angular-trix

A rich wysiwyg text editor directive for angularjs.

Angularjs directive for trix editor

Demo

Angular-trix demo. Plunker demo

Install

You can get it on npm.

npm install angular-trix --save

Or bower, too.

bower install angular-trix --save

If you're not into package management, just download a ZIP file.

Setup

First, include angularjs, trix.js and trix.css into your document.

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/trix/0.9.2/trix.css">
 
<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.4.8/angular.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/trix/0.9.2/trix.js"></script>

trix.css includes default styles for the Trix toolbar, editor, and attachments. Skip this file if you prefer to define these styles yourself.

To use your own polyfills, or to target only browsers that support all of the required standards, include trix-core.js instead.

Then Include angular-trix.js.

<script src="dist/angular-trix.min.js"></script>

Add angularTrix dependency to your module

var myApp = angular.module('app', ['angularTrix']);

Create trix-editor

Place an empty <trix-editor></trix-editor> tag on the page. Trix will automatically insert a separate <trix-toolbar> before the editor.

Like an HTML <textarea>, <trix-editor> accepts autofocus and placeholder attributes. Unlike a <textarea>, <trix-editor> automatically expands vertically to fit its contents.

Finally, add angular-trix directive and ng-model to the <trix-editor></trix-editor>.

<trix-editor angular-trix ng-model="foo"></trix-editor>

Styling Formatted Content

To ensure what you see when you edit is what you see when you save, use a CSS class name to scope styles for Trix formatted content. Apply this class name to your <trix-editor> element, and to a containing element when you render stored Trix content for display in your application.

<trix-editor angular-trix ng-model="foo" class="trix-content"></trix-editor>

The default trix.css file includes styles for basic formatted content—including bulleted and numbered lists, code blocks, and block quotes—under the class name trix-content. We encourage you to use these styles as a starting point by copying them into your application’s CSS with a different class name.

Observing Editor Changes

The <trix-editor> element emits several events which you can use to observe and respond to changes in editor state.

• trix-initialize fires when the <trix-editor> element is attached to the DOM and its editor object is ready for use.

• trix-change fires whenever the editor’s contents have changed.

• trix-selection-change fires any time the selected range changes in the editor.

• trix-focus and trix-blur fire when the editor gains or loses focus, respectively.

• trix-file-accept fires when a file is dropped or inserted into the editor. You can access the DOM File object through the file property on the event.

• trix-attachment-add fires after an attachment is added to the document. You can access the Trix attachment object through the attachment property on the event. If the attachment object has a file property, you should store this file remotely and set the attachment’s URL attribute.

• trix-attachment-remove fires when an attachment is removed from the document. You can access the Trix attachment object through the attachment property on the event. You may wish to use this event to clean up remotely stored files.

You can use the following attributes to listen the trix events and implement your custom logic. You can access trix event and editor instance parameters in controller.

• trix-initialize
• trix-change
• trix-selection-change
• trix-focus
• trix-blur
• trix-file-accept
• trix-attachment-add
• trix-attachment-remove

<trix-editor ng-model="trix" angular-trix trix-initialize="trixInitialize(e, editor);" trix-change="trixChange(e, editor);" trix-selection-change="trixSelectionChange(e, editor);" trix-focus="trixFocus(e, editor);" trix-blur="trixBlur(e, editor);" trix-file-accept="trixFileAccept(e, editor);" trix-attachment-add="trixAttachmentAdd(e, editor);" trix-attachment-remove="trixAttachmentRemove(e, editor);"></trix-editor>

// You can still access the trix event
var events = ['trixInitialize', 'trixChange', 'trixSelectionChange', 'trixFocus', 'trixBlur', 'trixFileAccept', 'trixAttachmentAdd', 'trixAttachmentRemove'];
 
for (var i = 0; i < events.length; i++) {
    $scope[events[i]] = function(e, editor) {
        console.info('Event type:', e.type);
    }
};
 

For a live demonstration, open this site and just your console :)

Storing Attached Files

Trix automatically accepts files dragged or pasted into an editor and inserts them as attachments in the document. Each attachment is considered pending until you store it remotely and provide Trix with a permanent URL.

To store attachments, listen for the trix-attachment-add event. Upload the attached files with XMLHttpRequest yourself and set the attachment’s URL attribute upon completion. See the Plunker for detailed information.

If you don’t want to accept dropped or pasted files, addprevent-trix-file-accept = "true" attribute to the trix editor.

Editing Text Programmatically

You can manipulate a Trix editor programmatically through the Trix.Editor interface, available on each <trix-editor> element through its editor property. You can access editor property in controller via trix event parameter.

<trix-editor angular-trix ng-model="foo" trix-initialize="trixInitialize(e, editor);"></trix-editor>

// Controller 
// @e trix event
// @editor Trix.Editor instance
$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {}

Understanding the Document Model

The formatted content of a Trix editor is known as a document, and is represented as an instance of the Trix.Document class. To get the editor’s current document, use the editor.getDocument method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.getDocument()  // is a Trix.Document instance
}

You can convert a document to an unformatted JavaScript string with the document.toString method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    var document = editor.getDocument()
    document.toString()  // is a JavaScript string
}

Getting and Setting the Selection

Trix documents are structured as sequences of individually addressable characters. The index of one character in a document is called a position, and a start and end position together make up a range.

