {
    console.log(payload.value); // Current value of <select>
  }
});

Configuration

selector: String

This is the argument that will be passed to document.querySelector to locate the DOM node.

options: Array

This array declares the markup for the options list.

Key	Type	Description
value	String	The value you expect to pass to your server when submitting the form.
display	String	This is the display that will be set via innerHTML on the option element.

onComponentStateChange: Function

The onComponentStateChange callback provides you the ability to declare a handler and update your UI accordingly. Fauxlect makes no assumptions about your styling in any given state. Instead the library will provide you with the necessary event abstractions and data so that you retain full control over your experience.

Events

Key	Type	Description
type	String	A reference to the actual event which triggered the handler. These types include: - change: The value of the select list has changed - focus: The user has passed focus to the select list - blur: The select list has lost focus - click: The user has clicked the select list to open it
state	Object	An object representing the current state of the component. - value: The current value of the select element - display: The string to display as the representation of the currently selected value

API

getValue: Function

Calling the getValue method on a Fauxlext instance will return the current value and display text of the select element.

Managing State

Fauxlext will provide you will the necessary data to manage your UI state. This is done both through the callback and by setting class names on your container element.

Displaying selected value

The onComponentStateChange callback will provide your with a display value nested within its state object. You should use this to update your UI to reflect the user's current selection.

Class names

When the select list receives focus, a class name of fauxcus is applied to your container. That class name is then removed when the element loses focus.

The toggling of this classname is useful in cases where you wish to visually express focus and blur to your users.

Caveats

Browser support

Out of the box, Fauxlect supports IE9+. There are a number of features that will not work on IE8 such as classList, Function.prototype.bind, Array.prototype.forEach, and addEvenntListener. There are various shims and polyfills available if you need to support more browsers.

position: relative

The container DOM node which you specify must have its position set to relative. The injected select tag will be positioned absolutely inside of this element to allow the content and styles you define to render naturally. If you need this element to be positioned absolutely in your layout, simply wrap the container and style the position of the wrapper.

Development

npm run watch

This will spin up a web server on the default port of 8000. To change the port, simply set the PORT env variable before running the script.

Tests

To run the tests once:

npm t

To run the tests continuously:

npm run test-watch