Simpla Paths

Simpla-paths maps Simpla content paths to the DOM, using HTML attributes. This allows you to easily structure data declaratively in code.

Installation & usage

Simpla-paths is available on NPM/Yarn, Bower, and the Unpkg CDN

$ npm install simpla-paths --save

$ bower install simpla-paths --save

https://unpkg.com/simpla-paths@^1.0.0/[file]

Simpla-paths is distributed as both an HTML import (simpla-paths.html) and a JavaScript file (simpla-paths.min.js). You can include either in your project, but make sure you only include one of them.

<!-- As HTML import -->
<link rel="import" href="/bower_components/simpla-paths/simpla-paths.html">

<!-- As Javascript file -->
<script src="/node_modules/simpla-paths/simpla-paths.min.js"></script>

Once simpla-paths is included it will begin observing IDs and constructing paths automatically (except for inside Shadow DOM - see Observing shadow roots).

Constructing paths

Simpla-paths creates paths by stringing together IDs used in new HTML attributes. For example, this markup

<div sid="page">
  <div sid="section">
    <simpla-text sid="element"></simpla-text>
  </div>
</div>

Creates the path /page/section/element for the ``` element.

Simpla-paths exposes two new HTML attributes:

• sid: Scoped ID
• gid: Global ID

Every element with either of these attributes will get a path property set on it by simpla-paths.

Scoped IDs

Scoped IDs (the sid attribute) are the building blocks of structured content. They are namespaced to any parent element with a path ID. To created nested paths, just nest HTML elements with sid attributes

<div sid="nested">
  <span sid="path"></span>
</div>
 
<p sid="path"></p>
 
<script>
  document.querySelector('div').path // '/nested'
  document.querySelector('span').path // '/nested/path'
  document.querySelector('p').path // '/path'
</script> 

Global IDs

Global IDs (the gid attribute) always create new paths regardless of where they are used. When applied to Simpla elements, they are equivelant to specifying path="/[gid]".

They are useful for creating reusable chunks of content that always have consistent data, regardless of where they appear on your site.

<div sid="page">
 
  <!-- path = /page/title -->
  <simpla-text sid="title"></simpla-text>
 
  <div gid="footer">
 
    <!-- path = /footer/company -->
    <simpla-text sid="company"></simpla-text>  
 
  </div>
 
</div>

Dynamically reloading paths

When you change any ID in a chain of IDs, the whole path is recalculated. This means you can easily fetch and reload whole sections of content dynamically by changing a single attribute.

<div id="page" sid="page">
  <div sid="section">
    <simpla-text sid="title"></simpla-text>
  </div>
</div>
 
<!-- simpla-text path = /page/section/title -->
 
<script>
  document.querySelector('#page').setAttribute('sid', 'about');
</script> 
 
<!-- simpla-text path = /about/section/title -->

Read more about structuring data with simpla-paths

Observing shadow roots

Simpla-paths automatically observes IDs and constructs paths in the main document. To use sid and gid attributes in Shadow DOM you will need to tell simpla-paths to observe your shadow root manually.

Do this with the observe method on the SimplaPaths global. It takes two arguments, the shadow tree to observe, and an optional base path (defaults to '/').

SimplaPaths.observe(element.shadowRoot, element.path);

API

Custom attributes

Attribute	Description
sid	Scoped ID, appended to parent IDs to create nested paths
gid	Global ID, creates a new root path

Events

Events are fired on elements that sid or gid attributes set

Event	Detail	Description
path-changed	{ path: String }	Fired whenever an element's path changes

Contributing

If you find any issues with simpla-paths please report them! If you'd like to see a new feature in supported file an issue or let us know in Simpla's public Slack group. We also happily accept PRs.

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MIT © Simpla