SproutCore: SC.TableView alternatives - javascript

I am working on a project based on SproutCore 1.8. My app has to display lots of data in a sophisticated table view. In fact, the table view will be one of the central elements of the app's interface. Also, I will probably need an outline/tree view, allowing me to display hierarchical data in a table view-like interface component.
I initially tried using SC.TableView, but this seems to be deprecated as of v1.6 of the SproutCore framework. I got a console output suggesting to use a community tableview, but didn't find that much.
I found some hints in the SC Google Groups suggesting that one should consider using SlickGrid and that someone wrote a small SproutCore wrapper around SlickGrid which you could plug into your SproutCore app. I have to admit, I didn't try this yet.
However, as my app is not a big experiment and I am not really willing to put much effort into standard UI components that I expect being readily available in a sophisticated UI framework, I would like to ask whether there is any solution that is reliable and works 'out of the box' in the SproutCore framework?

However, as my app is not a big experiment and I am not really willing to put much effort into standard UI components that I expect being readily available in a sophisticated UI framework, I would like to ask whether there is any solution that is reliable and works 'out of the box' in the SproutCore framework?
Unfortunately, the short answer is no. Sproutcore is a good framework with a lot of advantageous, but the honest truth is there is no good table view that works out of the box.
Your best option is to use SlickGrig as suggested on the google groups. If that external library meets all of your needs, its not too difficult to get it working with SC. You would create an SC.View. Implement the didAppendToDocument method and in it initialize slick grid according to its instructions. From there, use SC.Event.add to listen for events on the slick grid dom, and in your handlers invoke your app logic. Be sure to wrap in an SC.run(function(){...}) so you get a runloop. So basically, you are writing a view which proxies a slick grid instance. The biggest challenges you will face are browser computability issues, keeping SC representation of the data in sync with SG's internal representation (for sorting and whatnot), and if you intend to leverage a lot of SG's functionality, it can be a bit of code.
Another option would be to roll your own grid. But that's a lot more work.
Really, if the SG path seems too difficult, practically speaking, you are better off going with a framework which has a grid.

Related

Dojo versus extjs framework

I am looking at creating a webapp with a "rich" UI interface. I was looking at dojo and extjs and trying to evaluate what might be a better choice for my requirements.
Just to give a brief idea of my requirement, this is the scenario:
I have several components stored in a data store. I wish to show them in the browser with the following UI.
Providing tree/table views of my components.
Displaying my components on a map (google) to be able to view their geographic positions.
Ability to select multiple components in the map and setup connections (lines) between them so that they appear to be linked
PS:
I tried looking up some comparisons of extJs and dojo, but they seem to be from some years ago and are probably not as relevant anymore.
I am a newbie to the web UI frameworks and so ease of use of one over the other would also be a factor for me
thanks a lot
if you are new to the web UI frameworks, I recommend you use ExtJS, it has better documentation and easy to use, especially its UI design is much more better/modern than dojotoolkit, and it's more polished at industry level.
dojotoolkit is more for the advanced user (coder, geek), it has a lot of cool concepts/patterns, it's the first framework which has implemented AMD and has supported NodeJs. At technical level, it's the best. but until now, it still demands a lot of learning curve.
Honestly, I prefer dojo (at technique level) , but for a new comer, I suggest you use Extjs, You can probably achieve 90% of the work with ExtJs.

