Please treat this question as strictly educational. I'm still interested in hearing new answers and ideas to implement this
tl;dr
How would I implement bi-directional data-binding with JavaScript?
Data Binding to the DOM
By data binding to the DOM I mean for example, having a JavaScript object a
with a property b
. Then having an <input>
DOM element (for example), when the DOM element changes, a
changes and vice versa (that is, I mean bidirectional data binding).
Here is a diagram from AngularJS on what this looks like:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/hu1ps.png
So basically I have JavaScript similar to:
var a = {b:3};
Then an input (or other form) element like:
<input type='text' value=''>
I'd like the input's value to be a.b
's value (for example), and when the input text changes, I'd like a.b
to change too. When a.b
changes in JavaScript, the input changes.
The Question
What are some basic techniques to accomplish this in plain JavaScript?
In specific, I'd like a good answer to refer to:
How would binding work for objects?
How listening to change in the form might work?
Is it possible in a simple way to only have the HTML modified on the template level? I'd like to not keep track of the binding in the HTML document itself but only in JavaScript (with DOM events, and JavaScript keeping reference to the DOM elements used).
What have I tried?
I'm a big fan of Mustache so I tried using it for templating. However, I ran into issues when trying to perform the data binding itself since Mustache processes HTML as a string so after I get its result I have no reference to where the objects in my viewmodel are. The only workaround I could think for this was modifying the HTML string (or created DOM tree) itself with attributes. I don't mind using a different templating engine.
Basically, I got a strong feeling that I was complicating the issue at hand and there is a simple solution.
Note: Please do not provide answers that use external libraries, especially ones that are thousands of lines of code. I've used (and like!) AngularJS and KnockoutJS. I really don't want answers in the form 'use framework x'. Optimally, I'd like a future reader who doesn't know how to use many frameworks to grasp how to implement bi-directional data-binding herself. I do not expect a complete answer, but one that gets the idea across.
How would binding work for objects? How listening to change in the form might work?
An abstraction that updates both objects
I suppose there are other techniques, but ultimately I'd have an object that holds reference to a related DOM element, and provides an interface that coordinates updates to its own data and its related element.
The .addEventListener()
provides a very nice interface for this. You can give it an object that implements the eventListener
interface, and it'll invoke its handlers with that object as the this
value.
This gives you automatic access to both the element and its related data.
Defining your object
Prototypal inheritance is a nice way to implement this, though not required of course. First you'd create a constructor that receives your element and some initial data.
function MyCtor(element, data) {
this.data = data;
this.element = element;
element.value = data;
element.addEventListener("change", this, false);
}
So here the constructor stores the element and data on properties of the new object. It also binds a change
event to the given element
. The interesting thing is that it passes the new object instead of a function as the second argument. But this alone won't work.
Implementing the eventListener interface
To make this work, your object needs to implement the eventListener
interface. All that's needed to accomplish this is to give the object a handleEvent()
method.
That's where the inheritance comes in.
MyCtor.prototype.handleEvent = function(event) {
switch (event.type) {
case "change": this.change(this.element.value);
}
};
MyCtor.prototype.change = function(value) {
this.data = value;
this.element.value = value;
};
There are many different ways in which this could be structured, but for your example of coordinating updates, I decided to make the change()
method only accept a value, and have the handleEvent
pass that value instead of the event object. This way the change()
can be invoked without an event as well.
So now, when the change
event happens, it'll update both the element and the .data
property. And the same will happen when you call .change()
in your JavaScript program.
Using the code
Now you'd just create the new object, and let it perform updates. Updates in JS code will appear on the input, and change events on the input will be visible to the JS code.
var obj = new MyCtor(document.getElementById("foo"), "20");
// simulate some JS based changes.
var i = 0;
setInterval(function() {
obj.change(parseInt(obj.element.value) + ++i);
}, 3000);
DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/RkTMD/
So, I decided to throw my own solution in the pot. Here is a working fiddle. Note this only runs on very modern browsers.
