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handlebars4code

1.2.37 • Public • Published

Handlebars4Code

Handlebars4Code is a library and NPM module that extends Handlebars with Helpers for Code Generation in a specific programming language (e.g. Javascript)

The following table of contents is generated with node doctoc README.md.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Installation Handlebars4Code

There are two main types to use Handlebars4Code for you projects. With a script-tag in your HTML file or with a package manager like NPM to use Handlebars4Code with NodeJS

Installation Handlebars4Code with NPM for Scripts

Assume you have NPM installed and your have created e.g. a folder mypackage/ for your package with package.json in the folder . Go to the foldermypackage/` and call

npm install handlebars4code --save

Then you will find handlebars4code in the folder mypackage/node_modules/handlebars4code. If you want to use Handlebars4Code in your scripts use the following require-call:

const  Handlebars4Code = require('handlebars4code');

Now it is possible to use Handlebars4Code in your scripts.

Installation Handlebars4Code for Browser for Scripts-Tags

If you want to use the library handlebars4code.js in a browser, please copy the file dist/handlebars4code.js into your library folder (e.g. /js) and import the library with script-tag with:

<script src="js/handlebars4code.js"></script>

Now it is possible to use Handlebars4Code in your other imported scripts.

Manual

The manual will show how to use Handlebars4Code for code as Javascript template engine to create a standardized string output from a given JSON.

Use Cases - Javascript Template Engines

The following use-cases guide you from standard Handlebars usage toward Handlebars4Code usage.

Basic Use Case

Assume you have a JSON with data in it and you want to create a HTML table with data in the JSON.

{
  "person":{
    "firstname":"Anna",
    "lastname":"Almond"
  }
}

The HTML output:

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>First Name:</td>
    <td>{{person.firstname}}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Last Name:</td>
    <td>{{person.lastname}}</td>
  </tr>
</table>

For this basic examples you might want to use just Handlebars directly as Javascript template.

// Define JSON
var vJSON = {
  "person":{
    "firstname":"Anna",
    "lastname":"Almond"
  }
};
// Define Template
var vTemplate = "Name: {{person.firstname}} {{person.lastname}}";
// Create Compiler
var vCompiler = Handlebars4Code.create_compiler4template(vTemplate);
 
// Show Output for JSON on console
console.log("Output: " + vCompiler(vJSON));

Use Case - Generation of Programming Code

For generation of Programming code the standard markers with two brackets {{firstname}} are replaced in general by markers with 3 brackets {{{firstname}}} because the replacement by Handlebars with two brackets escapes characters like ">" by &gt;. This is for HTML output in general useful, but for generation of code with template engine the code may become syntactically incorrect due to escaping of characters

{
  "statement":{
    "type":"if",
    "codition":"a < b"
  }
}

The Code Template for Handlebars4Code would e.g. like this:

{{{statement.type}}} ( {{{statement.condition}}} ) {
  // other code
}

The replacement of {{{statement.condition}}} would provide the correct desired output

if ( a < b )

and the replacement of {{statement.condition}} would create an syntactical error of the generated code by

if ( a &gt; b ).

If you want to use Handlebars4Code for code generation use 3 brackets for encoding the variable replacement with JSON content. The same is applicable, if you create HTML-tags with

Quick Start for Library-Users

You need the 3 things:

{
  "person":{
    "firstname":"Anna",
    "lastname":"Almond"
  }
}
  • a string template with markers like {{firstname}} or {{person.firstname}} for the data in the JSON in which the data will be markes will be replace by the content in the JSON

If you want to see how to combine those three basic elements into a HTML file see:

Installation

If you want to use handlebars4code in your HTML project just save the code e.g. in your js/ folder of your project and the import the library with your script tag.

Handlebars4Code - Structure of the Repository

If you do not want to generate programming code with the Javascript template engine you might want to use Handlebars directly-

The Handlebars4Code examples are stored in the folder docs. If you want to modify the provide examples to your needs

  • just copy the docs/-folder,
  • rename the folder that makes more sense (e.g. json2wiki/) and
  • adapt the Handlebars templates docs/tpl to the desired output.
  • The default JSON data is stored in the folder docs/db/ compatible to a specific JSON schema. The docs/ does not contain a schema/ folder because the example does not use a JSON editor. Create a JSON schema for your JSON e.g. with JSON2Schema.

