Wiki - click to go there; but read below info first
Firstly, Json2web is meant for Nim-programmers, not for end-users. It can be seen as a sample-application or small framework, that a programmer can use as a base to create an end-user-app. Therefore (besides code) no executable releases are delivered, which the programmer is supposed to compile him-/herself.
Json2web started originally as a set of nim-modules plus their implementation to make it easy to create web-controls, like checkboxes. Based on the principle of separation of concerns, the idea was to create a separate gui-definition in json, from which the gui is generated by specialized procedures. But actually only the complicated elements are generated, the simple ones can be put in project_inner.html. Before Json2web, in Readibl I used nim-constructs for the definition, but that was cumbersome.
The project has turned into some subprojects of increasing complexity to showcase those posibilities. The latest subproject is Datajson, which is a generalized database-form (based on Sqlite). The project exposes different options to do things that may or may not be usefull in different situations and could be usefull for learning-purposes.
The method to do this is that you start with a json-file in which you create the definition of the needed controls or web-elements, based on a template-json-file. In this template-definition all the possible controls are written, which you can alter or copy to accomodate you gui.
The json-file-technique is usable for databases, because a module can write data from the database to the json-definition-file (g_db2json.nim). In a following pass a html-table-element can be generated from the json-def (in g_html_json.nim).
There is a slight performance-penalty for using the json-intermediate stage (in stead of writing directly from database to html-code) but that seems small in comparison to the slowness of (a larger) database and the rendering of a html-table in the browser.
As said, Json2web showcases some subprojects in increasing difficulty and capabilities. This matches my own learning experience and curve. Not being an computer-science-academic I try options to make things work easily, which I lateron may substitute for better methods. I am inclined to keep the none-used options thoe, as sort of none-used junk-dna ;-)
After a project is finished I copy it to the subfolder subprojects, thus creating projects in increasing difficulty.
This repo makes use of generic files (g_somemodule.nim) and project-specific files (projectprefix_somefunction.nim). The generic files are used in all the projects. Currently available projects (prefixes) are hello, controls and scricon (scripted controls) and datajson; so for example you have controls_startup.nim to start the controls-project. Nimwebbie was a futurally planned project to create a web-gui-builder, but now I regard that project of lower priority.
Common components that are used are jester, moustachu (substitution-engine) and json.
Further code-review is forth-coming and will be presented in the wiki.
The hello-project is allways usefull to show a minimal project, thereby showing the minimal structure needed, on which further functions can be built.
This project shows the generation of some elaborate controls: select-element/combobox, checkbox and radiobox. A simple element like a button or texarea can be entered in project_inner.html directly; its simpleness and staticness makes it unnecessary to generate.
While Controls was a pure server-side approach, in Scricon javascript is used. Scricon is showing:
- how javascript is used in basic examples, especially event-code.
- how server-code can be run from javascript thru a technique i call the cookie-tunnel. Scricon does not show:
- advanced javascript-functions, like:
- setting a select from javascript. (the cookie-tunnel makes that a lower priority).
- setting other controls or elements from javascript.
The latest project is Datajson, which is a generalized database-form (based on Sqlite). To repeat: The json-file-technique is usable for databases, because a module can write data from the database to the json-definition-file (g_db2json.nim). In a following pass a html-table-element can be generated from the json-def (in g_html_json.nim).
The technique to run specific code is based on a textarea-element "curaction" in which the current action is set on basis of an event, like a button-click, and a submit is done. In the relevant route happens something like: if curaction == "save.." then save the record.
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install the components thru nimble:
- Jester; the web-server
- Moustachu; a substitution-engine
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learning-mode: choose a (sub)project that you want to test, starting with hello, then controls, scricon and datajson. Get the project by cloning or by downloading a release (forth-coming).
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creation-mode; copy the latest project, currently datajson, because the project has the latest updates. Older subprojects are not reversely updated. You get files of the form:
- g_somegenericmodule.nim
- project_somefunction.nim
- project.db
- project_inner.html
- project_outer.html
- project_gui.json
- /public/project_sheet.css
- /public/project_script.js
- /stored_gui_nodes/ use dir only when persistOnDisk is chosen
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update the path to the database in g_database.nim
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try to compile and run the code. When you decide you want to build something based on the code do the following:
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substitute your own projectname for the project (currently datajson) both in the filenames and for constants and variables and modules in the modules themselves.
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try to run it with the new names.
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look in the latest or earlier subprojects if you need info on certain functionalities.
Version 0.2