What it uses
This implementation is very modern - it requires a (very) modern browser and users two new technologies:
MutationObservers to detect changes in the dom (event listeners are used as well)
Object.observe to detect changes in the object and notifying the dom. Danger, since this answer has been written O.o has been discussed and decided against by the ECMAScript TC, consider a polyfill.
How it works
On the element, put a domAttribute:objAttribute mapping - for example bind='textContent:name'
Read that in the dataBind function. Observe changes to both the element and the object.
When a change occurs - update the relevant element.
The solution
Here is the dataBind
function, note it's just 20 lines of code and could be shorter:
function dataBind(domElement, obj) {
var bind = domElement.getAttribute("bind").split(":");
var domAttr = bind[0].trim(); // the attribute on the DOM element
var itemAttr = bind[1].trim(); // the attribute the object
// when the object changes - update the DOM
Object.observe(obj, function (change) {
domElement[domAttr] = obj[itemAttr];
});
// when the dom changes - update the object
new MutationObserver(updateObj).observe(domElement, {
attributes: true,
childList: true,
characterData: true
});
domElement.addEventListener("keyup", updateObj);
domElement.addEventListener("click",updateObj);
function updateObj(){
obj[itemAttr] = domElement[domAttr];
}
// start the cycle by taking the attribute from the object and updating it.
domElement[domAttr] = obj[itemAttr];
}
Here is some usage:
HTML:
<div id='projection' bind='textContent:name'></div>
<input type='text' id='textView' bind='value:name' />
JavaScript:
var obj = {
name: "Benjamin"
};
var el = document.getElementById("textView");
dataBind(el, obj);
var field = document.getElementById("projection");
dataBind(field,obj);
Here is a working fiddle. Note that this solution is pretty generic. Object.observe and mutation observer shimming is available.
obj.name
has a setter it cannot be observed externally, but must broadcast that it has changed from within the setter - html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/es7/observe/#toc-notifications - kinda throws a wrench in the works for O.o() if you want more complex, interdependent behavior using setters. Furthermore, when obj.name
is not configurable, redefining it's setter (with various tricks to add notification) also is not allowed - so generics with O.o() are totally scrapped in that specific case.
I'd like to add to my preposter. I suggest a slightly different approach that will allow you to simply assign a new value to your object without using a method. It must be noted though that this is not supported by especially older browsers and IE9 still requires use of a different interface.
Most notably is that my approach does not make use of events.
Getters and Setters
My proposal makes use of the relatively young feature of getters and setters, particularly setters only. Generally speaking, mutators allow us to "customize" the behavior of how certain properties are assigned a value and retrieved.
One implementation I'll be using here is the Object.defineProperty method. It works in FireFox, GoogleChrome and - I think - IE9. Haven't tested other browsers, but since this is theory only...
Anyways, it accepts three parameters. The first parameter being the object that you wish to define a new property for, the second a string resembling the the name of the new property and the last a "descriptor object" providing information on the behavior of the new property.
Two particularly interesting descriptors are get
and set
. An example would look something like the following. Note that using these two prohibits the use of the other 4 descriptors.
function MyCtor( bindTo ) {
// I'll omit parameter validation here.
Object.defineProperty(this, 'value', {
enumerable: true,
get : function ( ) {
return bindTo.value;
},
set : function ( val ) {
bindTo.value = val;
}
});
}
Now making use of this becomes slightly different:
var obj = new MyCtor(document.getElementById('foo')),
i = 0;
setInterval(function() {
obj.value += ++i;
}, 3000);
I want to emphasize that this only works for modern browsers.
Working fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/Derija93/RkTMD/1/
Proxy
objects :) Setters do seem like a nice idea, but wouldn't that require us to modify the actual objects? Also, on a side note - Object.create
could be used here (again, assuming modern browser that allowed for the second parameter). Also, the setter/getter could be used to 'project' a different value to the object and the DOM element :) . I'm wondering if you have any insights on templating too, that seems like a real challenge here, especially to structure nicely :)
Proxy
, like you said. ;) I understood the challenge to be to keep two distinct properties synchronized. My method eliminates one of both.
