edit_in_place
is a Ruby gem that facilitates the creation of user interfaces that allow the user to edit content "in place" in a natural way. edit_in_place
aims to be:
- Flexible. Everything has been designed with extensibility in mind. The
edit_in_place
core (this repository) can be extended for a huge variety of use cases. - Reliable. Every aspect of the plugin is thoroughly tested and documented.
- Natural. Coding with
edit_in_place
is just as natural as editing content with it is! We think you'll really enjoy working with theedit_in_place
API.
edit_in_place
is a Ruby gem. If you use Bundler, you may install it by adding it to your Gemfile
, like so:
gem 'edit_in_place'
And then execute:
$ bundle install
Or you may install it manually with:
$ gem install edit_in_place
edit_in_place
currently has two dependencies: activesupport
and middlegem
. The only extension required from activesupport
is Hash#deep_merge
.
edit_in_place
is—at the most fundamental level—a tool to render content in different modes.
This begins with the concept of a field, which is a single, self-contained piece of modal content. Given the same input, but different modes, a field can be rendered differently. This functionality could be used in a variety of cases, but is especially useful for creating "editable content". As an example, imagine that we have built a static website. On that website, we would like to allow the owner to modify certain parts of it. The way we would approach this with edit_in_place
is to make each editable portion of the page a field. Then, when the site is being viewed by a visitor, we render all the fields in a :viewing
mode, but when being edited by the owner, an :editing
mode. Each field is then rendered differently, given the appropriate mode. A "text" field, for example, might render plain text in a :viewing
mode, but some kind of text input in an :editing
mode.
A field type is a subclass of EditInPlace::FieldType
that is essentially a template for a field. Given various options, including a mode, it is in charge of actually rendering the field.
To render a field, the EditInPlace::Builder#field
method is used. Given a field type, field options, and an input, it will merge the field options with the default ones, transform the input as appropriate, and use the FieldType
to render the content, returning the result. This is where the flexibility of edit_in_place
begins to reveal itself: you see, the "input" given to #field
is completely arbitrary! In other words, you can set up field types to accept whatever input they need to render the field. That means that you have virtually limitless options for how exactly you acquire and save editable data—edit_in_place
doesn't care.
Furthermore, edit_in_place
has the concept of field "middlewares". You can pass middlewares (middlegem
is used for middlewares) to #field
that can arbitrarily transform its input. This can be used for a host of things—transforming the data, validating the input, adding arguments to the input based on context, or really anything you want.
Of course, with this power comes significant verbosity. With only the edit_in_place
core, you would need to set everything up yourself. However, in many cases, editable content with edit_in_place
follows a fairly set pattern: "models" (not necessarily ActiveRecord ones) store editable attribtues; an edit_in_place
field corresponds to one (or occasionally more) attributes; and the "editable" version of a field is a form input which allows the data to be saved back to a data store. For this functionality, see the edit_in_place
extension models_in_place
.
A fair amount of configuration is required to get started with edit_in_place
if you're not using models_in_place
. The first step is to define some field types, which provide templates for generated fields. This can be done by extended the FieldType
class and doing one of the following:
- Overriding the
render
method, which is called regardless of the mode. - Relying on the default
render
implementation, and overriding one of therender_*
that it will call. Here are a few examples:
# text_field_type.rb
class TextFieldType < EditInPlace::FieldType
protected
def render_viewing(mode, name, value)
"<p>#{value}</p>"
end
def render_editing(mode, name, value)
"<input type='text' value='#{value}' name='#{name]' />"
end
end
# boolean_field_type.rb
class DummyFieldtype < EditInPlace::FieldType
def render(mode, *)
"You are currently #{mode} the webpage!"
end
end
Notice that the render
method is passed a mode parameter. Also note how render_viewing
and render_editing
will be called according to the current mode. If you want to define a render_*
method for a different mode, you'll need to override the supported_modes
method, like so:
class LockedField
protected
def render_viewing(*)
'You are viewing this field!'
end
def render_editing(*)
'You are editing this field!'
end
def render_admin_editing(*)
'You are editing this field as an admin!'
end
def supported_modes
[:viewing, :editing:, :admin_editing]
end
end
Attempts to call render
with a mode that is not in supported_modes
will result in an EditInPlace::UnsupportedModeError
, even if the field type has a corresponding render_*
method.
As mentioned earlier, one of the aims of edit_in_place
is to be natural for the developer. Thus, in the interests of convenience, edit_in_place
allows you to "register" field types with a name, making them easier to use. We might register our "text" field type, for example, like this:
EditInPlace.configure do |c|
c.field_types.register :text, TextFieldType.new
end
Now this:
<%= @builder.field TextFieldType.new, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
Becomes:
<%= @builder.field :text, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
Note that field type names must be symbols—strings are not allowed. Also note that duplicate registrations are not alowed and will raise an EditInPlace::DuplicateRegistrationError
.
Another convenient feature is that you may use or register field type classes whose constructor has no parameters. For example:
@builder.config.field_types.register :image, ImageFieldType
<%= @builder.field TextFieldType, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
<%= @builder.field :image, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
Equivalent to:
<%= @builder.field TextFieldType.new, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
<%= @builder.field ImageFieldType.new, 'contact_name', 'Jacob' %>
The next step is creating and using an EditInPlace::Builder
instance. A builder always has an EditInPlace::Configuration
instance that contains all its options and context. When a builder is first instantiated, its configuration is copied from the global EditInPlace
configuration. Thus, you can set any global configuration options using EditInPlace.config
or EditInPlace.configure
, and all builders with use those options by default. For example:
EditInPlace.configure do |c|
c.field_options.mode = :editing
end
This would make editing the default mode. Then, you can modify builder-specific configuration using Builder#config
or Builder#configure
, like so:
@builder = Builder.new # current mode is :editing
@builder.config.field_options.mode = :viewing # switched to :viewing
Both EditInPlace.config
and Builder#config
are EditInPlace::Configuration
instances, so you configure them identically. You are encouraged to check out the docs on Configuration
to see all the available configuration options.