To get the editor’s current selection, use the editor.getSelectedRange method, which returns a two-element array containing the start and end positions.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.getSelectedRange()  // [0, 0]
}

You can set the editor’s current selection by passing a range array to the editor.setSelectedRange method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    // Select the first character in the document
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 1])
}

Collapsed Selections

When the start and end positions of a range are equal, the range is said to be collapsed. In the editor, a collapsed selection appears as a blinking cursor rather than a highlighted span of text.

For convenience, the following calls to setSelectedRange are equivalent when working with collapsed selections:

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.setSelectedRange(1)
    editor.setSelectedRange([1])
    editor.setSelectedRange([1, 1])
}

Directional Movement

To programmatically move the cursor or selection through the document, call the editor.moveCursorInDirection or editor.expandSelectionInDirection methods with a direction argument. The direction can be either "forward" or "backward".

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    // Move the cursor backward one character
    editor.moveCursorInDirection("backward")
    
    // Expand the end of the selection forward by one character
    editor.expandSelectionInDirection("forward")
}

Converting Positions to Pixel Offsets

Sometimes you need to know the x and y coordinates of a character at a given position in the editor. For example, you might want to absolutely position a pop-up menu element below the editor’s cursor.

Call the editor.getClientRectAtPosition method with a position argument to get a DOMRect instance representing the left and top offsets, width, and height of the character at the given position.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    var rect = editor.getClientRectAtPosition(0)
    [rect.left, rect.top]  // [17, 49]
}

Inserting and Deleting Text

The editor interface provides methods for inserting, replacing, and deleting text at the current selection.

To insert or replace text, begin by setting the selected range, then call one of the insertion methods below. Trix will first remove any selected text, then insert the new text at the start position of the selected range.

Inserting Plain Text

To insert unformatted text into the document, call the editor.insertString method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // Insert “Hello” at the beginning of the document
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 0])
    editor.insertString("Hello")
}

Inserting HTML

To insert HTML into the document, call the editor.insertHTML method. Trix will first convert the HTML into its internal document model. During this conversion, any formatting that cannot be represented in a Trix document will be lost.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // Insert a bold “Hello” at the beginning of the document
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 0])
    editor.insertHTML("<strong>Hello</strong>")
}

Inserting a File

To insert a DOM File object into the document, call the editor.insertFile method. Trix will insert a pending attachment for the file as if you had dragged and dropped it onto the editor.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // Insert the selected file from the first file input element
    var file = document.querySelector("input[type=file]").file
    editor.insertFile(file)
}

Inserting a Line Break

To insert a line break, call the editor.insertLineBreak method, which is functionally equivalent to pressing the return key.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // Insert “Hello\n”
    editor.insertString("Hello")
    editor.insertLineBreak()
}

Deleting Text

If the current selection is collapsed, you can simulate deleting text before or after the cursor with the editor.deleteInDirection method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // “Backspace” the first character in the document
    editor.setSelectedRange([1, 1])
    editor.deleteInDirection("backward")
    
    // Delete the second character in the document
    editor.setSelectedRange([1, 1])
    editor.deleteInDirection("forward")
}

To delete a range of text, first set the selected range, then call editor.deleteInDirection with either direction as the argument.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
 
    // Delete the first five characters
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 4])
    editor.deleteInDirection("forward")
}

Working With Attributes and Indentation

Trix represents formatting as sets of attributes applied across ranges of a document.

By default, Trix supports the inline attributes bold, italic, href, and strike, and the block-level attributes quote, code, bullet, and number.

Applying Formatting

To apply formatting to the current selection, use the editor.activateAttribute method.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.insertString("Hello")
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 5])
    editor.activateAttribute("bold")
}

To set the href attribute, pass a URL as the second argument to editor.activateAttribute.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.insertString("Trix")
    editor.setSelectedRange([0, 4])
    editor.activateAttribute("href", "http://trix-editor.org/")
}

Removing Formatting

Use the editor.deactivateAttribute method to remove formatting from a selection.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.setSelectedRange([2, 4])
    editor.deactivateAttribute("bold")
}

Formatting With a Collapsed Selection

If you activate or deactivate attributes when the selection is collapsed, your formatting changes will apply to the text inserted by any subsequent calls to editor.insertString.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.activateAttribute("italic")
    editor.insertString("This is italic")
}

Adjusting the Indentation Level

To adjust the indentation level of block-level attributes, call the editor.increaseIndentationLevel and editor.decreaseIndentationLevel methods.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.activateAttribute("quote")
    editor.increaseIndentationLevel()
    editor.decreaseIndentationLevel()
}

Using Undo and Redo

Trix editors support unlimited undo and redo. Successive typing and formatting changes are consolidated together at five-second intervals; all other input changes are recorded individually in undo history.

Call the editor.undo and editor.redo methods to perform an undo or redo operation.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.undo()
    editor.redo()
}

Changes you make through the editor interface will not automatically record undo entries. You can save your own undo entries by calling the editor.recordUndoEntry method with a description argument.

$scope.trixInitialize = function(e, editor) {
    editor.insertString("Hello")
    editor.recordUndoEntry("Insert Text")
}

License

MIT License