Proxy
would eliminate the need to use getters/setters, you could bind elements without knowing what properties they have. What I meant, is that the getters can change more than bindTo.value they can contain logic (and maybe even a template). The question is how to maintain this sort of bidirectional binding with a template in mind? Lets say I'm mapping my object to a form, I'd like to maintain both the element and the form synced and I'm wondering how I'd go on about that sort of thing. You can check out how that works on knockout learn.knockoutjs.com/#/?tutorial=intro for example
Things have changed a lot in the last 7 years, we have native web components in most browsers now. IMO the core of the problem is sharing state between elements, once you have that its trivial to update the ui when state changes and vice versa.
To share data between elements you can create a StateObserver class, and extend your web components from that. A minimal implementation looks something like this:
// create a base class to handle state
class StateObserver extends HTMLElement {
constructor () {
super()
StateObserver.instances.push(this)
}
stateUpdate (update) {
StateObserver.lastState = StateObserver.state
StateObserver.state = update
StateObserver.instances.forEach((i) => {
if (!i.onStateUpdate) return
i.onStateUpdate(update, StateObserver.lastState)
})
}
}
StateObserver.instances = []
StateObserver.state = {}
StateObserver.lastState = {}
// create a web component which will react to state changes
class CustomReactive extends StateObserver {
onStateUpdate (state, lastState) {
if (state.someProp === lastState.someProp) return
this.innerHTML = `input is: ${state.someProp}`
}
}
customElements.define('custom-reactive', CustomReactive)
class CustomObserved extends StateObserver {
connectedCallback () {
this.querySelector('input').addEventListener('input', (e) => {
this.stateUpdate({ someProp: e.target.value })
})
}
}
customElements.define('custom-observed', CustomObserved)
I like this approach because:
no dom traversal to find data- properties
no Object.observe (deprecated)
no Proxy (which provides a hook but no communication mechanism anyway)
no dependencies, (other than a polyfill depending on your target browsers)
it's reasonably centralised & modular... describing state in html, and having listeners everywhere would get messy very quickly.
it's extensible. This basic implementation is 20 lines of code, but you could easily build up some convenience, immutability, and state shape magic to make it easier to work with.
customElements
come from?
I think my answer will be more technical, but not different as the others present the same thing using different techniques. So, first things first, the solution to this problem is the use of a design pattern known as "observer", it let's you decouple your data from your presentation, making the change in one thing be broadcasted to their listeners, but in this case it's made two-way.
For the DOM to JS way
To bind the data from the DOM to the js object you may add markup in the form of data
attributes (or classes if you need compatibility), like this:
<input type="text" data-object="a" data-property="b" id="b" class="bind" value=""/>
<input type="text" data-object="a" data-property="c" id="c" class="bind" value=""/>
<input type="text" data-object="d" data-property="e" id="e" class="bind" value=""/>
This way it can be accessed via js using querySelectorAll
(or the old friend getElementsByClassName
for compatibility).