If you want to use a JSON-editor for web-based editing of the JSON data, you can use JSON2Schema to create a JSON editor with Handlebars4Code output generation.

  • JSON data docs/db/umljs.js is loaded as javascript library into vDataJSON.
  • The Handlebars template docs/tpl/docu4github.js creates a GitHub documentation for a Javascript UML model stored in a JSON. The template is a string with markers (e.g. {{data.classname}}. The markers will be replaced by the JSON content. The template itself is loaded also as javascript library into vDataJSON.tpl.

JSON2Schema

For editing a given input JSON you might want to create your own JSON editor and a schema that defines the data structure of your JSON data. You can use the JSON2Schema tool to create your own JSON editor. Combine the JSON editor with the template engine Handlebars4Code.

Code Generation with ClassEditorUML

See ClassEditorUML how a JSON editor and a the template engine Handlebars4Code can be used create

  • Javascript code with the template tpl/javascript_tpl.js and a
  • GitHub markdown file as documentation of the API with tpl/docu4github_tpl.js Both templates use the same input JSON but create different output (e.g. Javascript code or GitHub markdown documentation)

Examples - Handlebars4Code

Create Handlebars4Code Compiler

In general a template is a string and the data for the template engine is string. The create_compiler() takes a hash of templates vTplHashas input and creates a hash of compilers vCompilerHash as output:

var vCompilerHash =  Handlebars4Code.create_compiler(vTplHash);

If you want to create a single compiler for a template use the get_compiler4template() that takes a single templates vTemplateas input and creates a single compilers vCompiler as output:

var vTemplate = "My template {{name}} with {{count}} markers is used for the output file {{outfile}} - <a href=\"{{{turl}}}\">see demo URL</a> .";
var vCompiler =  Handlebars4Code.create_compiler4template(vTemplate);
var vJSON = {
  "name": "MyTest",
  "outfile": "my_output.txt",
  "count": 12,
  "url": "https://niebert.github.io/Handlebars4Code/helloworld.html"
}
var vOutput = vCompiler(vJSON);
// vOutput = "My template Bert Bond with 12 markers for JSON data replacement for the output file my_output.txt."

Use Underlying Handlebars without Code Helpers

If you want to use the core Handlebars instance you can access this Javascript object via Handlebars4Code with:

var Handlebars = Handelbars4Code.Handlebars;
var vTemplate = "My template {{name}} with {{count}} markers for JSON data replacement for the output file {{outfile}}  - <a href=\"{{{turl}}}\"> see demo URL</a>."
var vCompiler = Handlebars.compile(vTemplate);

Keep in mind that the core Handlebars does not have the additional helper functions of Handlebars4Code for code generation. The Handlebars instance is just provided for developers that want to extend the Handlebars4Code with additional helper functions. For registrations of new helper function the core Handlebars is necessary.

Templates for Handlebars4Code

In the Handlebars4Code demo the JSON data is stored in vDataJSON, which is the main JSON data storage defined in index.html. Data (docs/db/) and templates (docs/tpl/) are loaded into the JSON. All templates reside in vDataJSON.tpl, which is provided as parameter to Handlebars4Code.create_compiler(vDataJSON.tpl). The method create_compiler(vDataJSON.tpl) creates Handlebars compilers for all templates in vDataJSON.tpl.

  • create_compiler(vTplHash) expects a hash, for which the template ID is the key for accessing template (e.g. vDataJSON.tpl["docu4github"]) or vDataJSON.tpl["javascript"]) (see directory docs/tpl/).
  • The compilers need to be generated only once. Then the compiler for all templates are ready to process JSON data and generate output according to the template definition.
  • var my_compilers = Handlebars4Code.get_compiler() stores the generated Handlebars compilers in an individual compiler hash. var my_output = my_compilers.javascript(vJSON) provides JSON to the compiler function for the template javascript. var my_output = my_compilers.docu4github(vJSON) provides JSON to the compiler function for the template docu4github.

vDataJSON as Template Storage

Create a template storage in your main HTML file.

