velement

A minimal DOM renderer for legacy browsers

Usage

With JavaScript:

import VirtualElement, { appendChildren, createElement } from 'velement';

class JSDiv extends VirtualElement {
  constructor(element) {
    super(element || 'div');
    this.element.innerHTML = 'VirtualDivElement';
  }
}

const container = document.createElement('div');

const htmlElement = createElement('div', null);
htmlElement.innerHTML = `HTMLDivElement`;
const virtualElement = createElement(JSDiv, {});

appendChildren(container, 'TextNode', htmlElement, virtualElement);

Then with TypeScript:

import VirtualElement, { appendChildren, createElement } from 'velement';

class TSDiv extends VirtualElement<HTMLDivElement> {
  public constructor(element: HTMLDivElement | null) {
    super(element || 'div');
    this.element.innerHTML = 'VirtualDivElement';
  }
}

declare module 'velement' {
  function createElement(type: typeof TSDiv, props: {}, ...children: Child[]): TSDiv;
}

const container = document.createElement('div');

const htmlElement = createElement('div', null);
htmlElement.innerHTML = `HTMLDivElement`;
const virtualElement = createElement(TSDiv, {});

appendChildren(container, 'TextNode', htmlElement, virtualElement);

Container element will be rendered like:

<div>
  TextNode
  <div>
    HTMLDivElement
  </div>
  <div>
    VirtualDivElement
  </div>
</div>

Install

Just run npm install @blue-hood/velement or yarn add @blue-hood/velement.

Source

src/index.ts

The transpiled code for ES3 target ES2015 Modules is located at dist/.

VirtualElement class

VirtualElements are wrapper elements of HTML elements. Typically, a minimum VirtualElement with HTMLDivElement is defined as:

import VirtualElement from 'velement';

class TSDiv extends VirtualElement<HTMLDivElement> {
  public constructor(element: HTMLDivElement | null) {
    super(element || 'div');
    this.element.innerHTML = 'VirtualDivElement';
  }
}

new TSDiv(null);

Then, the constructor can have properties. The inner HTML element can be accessed through this.element.

import VirtualElement from 'velement';

interface TextDivProps {
  text: string;
}

class TextDiv extends VirtualElement<HTMLDivElement> {
  public constructor(element: HTMLDivElement | null, props: TextDivProps) {
    super(element || 'div');

    this.element.innerHTML = props.text;
  }
}

new TextDiv(null, {
  text: 'VirtualDivElement. '
});

VirtualElement also can be rendered to existing element.

const div = document.createElement('div');
new TextDiv(div, {
  text: 'VirtualDivElement. '
});

Utility methods

createElement

interface Attributes {
  [name: string]: any;
}
type Child = HTMLElement | VirtualElement | string;

export function createElement<HElement extends HTMLElement>(
  type: keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap,
  props: Attributes | null,
  ...children: Child[]
): HElement;

export function createElement<VElement extends VirtualElement, Props>(
  type: { new (element: null, props: Props): VElement },
  props: Props,
  ...children: Child[]
): VElement;

Create HTML element or VirtualElement with properties. And render children to the inner element, this is equal to appendChildren function.

ex. HTMLDivElement

import { createElement } from 'velement';

createElement(
  'div',
  {
    style: `
    color: red;
  `
  },
  'HTMLDivElement. '
);

ex. VirtualElement

import VirtualElement, { createElement } from 'velement';

interface ColorDivProps {
  color: string;
}

class ColorDiv extends VirtualElement<HTMLDivElement> {
  public constructor(element: HTMLDivElement | null, props: ColorDivProps) {
    super(element || 'div');

    this.element.style.color = props.color;
  }
}

declare module 'velement' {
  function createElement(type: typeof ColorDiv, props: ColorDivProps, ...children: Child[]): ColorDiv;
}

createElement(
  ColorDiv,
  {
    color: 'red'
  },
  'VirtualDivElement. '
);

appendChildren

type Child = HTMLElement | VirtualElement | string;

function appendChildren(element: HTMLElement, ...children: Child[]): void;

Append children - HTML element, VirtualElement, text - to HTML element.

ex.

import VirtualElement, { appendChildren, createElement } from 'velement';

class TSDiv extends VirtualElement<HTMLDivElement> {
  public constructor(element: HTMLDivElement | null) {
    super(element || 'div');
    this.element.innerHTML = 'VirtualDivElement';
  }
}

declare module 'velement' {
  function createElement(type: typeof TSDiv, props: {}, ...children: Child[]): TSDiv;
}

const container = document.createElement('div');

const htmlElement = createElement('div', null);
htmlElement.innerHTML = `HTMLDivElement`;

appendChildren(container, createElement(TSDiv, {}), htmlElement, 'TextNode. ');