Now you can bind the event listening to the changes in to ways: one listener per object or one big listener to the container/document. Binding to the document/container will trigger the event for every change made in it or it's child, it willhave a smaller memory footprint but will spawn event calls. The code will look something like this:
//Bind to each element
var elements = document.querySelectorAll('input[data-property]');
function toJS(){
//Assuming `a` is in scope of the document
var obj = document[this.data.object];
obj[this.data.property] = this.value;
}
elements.forEach(function(el){
el.addEventListener('change', toJS, false);
}
//Bind to document
function toJS2(){
if (this.data && this.data.object) {
//Again, assuming `a` is in document's scope
var obj = document[this.data.object];
obj[this.data.property] = this.value;
}
}
document.addEventListener('change', toJS2, false);
For the JS do DOM way
You will need two things: one meta-object that will hold the references of witch DOM element is binded to each js object/attribute and a way to listen to changes in objects. It is basically the same way: you have to have a way to listen to changes in the object and then bind it to the DOM node, as your object "can't have" metadata you will need another object that holds metadata in a way that the property name maps to the metadata object's properties. The code will be something like this:
var a = {
b: 'foo',
c: 'bar'
},
d = {
e: 'baz'
},
metadata = {
b: 'b',
c: 'c',
e: 'e'
};
function toDOM(changes){
//changes is an array of objects changed and what happened
//for now i'd recommend a polyfill as this syntax is still a proposal
changes.forEach(function(change){
var element = document.getElementById(metadata[change.name]);
element.value = change.object[change.name];
});
}
//Side note: you can also use currying to fix the second argument of the function (the toDOM method)
Object.observe(a, toDOM);
Object.observe(d, toDOM);
I hope that i was of help.
Object.observe
as support is presente only in chrome for now. caniuse.com/#feat=object-observe
Yesterday, I started to write my own way to bind data.
It's very funny to play with it.
I think it's beautiful and very useful. At least on my tests using firefox and chrome, Edge must works too. Not sure about others, but if they support Proxy, I think it will work.
https://jsfiddle.net/2ozoovne/1/
<H1>Bind Context 1</H1>
<input id='a' data-bind='data.test' placeholder='Button Text' />
<input id='b' data-bind='data.test' placeholder='Button Text' />
<input type=button id='c' data-bind='data.test' />
<H1>Bind Context 2</H1>
<input id='d' data-bind='data.otherTest' placeholder='input bind' />
<input id='e' data-bind='data.otherTest' placeholder='input bind' />
<input id='f' data-bind='data.test' placeholder='button 2 text - same var name, other context' />
<input type=button id='g' data-bind='data.test' value='click here!' />
<H1>No bind data</H1>
<input id='h' placeholder='not bound' />
<input id='i' placeholder='not bound'/>
<input type=button id='j' />
Here is the code:
(function(){
if ( ! ( 'SmartBind' in window ) ) { // never run more than once
// This hack sets a "proxy" property for HTMLInputElement.value set property
var nativeHTMLInputElementValue = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(HTMLInputElement.prototype, 'value');
var newDescriptor = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(HTMLInputElement.prototype, 'value');
newDescriptor.set=function( value ){
if ( 'settingDomBind' in this )
return;
