===============================
Frontend development guidelines
===============================

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1

   templating
   assets
   template-tutorial
   template-blocks
   javascript-module-tutorial

-----------------------------
Install frontend dependencies
-----------------------------

The front end stylesheets are written using `Sass <https://sass-lang.com/>`_
(this depends on `node.js <http://nodejs.org/>`_ being installed on the system)
and compiled using `Gulp <https://gulpjs.com/>`_.

Instructions for installing |nodejs| can be found on the |nodejs| `website
<http://nodejs.org/>`_. Please check the ones relevant to your own distribution

On Ubuntu, run the following to install |nodejs| official repository and the node
package::

    curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo -E bash -
    sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

.. note:: If you use the package on the default Ubuntu repositories (eg ``sudo apt-get install nodejs``),
    the node binary will be called ``nodejs``. This will prevent the CKAN Sass script to
    work properly, so you will need to create a link to make it work::

        ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node

    For more information, refer to the |nodejs| `instructions
    <https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#debian-and-ubuntu-based-linux-distributions>`_.

Latest instructions for installing Gulp can be found on the `Gulp website
<https://gulpjs.com/>`_. In most scenarios, it can be installed globally::

  npm install --global gulp-cli

Dependencies can then be installed via the node package manager (npm).
``cd`` into the CKAN source folder (eg |virtualenv|/src/ckan ) and run::

  npm ci

.. note:: If Gulp is missing, you'll see the following output::

       $ npm ci

       > ckan@1.0.0 postinstall
       > gulp updateVendorLibs

       sh: line 1: gulp: command not found
       ...

   Install Gulp using `official documentation <https://gulpjs.com/>`_ and run
   ``npm ci`` again.

.. note:: Prefer using ``npm ci`` instead of ``npm install``. The former
          command always installs exact versions of dependencies from the
          `package-lock.json`, produces predictable state of application and
          does not change `package.json` or `package-lock.json`. ``npm
          install`` may override `package-lock.json`, producing undesirable
          changes and does not guarantee that all the dependencies will be
          exactly the same as ones, specified in `package-lock.json`.


--------------
File structure
--------------

All front-end files to be served via a web server are located in the
``public`` directory (in the case of the new CKAN base theme it's
``public/base``).

::

    css/
      main.css
    scss/
      main.scss
      _ckan.scss
      ...
    javascript/
      main.js
      utils.js
      components/
      ...
    vendor/
      jquery.js
      jquery.plugin.js
      underscore.js
      bootstrap.css
      ...

All files and directories should be lowercase with hyphens used to
separate words.

css
    Should contain any site specific CSS files including compiled
    production builds generated by Sass.
scss
    Should contain all the scss files for the site. Additional vendor
    styles should be added to the *vendor* directory and included in
    main.scss.
javascript
    Should contain all website files. These can be structured
    appropriately. It is recommended that *main.js* be used as the
    bootstrap filename that sets up the page.
vendor
    Should contain all external dependencies. These should not contain
    version numbers in the filename. This information should be
    available in the header comment of the file. Library plugins should
    be prefixed with the library name. If a dependency has many files
    (such as bootstrap) then the entire directory should be included as
    distributed by the maintainer.

-----------
Stylesheets
-----------

Because all the stylesheets are using Sass we need to compile them
before beginning development by running:

::

    $ npm run watch

This will watch for changes to all of the scss files and automatically
rebuild the CSS for you. To quit the script press ``ctrl-c``. If you
need sourcemaps for debugging, set `DEBUG` environment variable. I.e::

  $ DEBUG=1 npm run watch

There are many Sass files which attempt to group the styles in useful
groups. The main two are:

main.scss:
    This contains *all* the styles for the website including
    dependencies and local styles. The only files that are excluded here
    are those that are conditionally loaded such as IE only CSS and large
    external apps (like some preview plugins) that only appear on a single
    page.
ckan.scss:
    This includes all the local ckan stylesheets.

.. Note::
    Whenever a CSS change effects ``main.scss`` it's important than after
    the merge into master that a ``$ npm run build`` should be
    run and committed.

There is a basic pattern primer available at:
http://localhost:5000/testing/primer/ that shows all the main page
elements that make up the CKAN core interface.

----------
JavaScript
----------

The core of the CKAN JavaScript is split up into three areas.

-  Core (such as i18n, pub/sub and API clients)
-  Modules (small HTML components or widgets)
-  jQuery Plugins (very small reusable components)

Core
====

Everything in the CKAN application lives on the ``ckan`` namespace.
Currently there are four main components that make up the core.