How is AngularJS different from jQuery

I only know one js library and that is jQuery.
But my other coders in the group are changing AngularJS as their default library in new project.
I don't know anything about it. How is it different from jQuery?
I already have a set of functions done for similar tasks in jQuery. Can I still use jQuery stuff with AngularJS?
While Angular 1 was a framework, Angular 2 is a platform. (ref)
To developers, Angular2 provides some features beyond showing data on screen. For example, using angular2 cli tool can help you "pre-compile" your code and generate necessary javascript code (tree-shaking) to shrink the download size down to 35Kish.
Angular2 emulated Shadow DOM. (ref)
This opens a door for server rendering that can address SEO issue and work with Nativescript etc that don't work on browsers.
The official document site
Day one keynote from ng-conf 2016
Resource links
Original:
Basically, jQuery is a great tool for you to manipulate and control DOM elements.
If you only focus on DOM elements and no Data CRUD, like building a website not web application, jQuery is the one of the top tools. (You can use AngularJS for this purpose as well.)
AngularJS is a framework. It has following features
Two way data binding
MVW pattern (MVC-ish)
Template
Custom-directive (reusable components, custom markup)
REST-friendly
Deep Linking (set up a link for any dynamic page)
Form Validation
Server Communication
Localization
Dependency injection
Full testing environment (both unit, e2e)
check this presentation and this great introduction
Don't forget to read the official developer guide
Or learn it from these awesome video tutorials
If you want to watch more tutorial video, check out this post, Collection of best 60+ AngularJS tutorials.
You can use jQuery with AngularJS without any issue.
In fact, AngularJS uses jQuery lite in it, which is a great tool.
From FAQ
Does Angular use the jQuery library?
Yes, Angular can use jQuery if it's present in your app when the
application is being bootstrapped. If jQuery is not present in your
script path, Angular falls back to its own implementation of the
subset of jQuery that we call jQLite.
However, don't try to use jQuery to modify the DOM in AngularJS controllers, do it in your directives.
Update:
Angular2 is released. Here is a great list of resource for starters
I want to add something regarding AngularJS difference with jQuery from a developer's perspective.
In AngularJS you have to have a very structured view and approach on what you want to accomplish. It is scarcely following a linear fashion to complete a task, but rather, the exchanges between various objects take care of the requests and actions, which, then, is necessary as angular is an MVC-Based framework. It also requires an at least general blueprint of the finalized application, since coding depends much on how you want the interactions to be completed.
jQuery is like a free poetry, you write lines and keep some relations and momentum appropriate for your task to be accomplished.
Though, in Angular JS, you should follow some rules as well as keeping the momentum and relations proper, maybe it is more like classical Spencerian sonnet (a famous classical poet) whose poem is structural and tied to many rules.
Compared against AngularJS, jQuery is more like a collection of codes and functions (which is, as already mentioned, great for DOM manipulation and fast-effect achievement), while AngularJS is a real framework which gives the developer the ability to build an enterprise web-application with a lot of data-binding and exchange within a superbly organized-routing and management.
Furthermore, AngularJS has no dependency on jQuery to complete its task. It has two very superb features which are not found in jQuery in any sense:
1- Angular JS teaches you how to CODE and accomplish a goal, not just accomplish a goal by any means. Worth to mention that AngularJS fully utilizes the core and heart of Javascripts and paves the way for you to incorporate in your app, the techniques such as DI (dependency-injection). To work with angularJS you should (or must) learn more elevated techniques of coding with Javascript.
2- Angular JS is fully independent to handle directives and structure your app; you might then simply claim that jQuery can do the same (independence), but, indeed, AngularJS, as several times mentioned within the above lines, has independence in the most excellent possible structurally MVC-Based way.
A last note is that, there is no war of Names, since it is far disturbing to be biased, or subjective. jQuery's magnitude and greatness has been proved, but their usages and limitations( of any framework or software) are the concerns of the discussion and similar debates around.
Update:
Using AngularJS is decisive as it is expensive in terms of implementation, but founds a strong base for future expansion, transformation and maintenance of the application. AngularJS is for the New World of Web. It is targeted toward building applications which are characterized by their least resource consumption (loading only necessary resources from the server), fast response time and high degree of maintainability and extendability wrapped around a structured system.
