hyperscript-helpers
Terse syntax for hyperscript.
Less than 50 lines of code, taking your hyperscripting to the next level.
What is it
hyperscript-helpers elm-html inspired helpers for writing hyperscript or virtual-hyperscript.
They work with React.createElement
, but there is also a feature-rich hyperscript library for React:
react-hyperscript.
// instead of writing // write // instead of writing // write
hyperscript-helpers vs templates (including JSX)
With hyperscript-helpers:
- It's nice to use functional utilities like lodash, because it's just functions
- You get errors if you misspell a tag name, because they are function names
- You have a consistent syntax at all times, because markup is just functions
- Also, it's just functions
This is super helpful, especially when using hyperscript-helpers with Cycle.js!
See the supported TAG_NAMES
here: src/index.js.
Example
Suppose we have a list of menu items of:
{ title: String, id: Number }
and a function that returns attributes given an id:
{ return draggable: "true" "data-id": id ;}
How would we render these in plain hyperscript, JSX or with the helpers?
// plain hyperscript; // JSX<ul id="bestest-menu"> items</ul> // hyperscript-helpers;
How to use
npm install hyperscript-helpers
The hyperscript-helpers are hyperscript-agnostic, which means there are no dependencies. Instead, you need to pass the implementation when you import the helpers.
Using ES6 💖
const h = ; // or 'virtual-hyperscript'const div span h1 = h; // ← Notice the (h)
With React
// ✅ Preferredconst h = ;const React = ;const div span h1 = h; // ← Notice the (h) // Also works, but beware of the createElement APIconst React = ;const div span h1 = ReactcreateElement; // ← Notice the (React.createElement)
Using ES5
var h = ; // or 'virtual-hyperscript'var hh = h; // ← Notice the (h)// to use the short syntax, you need to introduce them to the current scopevar div = hhdiv span = hhspan h1 = hhh1;
Once that's done, you can go and use the terse syntax:
$ node▸ const div span h1 = ;◂ undefined ▸ outerHTML◂ '<span>😍</span>' ▸ outerHTML◂ '<h1 data-id="headline-6.1.2">Structural Weaknesses</h1>' ▸ outerHTML◂ '<div class="wrapper" id="with-proper-id"><h1>Heading</h1><span>Spanner</span></div>'
API
Because hyperscript-helpers are hyperscript-agnostic there is no "exact" API. But, just to give you a direction of what should be possible:
Where
selector
is string, starting with "." or "#".attrs
is an object of attributes.children
is a hyperscript node, an array of hyperscript nodes, a string or an array of strings.
hyperscript-helpers is a collection of wrapper functions, so the syntax of your exact hyperscript library (like virtual-hyperscript) still applies.
For example, for multiple classes:
// ... with Matt-Esch/virtual-dom/.../virtual-hyperscript; // ← separated by space!; // ← separated by dot!
Other hyperscript libraries may have other syntax conventions.
Potential issues
Selector shortcut
The selector shortcut (div('.my-class')
) may cause unexpected results in some cases. Our suggestion is:
Whenever you use tagName(<children>)
syntax and <children>
may be a string,
starting with .
(period) or #
(number sign), wrap the argument in []
.
// ✅ GOODfilenames; // <span>README.md</span><span>.gitignore</span> // ❌ BADfilenames; // <span>README.md</span><span class="gitignore"></span>
As most hyperscript is written by hand, we decided keep this convenient shortcut despite the issue.
Logic in class names
If you need to apply logic rules for class generation,
we recommend using libraries like classnames
for making proper {className: ...}
argument.
Not recommended:
; // ← may be a trap, because:; // ← this one is wrong
Tools
html-to-hyperscript.paqmind.com – webservice to convert HTML to hyperscript
Contributing
To get set up, simply clone the repository, navigate to the directory on your terminal and do the following:
# install dependencies npm install # build the project npm start # run tests npm test # commit your changes with commitizen npm run commit# or "git cz", if you have commitizen in your PATH
The source code can be found under the src
directory, and the built file is under dist
.
Tests are written with Mocha, using the awesome JSVerify library.
hyperscript-helpers is brought to you by @ohanhi.
License: MIT