<script language="javascript">
  var vDataJSON = {};
  vDataJSON.tpl = {};
  vDataJSON.out = {};
</script> 

vDataJSON.out contain the compilers, that are generated by Handelbars4Code. Each compiler in vDataJSON.out have are corresponding template in vDataJSON.tpl. vDataJSON.tpl is hash of strings for each ID and vDataJSON.out is hash of functions with the corresponding ID. The following code generates the compiler with HandleBars4Code.

Handlebars4Code.create_compiler(vDataJSON.tpl);
vDataJSON.out = Handlebars4Code.get_compiler();

Assume you have a template with the ID mytpl you will get a compiler function in vDataJSON.out.mytpl() that you can populate with JSON data. The call of vDataJSON.out.mytpl(pMyData) will replace the JSON data pMyData in the template mytpl.

Templates and JSON into vDataJSON

The javascript files in docs/tpl/ and docs/db/ are designed in way that allows the population of vDataJSON just by including a script tag in the underlying HTML file (see example docs/index.html).

Load JSON Data with Script Tag

The following script tag loads the JSON data into vDataJSON.

<script src="db/umljs.js"></script>

The data is stored in the following way in the JavaScript file:

vDataJSON["umljs"]= {
  "author": "Bert Niehaus",
  "description": "My description for repository."
}

It is recommended to use the same ID in vDataJSON as the basename of the corresponding JavaScript file db/umljs.js without path db/ and extension .js.

Load Templates with Script Tag

Every script tag loads a single template from the subdirectory docs/js/:

<script src="tpl/javascript_tpl.js"></script>
<script src="tpl/docu4github_tpl.js"></script>

Script Tag for handlebars4code.js

Use the script tag to embed the Handlebars4Code library in your HTML file::

<script src="js/handlebars4code.js"></script>

Additional Handlebars Helpers for Code generation

The following Handlebars helpers are added to the basic Handlebars features, to support better code generation. Generated code can be in any programming language (of course including markup or markdown languages):

List of Helpers in Handlebars4Code

  • filename create lower case filenames from camel-case class names (e.g. MyClass into myclass).
  • ifcond creates id-conditions in the Handlebars template to create JSON context dependent compiler output.
  • require_class_list inserts require commands according the used classes in the attributes and return values of the methods. It requires only modules that are not base classes that are provided by the programming language itself.
  • requirelibs The helper is designed to generate local and remote require commands in a class/module.
  • foreach is slighty different from the standard each helper in Handlebars. It allows to assign parent data hash to foreach context of the template

Helper: concatarray

The helper function concatarray generates from any input array a comma seperated list of values.

JSON Data: concatarray

The following JSON

var my_json = {
  "data":{
    "myarray" : ["first","second","456"]
  }
}

Template 1: concatarray

Assume we have the following templates stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl0"] with

// The array 'myarray' contains the
// following values  {{concatarray data.myarray}}

The template ID mytpl0 is

Compiler Output 1: concatarray

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytpl0(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code

// The array 'myarray' contains the
// following values  first,second,456

Template 2: concatarray

Assume we have the following templates stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytplSep"] with a concatarray call that defines the seperator + between the array elements as well.

// The array elements in 'myarray' are concatenated the
// with a "+" and wrapping blanks.
// Result:  {{concatarray data.myarray " + "}}

The template ID mytplSep is

Compiler Output 2: concatarray

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytplSep(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code

// The array elements in 'myarray' are concatenated the
// with a "+" and wrapping blanks.
// Result;  first + second + 456

Helper: filename

The helper function filename generates from any input string a usable filename in lowercase that contains no blanks an no special characters.

Template 1: filename

Assume we have the following templates stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl1"] with

// The filename of the class {{data.classname}} is {{filename data.classname}}.js

The template ID mytpl1 is

JSON Data 1: filename

The following JSON

var my_json = {
  "data":{
    "classname" : "MyClass"
  }
}

Compiler Output 1: filename

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytpl1(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code

// The filename of the class MyClass is myclass.js

JSON Data 2: filename

The following JSON

var my_json = {
  "data":{
    "classname" : "MyClass",
    "superclassname" : "MySuperClass"
  }
}

Template 2: filename

Assume we have templates vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl2"] with:

const {{data.superclassname}} = require('{{filename data.superclassname}}');
 

Compiler Output 2: filename

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytpl2(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code:

const MySuperClass = require('mysuperclass');
 

If the input string contains blanks then these blanks are replaced by an underscore.