AngularJS :
AngularJS is for developing heavy web applications. AngularJS can use jQuery if it’s present in the web-app when the application is being bootstrapped. If it's not present in the script path, then AngularJS falls back to its own implementation of the subset of jQuery.
JQuery :
jQuery is a small, fast, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler. jQuery simplifies a lot of the complicated things from JavaScript, like AJAX calls and DOM manipulation.
Read more details here: angularjs-vs-jquery
I think this is a very good chart describing the differences in short. A quick glance at it shows most of the differences.
One thing I would like to add is that, AngularJS can be made to follow the MVVM design pattern while jQuery does not follow any of the standard Object Oriented patterns.
They work at different levels.
The simplest way to view the difference, from a beginner perspective is that jQuery is essentially an abstract of JavaScript, so the way we design a page for JavaScript is pretty much how we will do it for jQuery. Start with the DOM then build a behavior layer on top of that. Not so with Angular.Js. The process really begins from the ground up, so the end result is the desired view.
With jQuery you do dom-manipulations, with Angular.Js you create whole web-applications.
jQuery was built to abstract away the various browser idiosyncracies, and work with the DOM without having to add IE6 checks and so on. Over time, it developed a nice, robust API which allowed us to do a lot of things, but at its core, it is meant for dealing with the DOM, finding elements, changing UI, and so on. Think of it as working directly with nuts and bolts.
Angular.Js was built as a layer on top of jQuery, to add MVC concepts to front end engineering. Instead of giving you APIs to work with DOM, Angular.Js gives you data-binding, templating, custom components (similar to jQuery UI, but declarative instead of triggering through JS) and a whole lot more. Think of it as working at a higher level, with components that you can hook together, instead of directly at the nuts and bolts level.
Additionally, Angular.Js gives you structures and concepts that apply to various projects, like Controllers, Services, and Directives. jQuery itself can be used in multiple (gazillion) ways to do the same thing. Thankfully, that is way less with Angular.Js, which makes it easier to get into and out of projects. It offers a sane way for multiple people to contribute to the same project, without having to relearn a system from scratch.
A short comparison can be this-
jQuery
Can be easily used by those who have proper knowledge on CSS selectors
It is a library used for DOM Manipulations
Has nothing to do with models
Easily manipulate the contents of a webpage
Apply styles to make UI more attractive
Easy DOM traversal
Effects and animation
Simple to make AJAX calls and
Utilities usability
don't have a two-way binding feature
becomes complex and difficult to maintain when the size of a project increases
Sometimes you have to write more code to achieve the same functionality as in Angular.Js
Angular.Js
It is an MVVM Framework
Used for creating SPA (Single Page Applications)
It has key features like routing, directives, two-way data binding, models, dependency injection, unit tests etc
is modular
Maintainable, when project size increases
is Fast
Two-Way data binding
REST friendly
MVC-based Pattern
Deep Linking
Templating
Build-in form Validation
Dependency Injection
Localization
Full Testing Environment
Server Communication
And much more
Think this helps.
More can be found-
jQuery vs. AngularJS: A Comparison and Migration Walkthrough
"Thinking in AngularJS" if I have a jQuery background?
What are the key differences between jQuery and AngularJS?
jQuery Vs AngularJS – A Good Comparison
What is the difference between jQuery and AngularJS?
Jquery :-
jQuery is a lightweight and feature-rich JavaScript Library that helps web developers
by simplifying the usage of client-side scripting for web applications using JavaScript.
It extensively simplifies using JavaScript on a website and it’s lightweight as well as fast.
So, using jQuery, we can:
easily manipulate the contents of a webpage
apply styles to make UI more attractive
easy DOM traversal
effects and animation
simple to make AJAX calls and
utilities and much more…
AngularJS :-
AngularJS is a product by none other the Search Engine Giant Google and it’s an open source
MVC-based framework(considered to be the best and only next generation framework). AngularJS
is a great tool for building highly rich client-side web applications.
As being a framework, it dictates us to follow some rules and a structured approach. It’s
not just a JavaScript library but a framework that is perfectly designed (framework tools
are designed to work together in a truly interconnected way).
In comparison of features jQuery Vs AngularJS, AngularJS simply offers more features:
Two-Way data binding
REST friendly
MVC-based Pattern
Deep Linking
Template
Form Validation
Dependency Injection
Localization
Full Testing Environment
Server Communication

