YUI 2.8: Learning the Library

Table of Contents

YUI 2.8 Learning the Library

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewers

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Started with YUI

What is the YUI?

Who is it for and who will it benefit the most?

Why the Yahoo! User Interface Library?

Graded browser support

What comes with the YUI?

The library topography

The core files

The Utilities

The Controls

The CSS Tools

The developer tools

The library's structure

What else does Yahoo! provide?

Are there any licensing restrictions?

Installing the YUI

Creating an offline library repository

Using the library files in your own web pages

Code placement

Perfect date selection with the Calendar Control

The basic Calendar class

The CalendarGroup class

Implementing a Calendar

The initial HTML page

Highly eventful

The DateMath class

Summary

2. Creating Consistency with the CSS Tools

Tools of the trade

Element normalization with reset.css

Element rules

First base

Tidying up text with fonts.css

Layout pages with ease using grids.css

Setting up your page structure

The basic building blocks of your pages

Grid nesting

A word on Sam

Summary

3. DOM Manipulation and Event Handling

Working with the DOM

DOM concepts

Common DOM scripting techniques

Common DOM methods

Further reading

DOM—the old way

DOM—the YUI way

DOM manipulation in YUI

Many DOMs make light work

The Dom class

Using the Dom class

The Region class

Additional useful Dom methods

Other classes

The Selector Utility

Listening for Events the easy (YUI) way

Event models

Old-styled events

YUI event capturing

Evolving event handlers

Reacting when appropriate

A look at the Event Utility

Listeners

Event delegation

Other plugins

Custom events

The evolution of Custom Events

EventProvider

Custom event basics

The Element Utility

Subclassing from Element

Adding custom methods and properties

Using AttributeProvider

Summary

4. Calling Back Home

Introduction to Connection Manager

The XMLHttpRequest object interface

A closer look at the response object

The Callback object

Basic communication

Sending forms

Posting

Yahoo Query Language (YQL)

Overcoming the XDS restriction

Working with XML

Processing a JSON reply

Using JSONP with the Get utility

Loading library components via Get

Summary

5. Animation, the Browser History Manager, and Cookies

Introducing the Animation Utility

The class structure of the Animation Utility

The Animation constructor

Animation's attributes

Custom Animation events

The subclasses

Additional classes

Using Animation to create an Accordion Widget

Listening to the end of the Animation

The CSS for Accordion

Using Element

Dealing with motion

Restoring the browser's expected functionality

The BHM class

Using BHM

The BHM script

Cookies

Summary

6. Content Containers and Tabs

Meet the YUI Container family

Module

Overlay

Panel

Tooltip

Dialog

SimpleDialog

Container Effects

OverlayManager

Creating a Panel

Before we go on

Working with Dialogs

An Are you sure? SimpleDialog

Easy Tooltips

The YUI TabView Control

TabView classes

Class members

Adding tabs

The underlying markup

The JavaScript needed by TabView

Summary

7. Menus

Common navigation structures

Instant menus—just add water (or a Menu Control)

The Menu classes

Menu subclasses

The MenuItem class

MenuItem subclasses

Creating a basic navigation menu

The initial HTML page

The underlying menu markup

Formatting options

Creating the Menu object

Using the ContextMenu

ContextMenu scripting

Wiring up the backend

The application-style MenuBar

Summary

8. Buttons and Trees

Why use the YUI Button family?