Helper: ifcond

If condition and application of JSON path to specific attribute to JSON. The following template generates a header as comment for the javascript output. Dependent on the value of data.superclassname (string not empty) an additional name for the superclass is inserted in the header of generated output of code (see Blog in StackOverflow)

Template: ifcond

Assume we have the following templates is stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl"] with

//#################################################################
//# Javascript Class: {{data.classname}}()
{{#ifcond data.superclassname "!=" ""}}
//#       SuperClass: {{data.superclassname}}
{{/ifcond}}
//#
//# Author of Class:      {{data.reposinfo.author}}
//# email:                {{data.reposinfo.email}}
//#################################################################

The ifcond is an if-condition, that inserts a line with name of the super class if the superclassname is not empty.

JSON Data: ifcond

The following JSON is used the helper call:

var my_json = {
    "data": {
      "classname": "NewClass",
      "superclassname": "MySuperClass",
      "comment": "Description of the class",
      "reposinfo": {
        "repository": "https://www.github.com/author/NewClass",
        "author": "My Name",
        "email": "name@example.com",
      },
    }
  };

The superclassname is not empty and has the value "MySuperClass". The ifcond used in the template will insert a line by the use of an if-condition.

Compiler Output: ifcond

The compiler call for the JSON data and the template generates the following code:

//#################################################################
//# Javascript Class: NewClass()
//#       SuperClass: MySuperClass
//#
//# Author of Class:      My Name
//# email:                name@example.com
//#################################################################

The compiled result contains a comment about the super class, due to the fact that the attribute superclassname is not empty and contains the value "MySuperClass".

Helper: require_class_list

The helper function creates a list of liberaries that must be required/imported (e.g. Javascript) so that the defined libary for the new class can used the required resources in other modules. Some classes/instances are already defined by the programming language (e.g. Math, JSON in Javascript). Those libraries do not need a require command. The code generator should know about

  • base classes (baseclasslist) - no need to create require
  • local classes (localclasslist) - store in local directory, a path is necessary to these locally defined libraries (see data.reposinfo.require_path).
  • remote classes (remoteclasslist) - retrieved from a remote server via a package manager.

Template: require_class_list

Assume we have the following templates stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl"] with

{{{require_class_list data settings}}}

The helper needs the data and the settings attribute of the JSON input as parameter:

  • data contains all the defined elements of the class.
  • settings contain basic definitions for the classes that are available in the software development project.
  • data.superclassname because a superclass will be handled with a separate require command.
  • settings.baseclasses because those classes are provided by the programming language by default and they do not need a require command.
  • settings.localclasses because those classes are created within the software developement of the repository and these modules need a special require command with a local pathname, where to to find the libraries, e.g. require('./libs/mylocallib').
  • data.reposinfor.require_path contain the local path to the libraries/modules of localclasses ./libs/.
  • settings.remoteclasses remote classes are download with a package manager and these modules are required just by the module name, e.g. require('mylocallib').

JSON Data: require_class_list

The following JSON

var my_json = {
  "data": {
    "classname": "NewClass",
    "superclassname": "MySuperClass"
  },
  "settings": {
    "extension4code":".js",
    "localclasslist": [
      "App",
      "AppAbstract"
    ],
    "remoteclasslist": [
      "LinkParam",
      "JSONEditor"
    ],
    "baseclasslist": [
      "",
      "Array",
      "Boolean",
      "Float",
      "Function",
      "Hash",
      "Integer",
      "Object",
      "RegularExp",
      "String"
    ]
  }  
};

Compiler Output: require_class_list

Assume that App, LinkParam and JSONEditor are used in the class as attributes or returned instances of method. App is a locally defined class while LinkParam and JSONEditor are remote classes downloaded from the package manager (e.g. NPM). The compiler call for the JSON data and the template generates the following code.

require('./libs/app');
require('linkparam');
require('jsoneditor');

Helper: requirelibs

The helper is designed to generate local and remote require commands in a class/module.