var hasDataBind=this.hasAttribute('data-bind');
if ( hasDataBind ) {
this.settingDomBind=true;
var dataBind=this.getAttribute('data-bind');
if ( ! this.hasAttribute('data-bind-context-id') ) {
console.error("Impossible to recover data-bind-context-id attribute", this, dataBind );
} else {
var bindContextId=this.getAttribute('data-bind-context-id');
if ( bindContextId in SmartBind.contexts ) {
var bindContext=SmartBind.contexts[bindContextId];
var dataTarget=SmartBind.getDataTarget(bindContext, dataBind);
SmartBind.setDataValue( dataTarget, value);
} else {
console.error( "Invalid data-bind-context-id attribute", this, dataBind, bindContextId );
}
}
delete this.settingDomBind;
}
nativeHTMLInputElementValue.set.bind(this)( value );
}
Object.defineProperty(HTMLInputElement.prototype, 'value', newDescriptor);
var uid= function(){
return 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx'.replace(/[xy]/g, function(c) {
var r = Math.random()*16|0, v = c == 'x' ? r : (r&0x3|0x8);
return v.toString(16);
});
}
// SmartBind Functions
window.SmartBind={};
SmartBind.BindContext=function(){
var _data={};
var ctx = {
"id" : uid() /* Data Bind Context Id */
, "_data": _data /* Real data object */
, "mapDom": {} /* DOM Mapped objects */
, "mapDataTarget": {} /* Data Mapped objects */
}
SmartBind.contexts[ctx.id]=ctx;
ctx.data=new Proxy( _data, SmartBind.getProxyHandler(ctx, "data")) /* Proxy object to _data */
return ctx;
}
SmartBind.getDataTarget=function(bindContext, bindPath){
var bindedObject=
{ bindContext: bindContext
, bindPath: bindPath
};
var dataObj=bindContext;
var dataObjLevels=bindPath.split('.');
for( var i=0; i<dataObjLevels.length; i++ ) {
if ( i == dataObjLevels.length-1 ) { // last level, set value
bindedObject={ target: dataObj
, item: dataObjLevels[i]
}
} else { // digg in
if ( ! ( dataObjLevels[i] in dataObj ) ) {
console.warn("Impossible to get data target object to map bind.", bindPath, bindContext);
break;
}
dataObj=dataObj[dataObjLevels[i]];
}
}
return bindedObject ;
}
SmartBind.contexts={};
SmartBind.add=function(bindContext, domObj){
if ( typeof domObj == "undefined" ){
console.error("No DOM Object argument given ", bindContext);
return;
}
if ( ! domObj.hasAttribute('data-bind') ) {
console.warn("Object has no data-bind attribute", domObj);
return;
}
domObj.setAttribute("data-bind-context-id", bindContext.id);
var bindPath=domObj.getAttribute('data-bind');
if ( bindPath in bindContext.mapDom ) {
bindContext.mapDom[bindPath][bindContext.mapDom[bindPath].length]=domObj;
} else {
bindContext.mapDom[bindPath]=[domObj];
}
var bindTarget=SmartBind.getDataTarget(bindContext, bindPath);
bindContext.mapDataTarget[bindPath]=bindTarget;
domObj.addEventListener('input', function(){ SmartBind.setDataValue(bindTarget,this.value); } );
domObj.addEventListener('change', function(){ SmartBind.setDataValue(bindTarget, this.value); } );
}
SmartBind.setDataValue=function(bindTarget,value){
if ( ! ( 'target' in bindTarget ) ) {
var lBindTarget=SmartBind.getDataTarget(bindTarget.bindContext, bindTarget.bindPath);
if ( 'target' in lBindTarget ) {
bindTarget.target=lBindTarget.target;
bindTarget.item=lBindTarget.item;
} else {
console.warn("Still can't recover the object to bind", bindTarget.bindPath );
}
}
if ( ( 'target' in bindTarget ) ) {
bindTarget.target[bindTarget.item]=value;
}
}
SmartBind.getDataValue=function(bindTarget){
if ( ! ( 'target' in bindTarget ) ) {
var lBindTarget=SmartBind.getDataTarget(bindTarget.bindContext, bindTarget.bindPath);
if ( 'target' in lBindTarget ) {
bindTarget.target=lBindTarget.target;