Meet the Button Control

YAHOO.widget.Button

YAHOO.widget.ButtonGroup

Using the Button Control

Creating the YUI Button objects

Using the Split Button type

Getting started

Scripting the Split Button

Tree-like structures with the TreeView Control

Planting the seed

An assortment of nodes

Reading from markup

TreeView members

Tree nodes

Custom information

Dynamic loading

Highlighting

Summary

9. DataSource and AutoComplete

Tabular data sources

DataSource classes

HTML table

Simple array

Complex array

FunctionDataSource

Remote DataSource with text

Remote DataSource with JSON

Remote DataSource with XML

News reader examples

Meta information

Massaging unruly data

Look ahead with the AutoComplete Control

AutoComplete Constructor

Implementing AutoComplete

Summary

10. DataTable

DataTable dependencies

DataTable classes

Creating a DataTable

Cell formatting

Responding to DataTable events

More column properties and methods

Column sorting

Cell editing

Server-side updating

DataTable methods

Paging

Server-side sorting and paging

Selection and highlighting

More DataTable configuration attributes

ScrollingDataTable

Summary

11. Rich Text Editor

The two editors

A simple e-mail editor

Filtering the data

More validation

Improving the looks

Changing the toolbar

Adding a new toolbar button

Adding CSS styles

Changing the available fonts

Summary

12. Drag-and-Drop with the YUI

Dynamic drag-and-drop without the hassle

DragDrop classes

Design considerations

Allowing your visitors to drag-and-drop

The constructor

Target practice

Get a handle on things

The drag-and-drop manager

Interaction modes

Constraints

Responding to DragDrop events

Implementing drag-and-drop

Scripting DragDrop

Creating a draggable product item

Visual selection with the slider control

The constructor and factory methods

Class of two

A very simple slider

Getting started

Adding the CSS

Adding the JavaScript

The Resize utility

The Layout Manager

Summary

13. Everyday Tools

Lint-free code

The Logger

The purpose of the—debug Library files

How the Logger can help you

Debugging

Watching bits go by

Seeking performance

YSlow

YUI Compressor

Images and Sprites

YUI Profiler

YUI Testing

Testing in multiple platforms

API Docs

Summary

Index

YUI 2.8 Learning the Library

YUI 2.8 Learning the Library

Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing

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First published: July 2010

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ISBN 978-1-849510-70-7

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Credits

Authors

Daniel Barreiro

Dan Wellman

Reviewers

Iliyan Peychev

Glenn Stephens

Acquisition Editor

Douglas Paterson

Development Editors

Ved Prakash Jha

Tarun Singh

Technical Editors

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Indexer

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Editorial Team Leader

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Project Team Leader

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Project Coordinator

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Proofreader

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Production Coordinator

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Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Authors

Daniel Barreiro (screen name Satyam) has been around for quite some time. The ENIAC was turned off the day before he was born, so he missed that—but he hasn't missed much since. He's had a chance to punch cards, program 6502 chips (remember the Apple II?), own a TRS-80, and see some fantastic pieces of operating equipment in his native Argentina, which might have been in museums elsewhere.

When globalization opened the doors to the world, his then barely usable English (plus an Electrical Engineering degree) put him on the career path that ended in a 5-year job in the Bay Area back in the days of NCSA Mosaic. Totally intrigued by the funny squiggles a friend of his wrote in his plain text editor, full of <'s and >'s, he ended up learning quite a lot about the world of frontend engineering.

It's been a long journey since COBOL and Fortran. Now he lives quite happily semi-retired in the Mediterranean coast close to Barcelona, Spain. When he's not basking in the Mediterranean sun, Satyam can be found among the most prolific and knowledgeable participants in the YUI community on the YUI developer forum. He has also authored the ProgressBar component and took over responsibility for the TreeView component of the YUI Library.

This book wouldn't exist had the guys in the YUI Team not done and continued doing such a magnificent work. Thanks to them for sharing their work with the community and for having invited me to participate; this has taught me lots about good programming practices.

Dan Wellman is an author and web developer from the UK. He works full-time for Design Haus, a local family-run digital agency, and specializes in creating fast, effective frontends using the latest technologies and solutions. In the evenings he writes books and tutorials on many aspects of web development, and spends time with his wife and four children. This is his fourth book.

Many thanks to Eamon O'Donoghue for the use of his stunning artwork that helped bring several of the examples in this book to life.

About the Reviewers

Iliyan Peychev is a Software Engineer with more than 10 years experience in different areas such as GPS tracking systems, map applications, security and Smart Cards, PKI, and X.509 Certificates. He started his career developing Win32 and GNU/Linux applications, then Java Enterprise Applications and now he is devoted to ECMAScript and Web developing. He has been using YUI library since 2006.