Template: requirelibs

Assume we have the following templates is stored vDataJSON.tpl["requiretpl"] with:

// NodeJS: Require additional Modules
{{#requirelibs data.reposinfo.requirelist}}
const {{variable}} = require('{{module}}');
{{/requirelibs}}

JSON Data: requirelibs

The following JSON is used the helper call:

var my_json = {
    "data": {
      "classname": "NewClass",
      "reposinfo": {
        "requirelist": [
          {
            "module":"handlebars",
            "variable":"Handlebars"
          },
          {
            "module":"filesaver",
            "variable":"FileSaver"
          },
          {
            "module":"jquery",
            "variable":"$"
          }
        ]
      },
    }
  };

Compiler Output: requirelibs

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.requiretpl(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code. The variable for the repository uses the module name in the requirelist and creates a variable name with an uppercase first character of the module name.

const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
const Filesaver  = require('filesaver');  
const $          = require('jquery');     

Helper: foreach

The example for the foreach helper will generate HTML code e.g. for the document explaining the available methods in the class. The example for the paramcall helper provides an application of foreach for code generation.

Template: foreach

Assume we have the following templates stored in vDataJSON.tpl["htmltpl"] with:

<ul>
{{#foreach data.methods data}}
  <li>
  The {{visibility}} method {{name}} is defined in class {{data.classname}}
  </li>
{{/foreach}}
</ul>

Parameter of Helper: foreach

The output format is HTML and the template uses

  • the array data.methods to iterate over all methods and
  • the hash data as second parameter of the helper, so that parent attribute of the JSON like data.classname are available in the content of the foreach definition as well.
  • The second parameter data is added as data attribute to method items the array data.methods. You can assign a different hash e.g. mydata to the second parameter. For the template above the hash mydata needs the attribute mydata.classname. The second parameter is still mapped to {{data}} in the helper context. So if mydata.classname="MyNewClass2" the Handlebars {{data.classname}} will be set to MyNewClass2. With the new second parameter the template context will look this:
<ul>
{{#foreach data.methods mydata}}
  <li>
  The {{visibility}} method {{name}}(params) is defined in class {{data.classname}}
  </li>
{{/foreach}}
</ul>

For a Handlebars4Code helper foreach helper is called for arrays myarray with:

{{#foreach myarray data}}
    context for each array element
{{/foreach}}

JSON Data: foreach

The following JSON is used the helper call:

var my_json = {
    "data": {
      "classname": "NewClass",
      "methods": [
        {
          "visibility": "public",
          "name": "init",
        },
        {
          "visibility": "private",
          "name": "create",
        },
        {
          "visibility": "public",
          "name": "display",
        }
    }
  };

Compiler Output: foreach

The template was stored in vDataJSON.tpl["htmltpl"], so the compiler call will be Handlebars4Code.compile.htmltpl(my_json) for the JSON data my_json. The defined template generates the following code:

<ul>
  <li>
  The public method init(params) is defined in class NewClass
  </li>
  <li>
  The private method create(params) is defined in class NewClass
  </li>
  <li>
  The public method display(params) is defined in class NewClass
  </li>
</ul>

Helper: paramcall

The helper paramcall creates a list of parameter names of the method, that is comma separated.

Template: paramcall

Assume we have the following templates stored in vDataJSON.tpl["methodtpl"] with:

{{#foreach data.methods data}}
{{#ifcond visibility "==" "public"}}
    {{data.classname}}.{{name}} = function ({{#paramcall parameter}}{{/paramcall}})
{{/ifcond}}
{{#ifcond visibility "==" "private"}}
    // private function of class {{data.classname}}
    function {{name}}({{#paramcall parameter}}{{/paramcall}})
{{/ifcond}}
{{/foreach}}

The foreach helper iterates of all method (here only one method is defined in the class). The ifcond helper distinguishes between different outputs for public and private methods in the class.

