dowels
v1.1.2
Published
a tiny but powerful web framework that performs routing and templating to help you get your single-page web applications running in seconds without having to learn huge fancy frameworks.
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Maintainers
jaredreichReadme
dowels is a tiny but powerful javascript library that performs client-side routing, templating, and REST API communication to help you get your single-page web applications running in seconds without having to learn huge fancy frameworks like Angular, React, etc. Demo: https://jaredreich.com/projects/dowels
Features
- Pure JavaScript (no dependencies)
- Tiny size (4kB minified)
- Easy and intuitive routing (Express style, supports parameters and wildcards)
- Simple and fast (caching) template rendering (Embedded JavaScript style)
- Handy HTTP request helpers
Browser support
- IE 10+
- Firefox 4+
- Chrome 5+
- Safari 6+
- Opera 11.5+
Installation
HTML:
<body>
...
<script src="/path/to/dowels.js"></script>
</body>npm:
npm install dowelsbower:
bower install dowelsImportant requirement: your server must allow a changing URL path
This means that your main application URL path (example.com/app) and any other subsequent URL paths (example.com/app/*) must always route to the main index.html file.
How to achieve this:
Node.js & Express
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.get(['/app', '/app/*'], function(req, res) {
res.sendFile('index.html', { root: __dirname + '/public' });
});Apache & .htaccess
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*) /index.html [NC,L]NGINX
server {
...
location /app/ {
/path/to/index.html
}
}Usage
dowels.config({
root: '/projects/dowels', // root path of your app
containerId: 'app', // HTML container of your app's content
titleBase: 'dowels: app', // base of HTML title for tabs/favorites/history
apiBase: 'https://jaredreich.com/api/todos', // base of API endpoint for requests
onLoadStart: function() {
document.getElementById('loader').style.display = 'block';
},
onLoadStop: function() {
document.getElementById('loader').style.display = 'none';
}
});
dowels.add('/', function() {
dowels.render('app-template-home');
});
dowels.add('/todos', function() {
dowels.renderAfterRequest('app-template-todos', {
method: 'get',
endpoint: '/todos'
}, 'todos');
});
dowels.add('/todos/:id', function(parameters) {
dowels.renderAfterRequest('app-template-todo', {
endpoint: '/todos' + '/' + parameters.id
}, 'todo');
});
dowels.add('/*', function() {
dowels.redirect('/');
});
dowels.initialize();<body>
...
<!-- Templates -->
<script id="app-template-home" type="text/html">
<h1>home page!</h1>
<button onclick="dowels.route('/todos');">view todos</button>
</script>
<script id="app-template-todos" type="text/html">
<button onclick="dowels.route('/')">← back home</button>
<br>
<input id="todoInput" type="text" placeholder="add a todo">
<button onclick="addTodo(document.getElementById('todoInput').value)">+ add</button>
<# if (todos.length > 0) { #>
<ul id="collection-todos">
<#
for (var i = 0; i < todos.length; i++) {
var todo = todos[i];
#>
<li><span onclick="dowels.route('/todos/' + '<#= todo.id #>')" style="cursor:pointer;text-decoration:underline;"><#= todo.text #></span><button style="padding:0;height:20px;margin-left:10px;" onclick="removeTodo('<#= todo.id #>');">x</button></li>
<# } #>
</ul>
<# } else { #>
<h3>nothing to do!</h3>
<# } #>
</script>
<script id="app-template-test" type="text/html">
<h3>todo selected: <#= todo.text #></h3>
</script>
<script id="app-template-todo" type="text/html">
<button onclick="dowels.route('/todos')">← back to todo list</button>
<# if (err) { #>
<h3><#= err #></h3>
<# } else { #>
<# include app-template-test #>
<# } #>
</script>
<script src="/path/to/dowels.js"></script>
<script>
function addTodo(text) {
document.getElementById('todoInput').value = '';
var data = {
text: text
}
dowels.request({
method: 'post',
endpoint: '/todos',
body: data
}, function(res) {
dowels.renderAfterRequest('app-template-todos', {
method: 'get',
endpoint: '/todos'
}, 'todos');
});
}
function removeTodo(id) {
dowels.request({
method: 'delete',
endpoint: '/todos/' + id
}, function(res) {
dowels.renderAfterRequest('app-template-todos', {
method: 'get',
endpoint: '/todos'
}, 'todos');
});
}
</script>
</body>Configuration and Options
dowels.config({
// use hash in url instead of hard url
// default = true
// ***NOTE*** see important requirement above if hash is set to false
hash: true,
// root path of your app
// default = '/'
root: '/app',
// HTML container of your app's content
// default = 'app'
containerId: 'app-content',
// base of HTML title for tabs/favorites/history
// default = document.title
titleBase: 'dowels: app',
// base of API endpoint for requests
// default = document.location.protocol + '//' + document.location.hostname + '/api';
apiBase: 'https://dowels.io/api',
// your choice of delimiter for the EJS style templating
// default = '#'
delimiter: '#',
// runs when HTTP requests are in progress
// default = function(){}
onLoadStart: function() {
document.getElementById('loader').style.display = 'block';
},
// runs when HTTP requests change state
// default = function(){}
onLoadUpdate: function(percent) {
document.getElementById('loader').style.width = percent + '%';
},
// runs when HTTP requests are in finished
// default = function(){}
onLoadStop: function() {
document.getElementById('loader').style.display = 'none';
}
});To-do
- custom delimiter (ex. #, %, etc...)
- tests + coverage
- hash option for routing
- more control over changing of document.title while routing