Javascript: How to make sense of all the frameworks and design philosophies?

I have been a user of jQuery (and some of its minor plugins) for a while. The Javascript code I've developed over the years could be described best as... messy. It used a ton of global variables and functions here and there, didn't use standard ways of organizing the code, nor any design patterns whatsoever.
I am currently building the new version of a website, and I have completed doing the backend with PEAR::MDB2 and Smarty templates. The rest is just homebrew PHP with some classes.
Now I am at the point where I'll add the Javascript layer on top of the website to improve the user-friendliness of some features. (while making sure everything degrades gracefully) I want to write better, cleaner, more organized Javascript than I used to, so I did a little research. I read Stefanov's Object-Oriented Javascript to have a better grasp on some concepts I knew only loosely about (prototypes, constructors, etc.) as well. Now I'm stuck at a point where I wonder which Javascript frameworks I should use, and how to organize it all.
After conducting my research, I understood Cappuccino & Objective-J, and Sproutcore were not what I was looking for. To quote Cappucino's about page:
Cappuccino is not designed for building web sites, or making existing sites more "dynamic". We think these goals are too far removed from those of application development to be served well by a single framework. Projects like Prototype and jQuery are excellent at those tasks
So there's that. Then I found out about Coffee Script, which is more of a one-to-one "compiler" and wouldn't help me with the actual organization of my code.
I also stumbled on some articles that give guidelines:
Using Inheritance Patterns to Organize Large jQuery Applications
A JavaScript Module Pattern
I also found out about Backbone.js, Shoestring, JavaScriptMVC, Google Loader, jQuery Tools, jQuery UI. I don't really know what to do of all this... The things I know:
I don't want to invest too much time in learning something too complex, I want to keep things simple and flexible as much as possible (that is why I don't use Symfony on the backend, for example), yet clean and organized.
I want to use jQuery, the question is, what should I use with it? (that is compatible too)
Right now, I'd use jQuery and jQuery Tools and "organize" all that in a simple namespace/object literal with simple properties and methods and also, since the site is localized, I just plan on using the simple vsprintf (as I do on the backend) with key:value pairs loaded from an object literal provided by the backend. JavaScriptMVC seems interesting, but I fear it would bring way too much complexity for a project that is fairly small sized. That is where I need your advice! Thank you very much in advance.
Ok, my attempt at an answer:
There is no 'best' to way to do it. You now know what's there and I think you might have a preference for yourself for what you want. In that case, pick a framework and learn it inside-out. (sorry to burst your bubble, but each framework has a learning curve, some steep, some very easy, but in the end to use it well you have to invest in it. Just do it, you won't be sorry).
You of course have an preference for clean code, so you might take some considerations into account. You also say you have a preference for jQuery, which is fine, but there are some limitations (as also pointed out in the link provided by eskimoblood).
There are some nice lectures / and tutorials with advice on how to structure your code in jQuery:
How to manage large jquery apps
On Large jQuery apps
Essential Javascript and jQuery patterns (free ebook)
Some style guides:
Jquery core UI Styleguide
Google Closure Javascript Style Guide
Tools for checking your code
JSLint
JSHint (a more forgiving/practical fork)
Closure Linter (haven't tried it yet, but intend to)
Standard works (javascript)
Everything by Douglas Crockford
Quirksmode
There might be more.. perhaps more people can contribute, but I also think that you've almost reached the end of what you can learn before getting your hands dirty. Many of these guides are written in a very generic way, but the interesting thing is that javascript is called upon in many specific situations. It might be useful to just post some of the code that you regard as "messy" and we can help you figure out how to do it better. Good luck!
You should watch the video and read the links in this article and then you should ask yourself again if jquery is the right tool. Maybe you will use dojo, that is much better for larger projects or you take a look at backbone and where you can stay with jquery. After all both of them are more "javascriptish" then something like sproutcore, cappuciono or even GWT. And also much easier to understand when you come from jquery.
One framework that is to consider is definitely ReactJS from Facebook. This framework is pretty slick in many ways.
First thing you have to know is that it is a view framework. It can be used server-side to do the pre-rendering of pages, but it really shines on client side. Since it's a view framework, it can be used with backbone or any other "back-front"-end framework.
One of the main point of React is its rapidity. It keeps a virtual DOM in memory and virtualize all the webpages events. So the virtuals event are used to keep events browser agnostics.
The virtual DOM kind of make programming a dynamic site as if you were programming an old static website. You can just shoot the whole HTML to render to the view engine (as if you were "re-rendering" the whole page) and it will manage the DOM operations. It does a diff between the new virtual DOM and the current virtual DOM and only inserts nodes that needs to be inserted. This way you reduce the number of DOM ops and thus increase your render speed by a lot.
A good place to start is this tutorial which shows how to use "Flux" (the web flow designed by Facebook for its site) in order to realize a Todo application!

I'm interested in using Ext.js, but troubled by a number of issues. Is there a better alternative?