Iliyan has participated in many different projects concerning security, data control, and access to information. During the years he has developed many applications in multiple different areas—from a Java EE-based Smart Card management system to ECMAScript libraries like Windowing and SVG/VML drawing library, both built on top on YUI.

He spends his free time creating Open Source software. He has created some YUI Gallery modules like YUI Accordion.

At the moment, Iliyan is developing a large web-based system, which allows remote management and control of different kinds of devices, built on top of the YUI library.

Glenn Stephens is a developer, architect, and manager of software solutions and has been involved in numerous industries from education, security, finance and the health industry. Glenn has written numerous publications, has one Delphi/Kylix book under his belt and is the developer of the Monarch BPM Business Process Management software (www.monarchbpm.com). He is intrigued by many aspects of the software process such as architecture, operations and marketing, the roles of the user, and more. Glenn's weaknesses include all musical instruments, snowboarding and comedy clubs. Glenn can be contacted at

He has also written the Tomes of Kylix—The Linux API many years ago (http://www.amazon.com/Tomes-Kylix-Linux-API-CD-ROM/dp/1556228236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273985360&sr=8-1).

Preface

The YUI Library has grown and improved since the first edition of this book. Several components came out of beta or experimental status and most of them will be covered in new chapters or added to related chapters, which will now have more than the two components originally presented.

The coding style has changed and that will be reflected in the examples, which have been modified accordingly.

New developer tools have appeared to make code more reliant, to reduce loading time, to debug, test, and do performance profiling and we will take a look at them.

The biggest change is the release of version 3 of the YUI Library. YUI3 has recently had its first General Availability (GA) release which includes the most basic components, the infrastructure of the whole library. The Widget component, the basis for all the components that will have a User Interface (UI) is still Beta so there are no visual components in GA. YUI3 still has some way to go to achieve the variety of UI components of YUI2 and, above all, the maturity and reliability of its code base. Thus, this book will be based on the current YUI 2.8 release of the library. YUI2 is not dead by any measure; development continues and future releases will come when and if any significant number of changes warrant it.

Loading YUI2 components in YUI3

JavaScript programming is not what it used to be. As we ventured into more complex client-side applications and learned more about the language and the environment it lives in, the programming style has changed. All the examples in the first edition of this book have been updated to the new coding style.

The components in the YUI Library show that same change in style, though some of the original ones now feel aged and the newer ones are more flexible and capable. However, for the sake of the innumerable applications out there, the old components cannot be upgraded as backward compatibility must be preserved. To get out of this tight spot, the YUI team decided to branch off with YUI3, incorporating all the techniques learned over these years. However, YUI3 is not backward compatible with YUI2. Version 2 of the library will still be maintained and upgraded and, in fact, since the two versions branched, there have been as many releases in the YUI2 branch as in the YUI3 branch.

Although YUI3 is a much better programming environment than YUI2 and it has a more consistent and capable interface, it still lacks components such as widgets, that is, those that have a visual interface. Recently, however, the YUI3 loader (and at this point it is not necessary to go deep into what the loader does) has been enabled to load YUI2 components as well. YUI2 can and regularly does coexist with other non-YUI library components and so does YUI3; there was no reason for them to not coexist with each other. Now, this has been made much easier with the ability of the YUI3 environment to load YUI2 components.

This means two things. First, YUI2 still has a long life. By ensuring that they can run in the YUI3 environment, we can mix and match both versions. All the complex visual components in YUI2 that had no equivalent yet in YUI3 can be used in the YUI3 environment. And second, it means that the YUI team can relax and take their time migrating the YUI2 components, ensuring that when they do get released as YUI3 native, they will be high quality, as per our expectations.

