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Orion/Library Independence
For Orion 2.0, we are investigating client side implementations that do not depend on a particular javascript library, and instead use raw HTML5/CSS3 constructs where possible.
At the DOM manipulation level, this is made largely possible by our adoption of IE10 for Orion 2.0, since it includes many HTML5 features that were not available in in IE9. Since we no longer need to rely on shims and other workarounds for missing features, we should be able to use the browser native API for things like events, CSS class manipulation, etc.
For UI components, or widgets, that we need in the UI, we will look at existing small, library-independent implementations of the functionality, as well as considering our own implementation. Any custom implementations should be as small/simplified as possible, satisfying Orion use cases but not starting out with the intention to be an independently consumable component.
This document outlines what would be needed to reduce or eliminate our dependence on dojo in favor of these other approaches.
Advantages of library independence
- Orion consumers wish to make their own choices regarding JavaScript libraries and UI plugins, and do not wish to bring in other libraries (such as dojo) when they depend on a different library.
- Orion consumers who use the same libraries as us (such as dojo) wish to switch versions at their own pace.
- Size reduction and performance improvements as we eliminate library methods that are already available in the browser, as well as eliminating JavaScript and CSS code that we no longer need.
- Simplified learning curve for consumers
- theming doesn't require understanding of a separate library/widget level theming mechanism
- we don't force consumers to learn multiple conventions/life cycles in the UI (dijit lifecycle vs. Orion, dijit layout vs. raw CSS, etc.).
Existing dependencies and proposed replacements
The remainder of this document categorizes our dependencies and gives status on the replacement candidates.
DOM manipulation
We extensively use the dojo.* utility methods. Many of these are now available in our supported browser set. The following list shows method usage and replacement. A small library (orion/webui/littlelib) implements a few methods. Examples referring to "lib" are using this module.
- dojo.byId
document.getElementById(id); lib.node(id); // when you aren't sure if you have an id or node, useful for inbound API calls
- dojo.query
element.querySelector(selector, parentNode); element.querySelectorAll(selector, parentNode); lib.$(selector, parentNode); // one node lib.$$(selector, parentNode); // node list lib.$$array(selector.parentNode); // array of nodes
- dojo.addClass, removeClass, toggleClass
element.classList.add('class'); // one at a time element.classList.remove('class'); element.classList.contains('class'); element.classList.toggle('class');
- dojo.connect/disconnect
element.addEventListener/removeEventListener
- dojo.style
element.style.visibility = "hidden"; element.style.left = "1px";
- dojo.place
For node placement, use the addChild/appendChild/insertBefore DOM equivalents. If placing HTML, use innerHTML, parse HTML with a document fragment, or convert to dynamic DOM node creation when security is an issue.
(See bug bug 392469 for security discussion).
- dojo.create
var element = document.createElement("a"); // good old dom API element.tabIndex = 0; // set the properties directly if they were used in the create api element.setAttribute("aria-label", "foo"); // set attributes when there is not a browser standard property
- dojo.position
lib.bounds
- dojo.empty
lib.empty
- dojo.attr, removeAttr
element.setAttribute(); element.getAttribute();
General JavaScript utilities
- dojo.hitch
this.myFunction.bind(this); // when referring to a function by name var self = this; window.setTimeout(function() { self.update(); }, 0); // bind "this" to a variable when creating an anonymous function
- dojo.keys constants
lib.KEY.SPACE;
hash and hash change
- dojo.hash
// window.location.hash contains the # whereas dojo.hash() did not window.addEventListener("hashchange", function() { window.location.hash; }, false);
i18n utilities
- dojo.string substitution
i18nUtil.formatMessage("this has ${0} parameters ${1}", "one", "two"); // note that it's not an array like dojo.string.substitute
- formatting strings
someDate.toLocaleString(); someNumber.toLocaleString();
Deferred / Promise support
- dojo.Deferred
use orion.Deferred. Note that you should use resolve, not callback. And reject, not errback.
- dojo.DeferredList
Deferred.all(promises, function(error) {return error; }).then(function(resultsArray) {}); // note that you MUST have an error handler argument or else the promises will not be processed after an error is found. // the results array has either the result or whatever you returned in the error function.
dijit Menu support
dijit Dialogs
See Programming an Orion Dialog for detailed information about Orion dialogs and templates.
dijit Layout support
- Replace common page use of dijit BorderContainer, ContentPane, Splitter
- Settings page uses custom dijit layouts
- Some pages (compare, search replace) use internal dijit layout such as BorderContainer
Orion custom dijits
- domain-specific widgets don't need a framework, replace with application level code
- plugin related widgets (plugin entry, plugin list, service carousel)
- site editor
- settings layout widgets replaced with CSS/splitter (SettingsContainer, SplitSelectionLayout)
- settings custom field widgets (TextField, Select, Toggles, Buttoms) replaced with HTML5 dom elements
- settings section moved to existing Orion section support
move unused dijit-based experiments out of orion repository
- plugin maker