Ext.js is of interest to me because it appears to have a fairly complete widget set (though I've certainly run into shortcomings of the widgets after a very short time). The problems I potentially have with it, however, include these:
in my opinion it's very ugly, and looks like a cross between a Windows UI and some PHP content management system (yes I know I can write my own theme, but there may be limits to what I can change, and it may not be as easy as it should be, and I'd rather work with something that is clean, elegant, and attractive out of the box.)
the graphs currently use Flash, which limits the clients it can be useful on (version 4 promises to resolve this problem)
the license is a bit restrictive, which is not an issue now, but it makes me think twice about becoming intimately familiar with a tool that I may not be able to use in the future.
Honestly the look & feel is probably the biggest issue to me: I've seen in the past that developers (or companies) who don't place a high value on aesthetics often can't be bothered by other 'details' either.
So: is there a other better alternative?
UPDATE:
Another problem with Ext.js, is that it seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition. That's one reason I'm not looking seriously at SproutCore, which in other respects is awesome. (Well... it needs some performance improvements, but it'll get there eventually I think...)
Cappuccino seems to be the same way: you're not using it on a web page, rather you're building a Cappuccino app that just happens to use the web as its runtime environment.
In other words, ideally I don't want a JS version of Flex: it's own little walled garden. jQueryUI would be ideal if it were more complete, since it doesn't break with normal web development methods and paradigms. But if walled gardens are all there are, I'll live with it.
If you are looking for a RIA-Framework you shouldn't use jQuery(UI). Instead use one of the following frameworks.
Qooxdoo (www.qooxdoo.org): Pure Open-Source RIA-Framework with the most of the features of ExtJS. There were coming up some interessting new themes in the last weeks
Cappuccino (http://cappuccino.org): Nice framework with a nice GUI
ZK (http://www.zkoss.org/): ExtJS like RIA-Framework
SproutCore (http://www.sproutcore.com/): Apple-Style RIA-Framework
I undestand your pain - I use to got same - in ExtJS I saw only problems (those what you mentioned, and belive me much more others), however because I was a little forced to use it, I started to use it and I followed in love - It very complex and optimal solution for javascript driven apps.
You can go and look for alternatives like jQuery (I was there for 1 year), dojo, and others frameworks, but whoever says that they are better than ExtJS, he rather did not have ..... time to know ExtJS
It my very subjective opinion
I dont know much about PHP, and I am using ExtJS with ASP.Net MVC, they fit well. I wish I could use an integrated JS Widget set, but Jquery UI widget set was not rich enough when I last evaluated and I dont think it still is. But it is at least included in the last version of MVC.
My only complain about ExtJS would be the number of user extension controls that you need to use, I'd like to see those as part of ExtJS core widget set, but they are not, but still distributed with the library. ExtJS is a very nice fit for a cross-platform Rich Web Application. I would recommend trying ExtJS, I have really no complains about it other that what I already said above.

jQuery, Web Application Framework?

For the longest time I've used jQuery to hack together web sites. Now I'm interested in making a web application (one page load for the entire site to function, like Gmail).
Are there any jQuery Frameworks or practices that I can leverage to build my application so I don't have to recreate the wheel, or hack something together as I go?
Thanks
One of the (not so) many options is JavascriptMVC, which is pretty cool and I've used it for one midium-size project.
It's website is pretty discouraging, but give it a chance and watch the video. One possitive aspect is that it's creator always answers really fast in JMVC's google group.
But, actually, if I had to remake the project I mentioned, I would not use it, as jQuery provides (almost) all JMVC's functionality, you just have to get used to it. For an example in how to handle big apps with jQuery, I would recommend you to watch this video between others of Alex Sexton and other members of the yayQuery podcast.
I honestly don't know how someone could say jQuery provides almost all of JMVC's functionality. Yes, you can do a lot of similar things with jQuery, but you would have to write it an maintain it yourself.
Here's a quick list of what JavaScriptMVC provides that jQuery does not: (read more of them at http://jupiterjs.com/news/javascriptmvc-features)
Dependency Management
Building / Compression
Logging
Organized Folder Structures
Package Management
Code Cleaning
Functional Testing
Client Side Templates
A bunch of delegatable special events (drag-drop, hover, resize, etc)
A bunch of dom utilities
Language Extensions
An awesome widget factory
Documentation
Have you looked into Sammy.js? It's an mvc framework built on JQuery and is very beginner friendly. http://code.quirkey.com/sammy/

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