WAI-ARIA

The Web Accessibility Initiative's committee of the World Wide Web Consortium has developed the ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Application) suite of documents to make the rich applications we can build with YUI accessible to people with disabilities. The degree of support for ARIA is not even across all YUI components. Only components with a visual interface the visitor can interact with need ARIA support. Of those, most YUI components do support ARIA—some have it built-in, others need extra subcomponents, and some do not support ARIA at all. Those that do support ARIA often have a few configuration options, though the defaults rarely need any change. In other words, we as programmers usually don't need to concern ourselves with ARIA besides loading the required subcomponents, if any. We won't cover WAI-ARIA in this book just as we don't cover beta components, they are both a work-in-progress with its state still changing and, even when it is available, we rarely need to concern ourselves with it beyond activating it.

What this book covers

In Chapter 1, Getting Started with YUI, we look at the library as a whole covering subjects such as how it can be obtained, how it can be used, its structure and composition, and the license it has been released under. We also look at a coding example featuring the Calendar control.

In Chapter 2, Creating Consistency with the CSS Tools, we cover the extensive CSS tools that come with the library, specifically the Reset and Base Tools, the Fonts Tool, and the extremely capable Grids Tool. Examples on the use of each tool are covered. We also see how skinning works in the YUI Library.

In Chapter 3, DOM Manipulation and Event Handling, we look at the all-important DOM and Event utilities. These two comprehensive utilities can often form the backbone of any modern web application and are described in detail. We look at the differences between traditional and YUI methods of DOM manipulation and how the Event Utility unites the conflicting Event models of different browsers. Examples in this chapter include how the basic functions of the DOM Utility are used. We also look at the Element Utility, which is the basis of most of the new UI components and any a developer might build.

In Chapter 4, Calling Back Home, client-server communication is the subject, where we look at how the Connection Manager handles all of our XHR requirements. Then we look at the JSON data interchange format, which is becoming a popular alternative to XML, and at the Get Utility, which allows us to break out of the same-origin policy that limits XHR. Examples include obtaining remote data from external domains and the sending and receiving of data asynchronously to and from our own servers.

In Chapter 5, Animation, the Browser History Manager, and Cookies, we first look at how the Animation Utility can be used to add professional effects to your web pages. The chapter then moves on to cover how the Browser History Manager re-enables the back and forward buttons and book marking functionality of the browser when used with dynamic web applications. Finally, we take a brief look at the Cookies Utility, which allows us to persist information at the browser, helping us save user preferences across our site and in between visits.

In Chapter 6, Content Containers and Tabs, we look at the Container family of controls as well as the TabView control. Each member of the Container family is investigated and implemented in the coding examples. We also look at and implement the visually engaging and highly interactive TabView control.

In Chapter 7, Menus, we look at one of the most common parts of any website—the navigation structure. The example looks with the ease at which the Menu control can be implemented.

In Chapter 8, Buttons and Trees, the focus is on the Button family of controls and the TreeView control. We first cover each of the different buttons and look at examples of their use. We then implement a TreeView control and investigate the methods and properties made available by its classes.

In Chapter 9, DataSource and AutoComplete, we deal with the DataSource Utility, which allows us to fetch and parse tabular data from various sources, both local and remote and in various formats and deliver it to other components in a consistent manner. We will then look at one of those components, AutoComplete.

In Chapter 10, DataTable, we will see another user of DataSource, the DataTable control that allows us to display tabular information and efficiently operate on it on the client side with minimal server intervention.

In Chapter 11, Rich Text Editor, we see the Rich Text Editor, which allows our users to create enhanced text as one of the most popular forms of user interaction over the Internet is user-created content.

In Chapter 12, Drag-and-Drop with the YUI, the first part is Drag-and-Drop, one of DHTML's crowning achievements wrapped up in an easy-to-use utility. In the second part of this chapter we look at the related Slider control and how this basic but useful control can be added to pages with ease. We also briefly mention the Resizer and Layout components that allow us to move and resize dynamic panels within the browser.

In Chapter 13, Everyday Tools, we cover several developer tools. We see how the Logger Control is used to view the event execution of other controls and how it can be used to debug existing controls and custom classes. We also look at other resources such as JSLint and the YUI Compressor. We briefly mention other more advanced tools such as YUI Test, Performance Analyzer, and YSlow.