bindTarget.item=lBindTarget.item;
} else {
console.warn("Still can't recover the object to bind", bindTarget.bindPath );
}
}
if ( ( 'target' in bindTarget ) ) {
return bindTarget.target[bindTarget.item];
}
}
SmartBind.getProxyHandler=function(bindContext, bindPath){
return {
get: function(target, name){
if ( name == '__isProxy' )
return true;
// just get the value
// console.debug("proxy get", bindPath, name, target[name]);
return target[name];
}
,
set: function(target, name, value){
target[name]=value;
bindContext.mapDataTarget[bindPath+"."+name]=value;
SmartBind.processBindToDom(bindContext, bindPath+"."+name);
// console.debug("proxy set", bindPath, name, target[name], value );
// and set all related objects with this target.name
if ( value instanceof Object) {
if ( !( name in target) || ! ( target[name].__isProxy ) ){
target[name]=new Proxy(value, SmartBind.getProxyHandler(bindContext, bindPath+'.'+name));
}
// run all tree to set proxies when necessary
var objKeys=Object.keys(value);
// console.debug("...objkeys",objKeys);
for ( var i=0; i<objKeys.length; i++ ) {
bindContext.mapDataTarget[bindPath+"."+name+"."+objKeys[i]]=target[name][objKeys[i]];
if ( typeof value[objKeys[i]] == 'undefined' || value[objKeys[i]] == null || ! ( value[objKeys[i]] instanceof Object ) || value[objKeys[i]].__isProxy )
continue;
target[name][objKeys[i]]=new Proxy( value[objKeys[i]], SmartBind.getProxyHandler(bindContext, bindPath+'.'+name+"."+objKeys[i]));
}
// TODO it can be faster than run all items
var bindKeys=Object.keys(bindContext.mapDom);
for ( var i=0; i<bindKeys.length; i++ ) {
// console.log("test...", bindKeys[i], " for ", bindPath+"."+name);
if ( bindKeys[i].startsWith(bindPath+"."+name) ) {
// console.log("its ok, lets update dom...", bindKeys[i]);
SmartBind.processBindToDom( bindContext, bindKeys[i] );
}
}
}
return true;
}
};
}
SmartBind.processBindToDom=function(bindContext, bindPath) {
var domList=bindContext.mapDom[bindPath];
if ( typeof domList != 'undefined' ) {
try {
for ( var i=0; i < domList.length ; i++){
var dataTarget=SmartBind.getDataTarget(bindContext, bindPath);
if ( 'target' in dataTarget )
domList[i].value=dataTarget.target[dataTarget.item];
else
console.warn("Could not get data target", bindContext, bindPath);
}
} catch (e){
console.warn("bind fail", bindPath, bindContext, e);
}
}
}
}
})();
Then, to set, just:
var bindContext=SmartBind.BindContext();
SmartBind.add(bindContext, document.getElementById('a'));
SmartBind.add(bindContext, document.getElementById('b'));
SmartBind.add(bindContext, document.getElementById('c'));
var bindContext2=SmartBind.BindContext();
SmartBind.add(bindContext2, document.getElementById('d'));
SmartBind.add(bindContext2, document.getElementById('e'));
SmartBind.add(bindContext2, document.getElementById('f'));
SmartBind.add(bindContext2, document.getElementById('g'));
setTimeout( function() {
document.getElementById('b').value='Via Script works too!'
}, 2000);
document.getElementById('g').addEventListener('click',function(){
bindContext2.data.test='Set by js value'
})
For now, I've just added the HTMLInputElement value bind.
Let me know if you know how to improve it.
There is a very simple barebones implementation of 2-way data-binding in this link "Easy Two-Way Data Binding in JavaScript"
The previous link along with ideas from knockoutjs, backbone.js and agility.js, led to this light-weight and fast MVVM framework, ModelView.js based on jQuery which plays nicely with jQuery and of which i am the humble (or maybe not so humble) author.