JSON Data: paramcall

The following JSON is used for the helper call. The JSON contains one method with

var my_json = {
    "data": {
      "classname": "NewClass",
      "superclassname": "MySuperClass",
      "methods": [
        {
          "visibility": "public",
          "name": "init",
          "parameter": [
            {
              "name": "pJSON",
              "class": "Hash",
              "comment": "the parameter stores JSON definition for the class"
            },
            {
              "name": "pOptions",
              "class": "Hash",
              "comment": "the parameter stores the options for the JSON editor (developed by Jeremy Dorn)"
            },
            {
              "name": "pSchema",
              "class": "Hash",
              "comment": "the parameter contains the JSON Schema for JSON Editor"
            }
          ]
        }
    }
  };

Compiler Output: paramcall

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.methodtpl(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code:

NewClass.init = function (pJSON,pOptions,pSchmea)

The ifcond condition creates a different output if the visibility attribute is set to private. The generated code will be:

// private function of class NewClass
function init(pJSON,pOptions,pSchmea);

Helper: parameterlist

The helper function parameterlist is mainly used to insert a comments for all parameter of a function in the header of a function.

Template: parameterlist

Assume we have the following templates stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl"] with:

//#################################################################
//# {{visibility}} Method: {{name}}()  Class: {{data.classname}}
//# Parameter:
//#    {{parameterlist parameter "    //#    "}}
//#################################################################

JSON Data: parameterlist

The following JSON is used the helper call:

var my_json = {
  var my_json = {
      "data": {
        "classname": "NewClass",
        "superclassname": "MySuperClass",
        "methods": [
          {
            "visibility": "public",
            "name": "init",
            "parameter": [
              {
                "name": "pJSON",
                "class": "Hash",
                "comment": "the parameter stores JSON definition for the class"
              },
              {
                "name": "pOptions",
                "class": "Hash",
                "comment": "the parameter stores the options for the JSON editor (developed by Jeremy Dorn)"
              },
              {
                "name": "pEditorID",
                "class": "String",
                "comment": "the parameter provide DOM ID in which the JSON editor will be injected."
              }
            ]
          }
      }
    };

Compiler Output: parameterlist

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytpl2(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code:

//#################################################################
//# public Method: init()  Class: NewClass
//# Parameter:
//#    pJSON:Hash
//#      the parameter stores JSON definition for the class
//#    pOptions:Hash
//#      the parameter stores the options for the JSON editor (developed by Jeremy Dorn)
//#    pEditorID:String
//#      the parameter provide DOM ID in which the JSON editor will be injected.
//#
//#################################################################
 

Helper: indent

The helper function indent takes two parameters.

  • the text (e.g. comment or code)
  • the indent which is injected for all newlines in the text parameter. The indent helper shifts the text or code to the right.

Template: indent

Assume we have the following templates is stored vDataJSON.tpl["mytpl"] with:

   //#################################################################
   //# Comment:
{{indent comment "    //#     "}}
   //# Line after Comment
   //#################################################################
 

JSON Data: indent

The following JSON is used the helper call:

var my_json = {
    "data": {
      "classname": "NewClass",
      "superclassname": "MySuperClass",
      "methods": [
        {
          "visibility": "private",
          "name": "create",
          "comment":"one line \nsecond line\nthird  line"
        }
    },
    "settings": {
 
    }
  };

Compiler Output: indent

The compiler call Handlebars4Code.compile.mytpl(my_json) for the JSON data my_json and the template generates the following code:

    //#################################################################
    //# Comment:
    //#     one line
    //#     second line
    //#     third line
    //# Line after Comment
    //#################################################################
 

Build Process of npm run build

The build process is called by npm run build which in turn call build.js. If you want to call the build process of build.js separately just call build.js with node build.js from the shell/console.

The templates for building the output are stored in the folder src/.

After the build process the README.md is generated and if you want to have the table of contents in the file for the concatenation of files in src/readme/ listed in files4build.js then you must run the DocToc generator for README.md by doctoc README.md from the shell to update the table of contents in README.md.