What you need for this book

This book expects and requires you to have a prior knowledge and understanding of at least JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. While the use of the utilities, controls, and CSS tools will be explained in detail throughout the book, any HTML, CSS, or PHP code that is featured in any of the examples may not be explained in detail. Other skills, such as the ability to install and configure a web server, are required. A PC or Mac, a browser, text editor, the YUI, and a web server are also required.

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers comfortable with JavaScript and CSS, who want to use the YUI Library to easily put together rich, responsive web interfaces. No knowledge of the YUI Library is presumed.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: In a capable, supported browser the library can transform the element into the full Rich Text Editor control.</q>

A block of code is set as follows:

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: The Collapse button will reduce it to the title bar itself.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Errata

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Chapter 1. Getting Started with YUI

Welcome to the first chapter of YUI 2.8: Learning the Library. Throughout this book, we'll be exploring what makes up the library and what it can do for you. By implementing a selection of the available utilities and controls, we can see exactly how each one works and what functionality and tools it leaves at your disposal.

In this chapter we're going to introduce ourselves to the library by taking an overall view of it. The topics that we are going to cover include:

How to get the library, where to get it from, how to install it, and how to work with it in your own web pages

Where it came from, what inspired its creation, who made it, and the core ideas behind it

Exploring the library and investigating what components form its constituent parts

Where we can find important information and news about the library and places where we can go to for help if we need it

The licensing issues that surround its legal use

Who is likely to make the most of it

We'll also go over a brief coding example where you will get down to some proper scripting and find out for yourself just how easy it is to get up and running with the components themselves. This is where you will see the power provided by the library at first-hand.

What is the YUI?

The Yahoo! User Interface (YUI) Library is a free collection of utilities and controls, written primarily in JavaScript, which has been produced by the expert developers at Yahoo! to make your life easier as a web developer or frontend user interface designer.

It consists of a series of JavaScript and CSS components that can be used to quickly and easily build the rich and highly interactive applications that today's web consumer expects and demands.

The premise of the library is simple; often when writing JavaScript, you'll come up with a function that works perfectly in one browser, yet badly (or worse, not at all) in alternative browsers. This means that you'll often need a set of different functions to do exactly the same thing in different browsers.

This can be done for some of the major browsers without too much difficulty using standard object detection methods within if statements. However, this can lead to massively increased script files and unwieldy code that takes longer to debug and troubleshoot, and longer to write in the first place.

The YUI wraps both sets of code up into one object that can be used programmatically with one class, so instead of dealing with different sets of code for different browsers, you deal with the library and it makes the different calls depending on the browser in use.

Another important aspect of the library that I should mention at this point is its respect for the Global Namespace. All objects created by the library and its entire code run within, and can only be accessed through, the YAHOO Global Namespace object. This means that the entire library, including every utility and every control, and its numerous classes, create just one namespace object within the Global Namespace.

The Global Namespace is the global collection of JavaScript object names, and it is very easy to litter it with potentially conflicting objects, which can become a problem when code is shared between applications. The YUI library minimizes its impact on the Global Namespace while at the same time remains globally accessible by occupying a single name, YAHOO. However, for application code sandboxing is preferred and we shall show both techniques and mostly use the latter.

Essentially, the YUI is a toolkit packed full of powerful objects that enables rapid frontend GUI design for richly interactive web-based applications. The utilities provide an advanced layer of functionality and logic to your applications, while the controls are attractive pre-packed objects that we can drop onto a page and begin using with little customization.

Who is it for and who will it benefit the most?

The YUI is aimed at and can be used by just about anyone and everyone, from single site hobbyists to creators of the biggest and best web applications around. Developers of any caliber can use as much or as little of it as they like to improve their site and to help with debugging.

It's simple enough to use for those of you that have just a rudimentary working knowledge of JavaScript and the associated web design technologies, but powerful and robust enough to satisfy the needs of the most aspiring and demanding developers amongst you.

