mirror of https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web
148 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
148 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
Vector/Web
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==========
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Vector is a Matrix web client built using the Matrix React SDK (https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk).
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Getting started
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===============
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1. Install or update `node.js` so that your `npm` is at least at version `2.0.0`
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2. Clone the repo: `git clone https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk.git`
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3. Switch to the SDK directory: `cd matrix-react-sdk`
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4. Install the prerequisites: `npm install`
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5. Switch to the example directory: `cd examples/vector`
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6. Install the example app prerequisites: `npm install`
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7. Build the example and start a server: `npm start`
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Now open http://127.0.0.1:8080/ in your browser to see your newly built
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Vector.
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Development
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===========
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To work on the CSS and Javascript and have the bundle files update as you
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change the source files, you'll need to do two extra things:
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1. Link the react sdk package into the example:
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`cd matrix-react-sdk/examples/vector; npm link ../../`
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2. Start a watcher for the CSS files:
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`cd matrix-react-sdk; npm run start:css`
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Note that you may need to restart the CSS builder if you add a new file. Note
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that `npm start` builds debug versions of the javascript and CSS, which are
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much larger than the production versions build by the `npm run build` commands.
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IMPORTANT: If you customise components in your application (and hence require
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react from your app) you must be sure to:
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1. Make your app depend on react directly
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2. If you `npm link` matrix-react-sdk, manually remove the 'react' directory
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from matrix-react-sdk's `node_modules` folder, otherwise browserify will
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pull in both copies of react which causes the app to break.
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How to customise the SDK
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========================
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The matrix-react-sdk provides well-defined reusable UI components which may be
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customised/replaced by the developer to build into an app. A set of consistent
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UI components (View + CSS classes) is called a 'skin' - currently the SDK
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provides a very vanilla whitelabelled 'base skin'. In future the SDK could
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provide alternative skins (probably by extending the base skin) that provide more
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specific look and feels (e.g. "IRC-style", "Skype-style") etc. However, unlike
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Wordpress themes and similar, we don't normally expect app developers to define
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reusable skins. Instead you just go and incorporate your view customisations
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into your actual app.
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The SDK uses the 'atomic' design pattern as seen at http://patternlab.io to
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encourage a very modular and reusable architecture, making it easy to
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customise and use UI widgets independently of the rest of the SDK and your app.
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In practice this means:
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* The UI of the app is strictly split up into a hierarchy of components.
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* Each component has its own:
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* View object defined as a React javascript class containing embedded
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HTML expressed in React's JSX notation.
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* CSS file, which defines the styling specific to that component.
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* Components are loosely grouped into the 5 levels outlined by atomic design:
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* atoms: fundamental building blocks (e.g. a timestamp tag)
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* molecules: "group of atoms which functions together as a unit"
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(e.g. a message in a chat timeline)
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* organisms: "groups of molecules (and atoms) which form a distinct section
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of a UI" (e.g. a view of a chat room)
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* templates: "a reusable configuration of organisms" - used to combine and
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style organisms into a well-defined global look and feel
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* pages: specific instances of templates.
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Good separation between the components is maintained by adopting various best
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practices that anyone working with the SDK needs to be be aware of and uphold:
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* Views are named with upper camel case (e.g. molecules/MessageTile.js)
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* The view's CSS file MUST have the same name (e.g. molecules/MessageTile.css)
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* Per-view CSS is optional - it could choose to inherit all its styling from
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the context of the rest of the app, although this is unusual for any but
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the simplest atoms and molecules.
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* The view MUST *only* refer to the CSS rules defined in its own CSS file.
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'Stealing' styling information from other components (including parents)
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is not cool, as it breaks the independence of the components.
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* CSS classes are named with an app-specific namespacing prefix to try to avoid
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CSS collisions. The base skin shipped by Matrix.org with the matrix-react-sdk
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uses the naming prefix "mx_". A company called Yoyodyne Inc might use a
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prefix like "yy_" for its app-specific classes.
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* CSS classes use upper camel case when they describe React components - e.g.
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.mx_MessageTile is the selector for the CSS applied to a MessageTile view.
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* CSS classes for DOM elements within a view which aren't components are named
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by appending a lower camel case identifier to the view's class name - e.g.
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.mx_MessageTile_randomDiv is how you'd name the class of an arbitrary div
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within the MessageTile view.
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* We deliberately use vanilla CSS 3.0 to avoid adding any more magic
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dependencies into the mix than we already have. App developers are welcome
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to use whatever floats their boat however.
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* The CSS for a component can however override the rules for child components.
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For instance, .mx_RoomList .mx_RoomTile {} would be the selector to override
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styles of RoomTiles when viewed in the context of a RoomList view.
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Overrides *must* be scoped to the View's CSS class - i.e. don't just define
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.mx_RoomTile {} in RoomList.css - only RoomTile.css is allowed to define its
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own CSS. Instead, say .mx_RoomList .mx_RoomTile {} to scope the override
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only to the context of RoomList views. N.B. overrides should be relatively
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rare as in general CSS inheritence should be enough.
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* Components should render only within the bounding box of their outermost DOM
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element. Page-absolute positioning and negative CSS margins and similar are
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generally not cool and stop the component from being reused easily in
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different places.
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* We don't use the atomify library itself, as React already provides most
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of the modularity requirements it brings to the table.
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With all this in mind, here's how you go about skinning the react SDK UI
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components to embed a Matrix client into your app:
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* Create a new NPM project. Be sure to directly depend on react, (otherwise
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you can end up with two copies of react).
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* Create an index.js file that sets up react. Add require statements for
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React, the ComponentBroker and matrix-react-sdk and a call to Render
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the root React element as in the examples.
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* Create React classes for any custom components you wish to add. These
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can be based off the files in `views` in the `matrix-react-sdk` package,
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modifying the require() statement appropriately.
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You only need to copy files you want to customise.
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* Add a ComponentBroker.set() call for each of your custom components. These
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must come *before* `require("matrix-react-sdk")`.
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* Add a way to build your project: we suggest copying the browserify calls
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from the example projects, but you could use grunt or gulp.
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* Create an index.html file pulling in your compiled index.js file, the
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CSS bundle from matrix-react-sdk.
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For more specific detail on any of these steps, look at the `custom` example in
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matrix-react-sdk/examples.
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