- Modules
- Publisher/Subscriber
- Client
- i18n/Jed

Modules
=======

Modules are the core of the CKAN website, every component that is
interactive on the page should be a module. These are then initialized
by including a ``data-module`` attribute on an element on the page. For
example::

    <select name="format" data-module="autocomplete"></select>

The idea is to create small isolated components that can easily be
tested. They should ideally not use any global objects, all
functionality should be provided to them via a "sandbox" object.

There is a global factory that can be used to create new modules and
jQuery and Localisation methods are available via
``this.sandbox.jQuery`` and ``this.sandbox.translate()`` respectively.
To save typing these two common objects we can take advantage of
JavaScript closures and use an alternative module syntax that accepts a
factory function.

::

    ckan.module('my-module', function (jQuery) {
      return {
        initialize: function () {
          // Called when a module is created.
          // jQuery and translate are available here.
        },
        teardown: function () {
          // Called before a module is removed from the page.
        }
      }
    });

.. note::

   A guide on creating your own modules is located in the
   :doc:`javascript-module-tutorial` guide.

Publisher/subscriber
====================

There is a simple pub/sub module included under ``ckan.pubsub`` it's
methods are available to modules via
``this.sandbox.publish/subscribe/unsubscribe``. This can be used to
publish messages between modules.

Modules should use the publish/subscribe methods to talk to each other
and allow different areas of the UI to update where relevant.

::

    ckan.module('language-picker', function (jQuery) {
      return {
        initialize: function () {
          var sandbox = this.sandbox;
          this.el.on('change', function () {
            sandbox.publish('change:lang', this.selected);
          });
        }
      }
    });

    ckan.module('language-notifier', function (jQuery) {
      return {
        initialize: function () {
          this.sandbox.subscribe('change:lang', function (lang) {
            alert('language is now ' + lang);
          });
        }
      }
    });

Client
======

Ideally no module should use jQuery.ajax() to make XHR requests to the
CKAN API, all functionality should be provided via the client object.

::

    ckan.module('my-module', function (jQuery) {
      return {
        initialize: function () {
          this.sandbox.client.getCompletions(this.options.completionsUrl);
        }
      }
    });


Internationalization
====================

See :ref:`javascript_i18n`.


Life cycle
==========

CKAN modules are initialised on dom ready. The ``ckan.module.initialize()``
will look for all elements on the page with a ``data-module`` attribute and
attempt to create an instance.

::

    <select name="format" data-module="autocomplete" data-module-key="id"></select>

The module will be created with the element, any options object extracted
from ``data-module-*`` attributes and a new sandbox instance.

Once created the modules ``initialize()`` method will be called allowing
the module to set themselves up.

Modules should also provide a ``teardown()`` method this isn't used at
the moment except in the unit tests to restore state but may become
useful in the future.


jQuery plugins
==============

Any functionality that is not directly related to ckan should be
packaged up in a jQuery plug-in if possible. This keeps the modules
containing only ckan specific code and allows plug-ins to be reused on
other sites.

Examples of these are ``jQuery.fn.slug()``, ``jQuery.fn.slugPreview()``
and ``jQuery.proxyAll()``.

Unit tests
==========

Every core component, module and plugin should have a set of unit tests.
Tests can be filtered using the ``grep={regexp}`` query string
parameter.

Each file has a description block for it's top level object and then within
that a nested description for each method that is to be tested::

    describe('ckan.module.MyModule()', function () {
      describe('.initialize()', function () {
        it('should do something...', function () {
          // assertions.
        });
      });

      describe('.myMethod(arg1, arg2, arg3)', function () {
      });
    });

The ```.beforeEach()``` and ```.afterEach()``` callbacks can be used to setup
objects for testing (all blocks share the same scope so test variables can
be attached)::

    describe('ckan.module.MyModule()', function () {
      before(() => {
          // Open CKAN front page
          cy.visit('/');

          // Pull the class out of the registry.
          cy.window().then(win => {
            // make module available as this.MyModule
            cy.wrap(win.ckan.module.registry['my-module']).as('MyModule');
            win.jQuery('<div id="fixture">').appendTo(win.document.body)
          })
        });

      beforeEach(function () {
        // window object is needed to access the javascript objects
        cy.window().then(win => {
          // Create a test element.
          this.el = win.jQuery('<div />');

          // Create a test sandbox.
          this.sandbox = win.ckan.sandbox();

          // Create a test module.
          this.module = new this.MyModule(this.el, {}, this.sandbox);
        });
      });

      afterEach(function () {
        // Clean up.
        this.module.teardown();
      });
    });