Define Filename for build in package.json

In package.json defines the filename for the automated build for

  • README.md for readme for the repository (parts in src/readme),
  • index.html for the web demo (parts in src/html),
  • main.css for the style sheet (part in src/css) and
  • src/main.js is generated from the parts in src/libs the sources in src/. To specify these filenames add the following build section to the package.json:
"build": {
  "readme": "README.md",
  "html": "docs/index.html",
  "css": "docs/css/main.css"
}

If you want to edit the generated file check the files that are selected for including into the generated files (see files4build.js) and set the files to a preliminary build name (e.g. like index_build.html instead of index.html to compare generated file index_build.html with the older version index.html for debugging

Browserify after Build

After building (concat the file parts) and replacement of package variables (e.g. like _``__PKG_NAME__``_ for package name) in the generated documents the module is browserified by the command

 browserify src/main.js  > dist/handlebars4code.js

This command is called and defined in the script section of the package.json.

Quick Start for Developers

The followning description might be helpful if you want to browserify the module in the build. The build process is defined with script build.js.

Build and Compress with Browserify, Watchify, UglifyJS

The NodeJS modules can use require()-command. Browsers cannot execute the require()-command and other node specific programming features.

  • Browserify loads the file src/main.js as input file and resolves e.g. the require()-command and creates an output file in dist/handlebars4code.js
  • Watchify observes any changes in the source files in src/ and starts on the event of changes the build process of the file src/main.js as input file and creates an output file in dist/handlebars4code.js.
  • UglifyJS compresses the code in dist and takes the file dist/handlebars4code.js and generates the compressed library in dist/handlebars4code.min.js. The same is applied for docs/js/handlebars4code.js and the output is docs/js/handlebars4code.min.js. The compression of the source code can be perform without a total build by npm run compress.
  • The main browserify command creates a standalone library that can be used in the browser and it assign Handlebars4Code to the window object by
  browserify src/main.js --standalone window > dist/handlebars4code.js

Browserify and Watchify

Browserify and Watchify are used in this repository to control the WebApp-javascript development with the required Javascript libraries installed with NPM Node.js and similar framework world that greatly improve your javascript workflow: Using them, you no longer need to micro-manage your script tags but instead you just declare the libraries each of your client-side modules is using - or you can even create your own reusable modules! Also, installing (or updating) javascript libraries is as easy as running a single command!

Global Installation of Browserify, Watchify, UglifyJS and DocToc

Requirement: NPM is intalled. Now call for global installation of Browserfy, Watchify, UglifyJS and DocToc by:

npm install -g browserify watchify uglify-js doctoc jshint lint

This is recommended because your will not install Browserfy, Watchify and UglifyJS for all your repositories separately.

  • Browserfy converts node_modules in a single library, that can be imported in WebApp. Browserify resolves dependencies and included the required libraries into the bundled javascript code.
  • Watchify watches changes in the source code and runs the build process whenever it detects changes in the your source code.
  • UglifyJS compresses the source code of dist/handlebars4code.js into handlebars4code.min.js to reduce download time and WebApp performance during load.
  • DocToc is used to create a helpful table of contents in the README (see [DocToc-Installation]https://github.com/thlorenz/doctoc#installation) for further details on NPM DocToc ). Run doctoc README.md for updating the table of contents.
  • jsLint is used to check the Javascript code, quality of code can be improved by application of jsLint

Package Installation of Browserify and Watchify - Alternative

If your prefer that browserify and watchify is installed with your npm install command, save these to modules to your dev-dependecies in your package.json by calling

  • (Install Browsersify) npm install browserify -g
  • (Install Watchify) npm install watchify -g
  • (Install UglifyJS) npm install uglify-js -g
  • (Install DocToc) npm install doctoc -g
  • (Install jshint) npm install jshint -g
  • (Install jshint) npm install lint -g

The difference between --save and --save-dev, -g is, that

  • --save indicates that the installed library/package is required in the library and the library will be added to package.json. If someone else installs you library all packages, that are installed with --save are installed recursively as well.
  • development dependencies (--save-dev) are required for building the code/library only, but not for library itself for being executed. So someone else installs you library, the --save-dev developement packages are not installed. If some clones your repository e.g. from GitLab, GitHub,... with the command npm install also the development packages are installed as well.
  • -g install packages globallywatchify, browserify, uglify-js, ... might be regarded as useful in many other packages, so for developements the installation with npm install ... --save-dev is replaced by -g option.

because they are required for the development process of the code but they are not added to the generated Javascript-bundle that are used in the WebApp ClassEditorUML. The --save-dev commands for browserify and watchify will install the two modules with all the the dependencies in node_modules and add the dev-dependencies to your package.json.