There are a few approaches to managing builder modes. One approach is to have a seperate controller for each, like so:
class ViewingController < ApplicationController
def index
@builder = Builder.new
render 'some_page'
end
end
class EditingController < ApplicationController
def index
@builder = Builder.new
@builder.config.field_options.mode = :editing
render 'some_page'
end
end
Then, in the 'some_page' view you can use the builder in the exact same way, but get different results because of the different mode. Other options are possible, however. Use whatever works best!
Once you have some fields types and a builder, you are ready to actually render some fields! The Builder#field
method is used to render a field of a given type, with the given options, and the given input. For example, with our previous TextFieldType
example:
<%= @builder.field :text, 'phone_number', '(123) 456-7890' %>
When viewing the site, the user would see a simple paragraph containing the phone number. When editing the site, the user would see an editable text input. Of course, the text input currently would do nothing—you are in charge of ensuring that the data actually gets saved. You can do this however you want, but typically the fields are submitted via a form or via AJAX to a controller which saves the data. As part of the philosphy of flexibility, edit_in_place
makes no attempt whatsoever to handle any of this.
If the second argument to Builder#field
is either a FieldOptions
instance or a hash, then it will be used as the options for the field. For example, you could render a specific field as always editable:
<%= @builder.field :text, { mode: :editing }, 'phone_number', '(123) 456-7890' %>
If your field type happens to expect the first input argument to be a hash, you will need to pass an empty options hash, like this:
<%= @builder.field :some_type, {}, { option: true }, 'etc' %>
Builder
also overrides method_missing
to make it easier to call registered fields. If, for example, you have registered a :text
field type, you can do the following:
<%= @builder.text_field 'phone_number', '(123) 456-7890' %>
Perhaps the most powerful feature of edit_in_place
are the field middlewares. edit_in_place
uses middlegem
for middlewares, which you may want to briefly review. Field middlewares allow the inputs to a field to be transformed before actually making it to the field type's render
method. The use cases for this are limitless.
There are two steps for using field middlewares: defining them and using them. First, you must define all the middleware classes that you will be using in your application. This is to ensure that middlewares are always run in the right order. For example, let's say we have two middleware classes, one that multiplies a number by 10, and another that surrounds it with parentheses. We would define the middleware as follows:
EditInPlace.configure do |c|
c.defined_middleware = [
MultiplyMiddleware,
ParenthesesMiddleware
]
This will ensure that, no matter what order they're added, the MultplyMiddleware
will always be run before the ParenthesesMiddleware
. If a middleware is used that has not been defined, a Middlegem::UnpermittedMiddleware
error will be raised by middlegem
.
Next, the middlewares can be actually used. Middlewares reside in the FieldOptions
class, meaning you have three options for adding middlewares to fields: adding it to the global EditInPlace
configuration, adding it to the Builder
configuration, and passing them to Builder#field
. You might want all fields to be surrounded in parentheses, for example, but only some to be multiplied by ten. This could be accomplished with:
class SomeController
def index
@builder = Builder.new
@builder.config.field_options.middlewares << ParenthesesMiddleware.new
end
end
<%= @builder.field :text, { middlewares: [MultiplyMiddleware.new] }, 'name', '500' %>
<%= @builder.field :text, 'name', 'a string' %>
Now, when viewing the site, the first one would show "(5000)" and the second would show "(a string)". Note that middlewares are often too verbose to be easily used like this. They are really best used by edit_in_place extensions.
Like field types, middlewares can also be registered, using Configuration#registered_middlewares
. For example:
@builder = Builder.new
@builder.configure do |c|
c.registered_middlewares.register :parentheses, ParenthesesMiddleware
c.field_options.middlewares << :parentheses
There will likely be times when you wish for many fields to have the same FieldOptions
. This can be accomplished with the Builder#scoped
method, which allows field options to be shared across a block. For example:
<%= @builder.scoped middlewares: [AppendArgumentMiddleware.new('example')] |b| do %>
<%= b.field :text, 'name', 'value' %>
<% end %>
Now any fields generated with the scoped b
builder will have an 'example'
argument appended to their input (assuming that AppendArgumentMiddleware
has been defined). In fact, scoping a builder with middleware is comon enough that Builder
also provides a with_middlewares
convenience method:
<%= @builder.with_middlewares AppendArgumentMiddleware.new('example') |b| do %>
<%= b.field :text, 'name', 'value' %>
<% end %>
Note that Builder#scope
and Builder#middleware_scope
are aliases for Builder#scoped
and Builder#with_middlewares
, respectively.
If you are developing an extension for edit_in_place
, you may wish to add methods to Builder
. While you could create a subclass, subclassing has its share of problems. You could not, for example, use multiple builder subclasses at once. Thus, edit_in_place
provides an ExtendedBuilder
class which you can use to add new methods to Builder
. Essentially, ExtendedBuilder
stores a base builder and delegates all missing method calls to it. You can use it like:
class MyBuilderExtension < EditInPlace::ExtendedBuilder
def hello
'Hello, world!'
end
end
And then instantiate it:
class SomeController < ApplicationController
def index
base = Builder.new
@my_builder = MyBuilderExtension.new(base)
end
end
Then, in the view:
<%= @my_builder.hello %>
These builder extension can be chained as many times as desired. Please note however that you should only add new methods, never override existing ones. If you override existing methods, further down the chain, that method may be called, and will not be sent to your extension, which could cause some confusing results.
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.