Reproducing sample code below (from blog post link):
Sample code for DataBinder
function DataBinder( object_id ) {
// Use a jQuery object as simple PubSub
var pubSub = jQuery({});
// We expect a `data` element specifying the binding
// in the form: data-bind-<object_id>="<property_name>"
var data_attr = "bind-" + object_id,
message = object_id + ":change";
// Listen to change events on elements with the data-binding attribute and proxy
// them to the PubSub, so that the change is "broadcasted" to all connected objects
jQuery( document ).on( "change", "[data-" + data_attr + "]", function( evt ) {
var $input = jQuery( this );
pubSub.trigger( message, [ $input.data( data_attr ), $input.val() ] );
});
// PubSub propagates changes to all bound elements, setting value of
// input tags or HTML content of other tags
pubSub.on( message, function( evt, prop_name, new_val ) {
jQuery( "[data-" + data_attr + "=" + prop_name + "]" ).each( function() {
var $bound = jQuery( this );
if ( $bound.is("input, textarea, select") ) {
$bound.val( new_val );
} else {
$bound.html( new_val );
}
});
});
return pubSub;
}
For what concerns the JavaScript object, a minimal implementation of a User model for the sake of this experiment could be the following:
function User( uid ) {
var binder = new DataBinder( uid ),
user = {
attributes: {},
// The attribute setter publish changes using the DataBinder PubSub
set: function( attr_name, val ) {
this.attributes[ attr_name ] = val;
binder.trigger( uid + ":change", [ attr_name, val, this ] );
},
get: function( attr_name ) {
return this.attributes[ attr_name ];
},
_binder: binder
};
// Subscribe to the PubSub
binder.on( uid + ":change", function( evt, attr_name, new_val, initiator ) {
if ( initiator !== user ) {
user.set( attr_name, new_val );
}
});
return user;
}
Now, whenever we want to bind a model’s property to a piece of UI we just have to set an appropriate data attribute on the corresponding HTML element:
// javascript
var user = new User( 123 );
user.set( "name", "Wolfgang" );
<!-- html -->
<input type="number" data-bind-123="name" />
Late to the party, especially since I've written 2 libs related months/years ago, I'll mention them later, but still looks relevant to me. To make it really short spoiler, the technologies of my choice are:
Proxy for observation of model
MutationObserver for the tracking changes of DOM (for binding reasons, not value changes)
value changes (view to model flow) are handled via regular addEventListener handlers
IMHO, in addition to the OP, it is important that data binding implementation will:
handle different app lifecycle cases (HTML first, then JS, JS first then HTML, dynamic attributes change etc)
allow deep binding of model, so that one may bind user.address.block
arrays as a model should be supported correctly (shift, splice and alike)
handle ShadowDOM
attempt to be as easy for technology replacement as possible, thus any templating sub-languages are a non-future-changes-friendly approach since it's too heavily coupled with framework
Taking all those into consideration, in my opinion makes it impossible to just throw few dozens of JS lines. I've tried to do it as a pattern rather than lib - didn't work for me.
Next, having Object.observe
is removed, and yet given that observation of model is crucial part - this whole part MUST be concern-separated to another lib. Now to the point of principals of how I took this problem - exactly as OP asked:
Model (JS part)
My take for model observation is Proxy, it is the only sane way to make it work, IMHO. Fully featured observer
deserves it's own library, so I've developed object-observer
library for that sole purpose.
The model/s should be registered via some dedicated API, that's the point where POJOs turn into Observable
s, can't see any shortcut here. The DOM elements which are considered to be a bound views (see below), are updated with the values of the model/s at first and then upon each data change.
Views (HTML part)
IMHO, the cleanest way to express the binding, is via attributes. Many did this before and many will do after, so no news here, this is just a right way to do that. In my case I've gone with the following syntax: <span data-tie="modelKey:path.to.data => targerProperty"></span>
, but this is less important. What is important to me, no complex scripting syntax in the HTML - this is wrong, again, IMHO.
All the elements designated to be a bound views shall be collected at first. It looks inevitable to me from a performance side to manage some internal mapping between the models and the views, seems a right case where memory + some management should be sacrificed to save runtime lookups and updates.
The views are updated at first from the model, if available and upon later model changes, as we said. More yet, the whole DOM should be observed by means of MutationObserver
in order to react (bind/unbind) on the dynamically added/remove/changed elements. Furthermore, all this, should be replicated into the ShadowDOM (open one, of course) in order to not leave unbound black holes.
The list of specifics may go further indeed, but those are in my opinion the main principals that would made data binding implemented with a good balance of feature completeness from one and sane simplicity from the other side.
And thus, in addition to the object-observer
mentioned above, I've written indeed also data-tier
library, that implements data binding along the above mentioned concepts.