The library will be of interest primarily to frontend developers, as the main aim of the YUI is to provide a framework within which robust and attractive interfaces can be quickly and easily designed and built. It can help you to side-step what can otherwise be insurmountable compatibility issues.

There is no set standard that says you must know this much or that much before you can begin to use the YUI. However, the more you know and understand about JavaScript, the more the library will make sense to you and the more you will be able to gain from using it.

Trying to learn how to make use of the YUI without first knowing about the JavaScript language itself, at least to a basic working standard, is an endeavor likely to end in frustration and disappointment. It would be a great shame if a lack of understanding prevented you from enjoying the benefits that using the library can bring to both your creativity and creations.

So to get the most out of the YUI, you do need to have at least a basic understanding of JavaScript and the principles of object oriented programming. However, a basic working understanding is all that is required and those developers who have less knowledge of scripting will undoubtedly find that they come out of the experience of developing with the YUI knowing a whole lot more than they did to begin with.

The YUI can teach you advanced JavaScript scripting methods, coding, and security best practices, and more efficient ways of doing what you want to do. It will even help more advanced programmers streamline their code and dramatically reduce their development time, so everyone can get something from it.

For some, the YUI is also a challenge; it's an excellent opportunity for developers to get involved in a growing community that is creating something inspiring. The Firefox browser is a great example of an open source, community-driven, collaborative effort of separate but like-minded individuals. Some people may not want to develop web pages or web applications using the library: they may just want to be involved in evolving it to an even greater accomplishment.

I should also point out at this stage that like the library itself, this book expects you to have a prior knowledge and understanding of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. While the use of the utilities, controls, and CSS tools will be explained in detail throughout the book, any HTML, CSS, or PHP code that is featured in any of the examples may not be explained in detail. Other skills, such as the ability to install and configure a web server, are also required.

Why the Yahoo! User Interface Library?

Using any JavaScript library can save you great amounts of time and frustration when coding by hand, and can allow you to implement features that you may not have the knowledge or skill to make use of. But why should you use the YUI rather than the many other libraries available?

To start with, as I'm sure you already know, Yahoo! is extremely well established, and at the forefront of cutting-edge web technology and frontend design principles. The utilities and controls provided by the library have already been tried and tested in their world-class service provision environment. Hence you know that the components are going to work, and work in the way that you expect them to work and that Yahoo! says that they will. The YUI Library is not a second-rate product, it is what Yahoo! uses.

The YUI library is not the only developer-centric offering to come from these world-class leaders and to achieve high levels of accomplishment and a following amongst developers. Apart from this, other very successful projects include the extensive Design Pattern library, Yahoo! Widgets, and the Yahoo! Query Language. They also have a wide range of APIs for you to experiment and work with, so they have already shown a commitment to providing open source tools designed to succeed.

Additionally, the library has already been publicly available for over three years and in this time has undergone rapid and extensive improvement in the form of bug fixes and additional functionality. Like the Mozilla and Firefox browsers, it has a huge, world-wide following of developers, all seeking to further enhance and improve it.

Other libraries seek to alter the JavaScript language itself, by building capabilities into the language that the developers felt should already have been present and extending the language in new and interesting ways. While these libraries can provide additional functionality at a deeper and more integrated level, their use can often be hampered by technical implementation difficulties. These will be too difficult to overcome for all but the most advanced and seasoned developers.

The YUI is not like this; it is extremely well documented, stuffed full of examples, and is extremely easy to use. It doesn't get bogged down in trying to alter the JavaScript language at a fundamental level, and instead sits on top of it as a complementary extension.

There's also no reason why you can't use the YUI library in conjunction with other JavaScript libraries if a particular feature, such as the rounding of box corners as provided by MochiKit for example, is required in your application but not provided by the YUI.

Graded browser support

Whichever browser you prefer, there's one thing that I think we can all agree on; all browsers are not created equal. Differing support and a lack of common standards implementation are