"devDependencies": {
  "browserify": "^14.5.0",
  "watchify": "^3.9.0",
  "uglify-js": "^2.6.2",
  "doctoc":"^1.3.0",
  "lint": "^1.1.2"  
}

In the current repository Browserfy and Watchify are expected to be installed globally, because the package.json does not contain the dev-dependencies mentioned above.

Start Watching the Files with Watchify

Watchify will trigger the npm run build process if files were change due to alteration of code. To start watching the files, run the npm-watch script by npm run watch, which is defined in package.json

Source JS file and development bundle output

The main JS source file for the build process is src/main.js. The output library (resp. output file of build process) is stored in distrubtion library for browser based web-development in dist/handlebars4code.js. Compressed code is generated with UglifyJS. It takes the dist/handlebars4code.js as input file and creates the compressed file dist/handlebars4code.min.js. The compression of dist/handlebars4code.js into dist/handlebars4code.min.js uses uglify-js module and can be started by

npm run compress

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to the following individual developers and teams of OpenSource JavaScript projects:

  • HandleBars the code generation in Javascript was developed by Yehuda Katz.
  • JSON-Editor by Jeremy Dorn. The JSON Editor takes a JSON Schema and uses it to generate an HTML form. The JSON-Editor is partially used to edit JSON file of the ClassEditorUML UML for Javascript.
  • Developer Mihai Bazon create UglifyJS, a great tool to handle and parse Javascript Code and minify the Javascript code (see Source Code of UglifyJS).
  • The wrapper for UglifyJS is written Dan Wolff. His UglifyJS-Online example is used to minify/compress the exported Javascript code of generated JS Classes (For Online Example of the UglifyJS-Wrapper see source code on https://github.com/Skalman/UglifyJS-online for the Online-Version of the Wrapper.
  • Developers of ACE Code Editor https://ace.c9.io (Javascript Editing uses the Editor in iFrames)
  • FileSaver.js Developer Eli Grey provided the FileSaver.js that is used to store created JSCC files to the local filesystem. JSCC uses the same mechanism of browsers, that allows a Save as... in the context menu of a web pages or image. So not uncontrolled write access to your file system is implemented, because users have to select the locations in which the user whats to store the file (e.g. JSON, Javascript or HTML).
  • JointJS JointJS is a JavaScript diagramming library. It can be used to create either static diagrams. JointJS is used in this project to create UML-diagrams, that are interactive diagramming in conjunction and application builder in Javascript.
  • Inheritage for JavaScript with protoypes by Gavin Kistner
  • 3 ways to define a JavaScript class by Stoyan Stefanov
  • JQuery is used for the theme and standard operations in the Document Object Model (DOM) of HTML-pages. The JQuery-Themeroller was used to create a JQuery theme for JSCC.

Libraries required for Handlebars4Code

The following libraries are necessary for handlebars4code.js:

  • Lib: minimist Version: >=0.2.1
  • Lib: define-property Version: ^2.0.2
  • Lib: for-in Version: ^1.0.2
  • Lib: handlebars Version: ^4.4.1

Libraries for Building and Developement

The following libraries are necessary for building the handlebars4code. These libraries are not included in handlebars4code.js, but e.g. are required in build.js.

  • Lib: build4code Version: ^0.3.23
  • Lib: concat-files Version: ^0.1.1

NPM Library Information

  • Exported Module Variable: Handlebars4Code
  • Package: handlebars4code
  • Version: 1.2.37 (last build 2020/10/07 14:28:05)
  • Homepage: https://gitlab.com/niehausbert/handlebars4code#readme
  • License: MIT
  • Date: 2020/10/07 14:28:05
  • Require Module with:
    const vHandlebars4Code = require('handlebars4code');
  • JSHint: installation can be performed with npm install jshint -g

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gitlab.com/niehausbert/handlebars4code#readme

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