A simple way of binding a variable to an input (two-way binding) is to just directly access the input element in the getter and setter:
var variable = function(element){
return {
get : function () { return element.value;},
set : function (value) { element.value = value;}
}
};
In HTML:
<input id="an-input" />
<input id="another-input" />
And to use:
var myVar = new variable(document.getElementById("an-input"));
myVar.set(10);
// and another example:
var myVar2 = new variable(document.getElementById("another-input"));
myVar.set(myVar2.get());
var variable = function(element){
return function () {
if(arguments.length > 0)
element.value = arguments[0];
else return element.value;
}
}
To use:
var v1 = new variable(document.getElementById("an-input"));
v1(10); // sets value to 20.
console.log(v1()); // reads value.
Here's an idea using Object.defineProperty
which directly modifies the way a property is accessed.
Code:
function bind(base, el, varname) {
Object.defineProperty(base, varname, {
get: () => {
return el.value;
},
set: (value) => {
el.value = value;
}
})
}
Usage:
var p = new some_class();
bind(p,document.getElementById("someID"),'variable');
p.variable="yes"
fiddle: Here
Changing an element's value can trigger a DOM event. Listeners that respond to events can be used to implement data binding in JavaScript.
For example:
function bindValues(id1, id2) {
const e1 = document.getElementById(id1);
const e2 = document.getElementById(id2);
e1.addEventListener('input', function(event) {
e2.value = event.target.value;
});
e2.addEventListener('input', function(event) {
e1.value = event.target.value;
});
}
Here is code and a demo that shows how DOM elements can be bound with each other or with a JavaScript object.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text" id="demo" name="">
<p id="view"></p>
<script type="text/javascript">
var id = document.getElementById('demo');
var view = document.getElementById('view');
id.addEventListener('input', function(evt){
view.innerHTML = this.value;
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
Bind any html input
<input id="element-to-bind" type="text">
define two functions:
function bindValue(objectToBind) {
var elemToBind = document.getElementById(objectToBind.id)
elemToBind.addEventListener("change", function() {
objectToBind.value = this.value;
})
}
function proxify(id) {
var handler = {
set: function(target, key, value, receiver) {
target[key] = value;
document.getElementById(target.id).value = value;
return Reflect.set(target, key, value);
},
}
return new Proxy({id: id}, handler);
}
use the functions:
var myObject = proxify('element-to-bind')
bindValue(myObject);
I have gone through some basic javascript example using onkeypress and onchange event handlers for making binding view to our js and js to view
Here example plunker http://plnkr.co/edit/7hSOIFRTvqLAvdZT4Bcc?p=preview
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<p>Two way binding data.</p>
<p>Binding data from view to JS</p>
<input type="text" onkeypress="myFunction()" id="myinput">
<p id="myid"></p>
<p>Binding data from js to view</p>
<input type="text" id="myid2" onkeypress="myFunction1()" oninput="myFunction1()">
<p id="myid3" onkeypress="myFunction1()" id="myinput" oninput="myFunction1()"></p>
<script>
document.getElementById('myid2').value="myvalue from script";
document.getElementById('myid3').innerHTML="myvalue from script";
function myFunction() {
document.getElementById('myid').innerHTML=document.getElementById('myinput').value;
}
document.getElementById("myinput").onchange=function(){
myFunction();
}
document.getElementById("myinput").oninput=function(){
myFunction();
}
function myFunction1() {
document.getElementById('myid3').innerHTML=document.getElementById('myid2').value;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
It is very simple two way data binding in vanilla javascript....
<input type="text" id="inp" onkeyup="document.getElementById('name').innerHTML=document.getElementById('inp').value;">
<div id="name">
</div>
Success story sharing
Mustache.render(template,object)
, assuming I want to keep an object synced with the template (not specific to Mustache) , how would I go on about that?input
is to update one of those points, there would be a mapping from the input to that point. I'll see if I can come up with a quick example.Template
constructor that does the parsing, holds the differentMyCtor
objects, and provides an interface to update each on by its identifier. Let me know if you have questions. :) EDIT: ...use this link instead... I had forgotten that I had an exponential increase in the input value every 10 seconds to demonstrate JS updates. This limits it.