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Alert: this library is now deprecated. s2 is its successor. It implements what simulacra does in a better way (using Proxy), and more.

Simulacra.js

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Simulacra.js returns a DOM Node that updates in reaction to mutations in a JavaScript object. Get it from npm:

$ npm i simulacra --save

Synopsis

Simulacra.js returns a DOM Node that updates when an object changes. Its API is a single function, and it does not introduce any new syntax or a template language. It recursively adds metaprogramming features to vanilla data structures to work.

It is a fairly low cost abstraction, though it may not be quite as fast as hand-optimized code. The approximate size of this library is ~5 KB (minified and gzipped).

Usage

Simulacra.js uses plain HTML for templating, and it does not introduce its own template language. This makes it straightforward to start with a static HTML page and add interactive parts. Here's a sample template:

<template id="product">
  <h1 class="name"></h1>
  <div class="details">
    <div><span class="size"></span></div>
    <h4 class="vendor"></h4>
  </div>
</template>

Using the <template> tag is optional, any DOM element will suffice. The shape of the state is important since it has a straightforward mapping to the DOM, and arrays are iterated over to output multiple DOM elements. Here's some sample state:

var state = {
  name: 'Pumpkin Spice Latte',
  details: {
    size: [ 'Tall', 'Grande', 'Venti' ],
    vendor: 'Coffee Co.'
  }
}

Simulacra.js exports only a single function, which binds an object to the DOM. The first argument must be a singular object, and the second argument is a data structure that defines the bindings. The definition must be a CSS selector string, change function or definition object (parent binding only), or an array with at most three elements:

var bindObject = require('simulacra') // or `window.simulacra`
var template = document.getElementById('product')

var node = bindObject(state, [ template, {
  name: '.name',
  details: [ '.details', {
    size: '.size',
    vendor: '.vendor'
  } ]
} ])

document.body.appendChild(node)

The DOM will update if any of the bound keys are assigned a different value, or if any Array.prototype methods on the value are invoked. Arrays and single values may be used interchangeably, the only difference is that Simulacra.js will iterate over array values.

Change Function

By default, the value will be assigned to the element's textContent property (or value or checked for inputs). A user-defined change function may be passed for arbitrary element manipulation, and its return value determines the new textContent, value, or checked attribute if it is not applied on a definition object. The change function may be passed as the second or third position, it has the signature (element, value, previousValue, path):

To manipulate an element in a custom way, one may define a change function like so:

[ selector, function (element, value, previousValue) {
  // Attach listeners before inserting a DOM Node.
  if (previousValue === null)
    element.addEventListener('click', function () {
      alert('clicked')
    })

  return 'Hi ' + value + '!'
} ]

A change function can be determined to be an insert, mutate, or remove operation based on whether the value or previous value is null:

There are some special cases for the change function:

Helper Functions

Simulacra.js includes some built-in helper functions for common use cases, such as event listening and animations. They are optionalto use, and are opt-in functionality. To use them, one can define a change function like so:

var bindObject = require('simulacra')

// This is a Symbol used to signal that an element should be retained
// in the DOM after its value is unset.
var retainElement = bindObject.retainElement

// Helpers are convenience functions for common features, optional to use.
var helpers = require('simulacra/helpers')
var animate = helpers.animate
var bindEvents = helpers.bindEvents

// Accepts a hash keyed by event names, using this has the advantage of
// automatically removing event listeners, even if the element is still
// in the DOM. The optional second argument is `useCapture`.
var bindFn = bindEvents({
  // The first argument is the DOM event, second is the path.
  click: function (event, path) {
    event.target.classList.toggle('alternate')
  }
})

// Accepts class names on insert, mutate, and remove, and a time in ms for
// how long to retain an element after removal.
var animateFn = animate('fade-in', 'bounce', 'fade-out', 1500)

function change (node, value) {
  animateFn.apply(null, arguments)
  bindFn.apply(null, arguments)
  return value || retainElement
}

Server-Side Rendering

Simulacra.js includes an optimized string rendering function. It implements a subset of Simulacra.js and the DOM, but it should work for most common use cases.

const render = require('simulacra/render')

const state = { message: 'Hello world!' }
const binding = { message: 'h1' }
const template = '<h1></h1>'

// The first call to `render` will process the template.
render(state, binding, template)

// Subsequent calls do not need the template anymore.
console.log(render(state, binding))

This will print the string <h1>Hello world!</h1> to stdout.

The DOM API in Node.js can also work, it should be called within the context of the window global, however this may be optional in some implementations. In the following example, Domino is used as the DOM implementation.

const domino = require('domino')
const bindObject = require('simulacra')

const window = domino.createWindow('<h1></h1>')
const $ = bindObject.bind(window)
const state = { message: 'Hello world!' }
const binding = [ 'body', { message: 'h1' } ]

console.log($(state, binding).innerHTML)

This will also print the string <h1>Hello world!</h1> to stdout.

Rehydrating from Server Rendered Page

Simulacra.js also allows server-rendered DOM to be re-used or rehydrated. The main function accepts an optional third argument for this purpose:

const bindObject = require('simulacra')

const state = { /* the state must be populated beforehand */ }
const binding = [ ... ]

// Rehydrate from existing DOM Node.
const node = document.querySelector(...)

bindObject(state, binding, node)

Instead of returning a new Node, it will return the Node that was passed in, so it's not necessary to manually append the return value to the DOM. All change functions will be run so that event binding can happen, but return values will be ignored. If the Node could not be rehydrated properly, it will throw an error.

Benchmarks

There are a few benchmarks implemented with Simulacra.js:

Philosophy

The namesake of this library comes from Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation. The mental model it provides is that the user interface is a first order simulacrum, or a faithful representation of state.

Its design is motivated by this quote:

"It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than 10 functions on 10 data structures." —Alan Perlis

Simulacra.js does data binding differently:

What Simulacra.js does is capture the intent of state changes, so it is important to use the correct semantics. Using state.details = { ... } is different from Object.assign(state.details, { ... }), the former will assume that the entire object changed and remove and append a new element, while the latter will re-use the same element and check the differences in the key values. For arrays, it is almost always more efficient to use the proper array mutator methods (push, splice, pop, etc). This is also important for implementing animations, since it determines whether elements are created, updated, or removed.

Nodes are updated if and only if their values change, that is each value has a 1:1 correspondence to the DOM. Generally, elements should be rendered based on their value alone, external inputs should be avoided.

How it Works

On initialization, Simulacra.js replaces bound elements from the template with empty text nodes (markers) for memoizing their positions. Based on a value in the bound state object, it clones template elements and applies the change function on the cloned elements, and appends them near the marker or adjacent nodes.

When a bound key is assigned, it gets internally casted into an array if it is not an array already, and the values of the array are compared with previous values. Based on whether a value at an index has changed, Simulacra.js will remove, insert, or mutate a DOM element corresponding to the value. Array mutator methods are overridden with optimized implementations, which are faster and simpler than diffing changes between DOM trees.

Caveats

Under the Hood

This library requires these JavaScript features:

It also makes use of these DOM API features:

No shims are included. The bare minimum should be IE9, which has object property support.

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License

This software is licensed under the MIT license.