MSX
MSX is based on version 0.13.2 of React's JSX Transformer
MSX tweaks React's JSX Transformer to output
contents compatible with Mithril's
m.render()
function, allowing you to use HTML-like syntax in your Mithril
view code, like this:
var todos = ctrl.list.map(function(task, index) { return {task.title()} })
HTML tags and custom elements
For tag names which look like HTML elements or custom elements (lowercase,
optionally containing hyphens), raw virtual DOM objects - matching the
VirtualElement
signature
accepted by m.render()
- will be generated by default.
Input:
Test
Output:
tag: "div" attrs: id:"example" children: tag: "h1" attrs: {} children: "Test" tag: "my-element" attrs: name:"test"
This effectively precompiles your view code for a slight performance tweak.
Mithril components
Otherwise, it's assumed a tag name is a reference to an in-scope variable which is a Mithril component.
Passing attributes or children to a component will generate a call to Mithril's
m.component()
function, with children always being passed as an Array:
Input:
{/* Bare component */} {/* Component with attributes */} {/* Component with attributes and children */} {ctrl.files().map(file => )} Upload
Output:
tag: "form" attrs: {} children: /* Bare component */ Uploader /* Component with attributes */ m /* Component with attributes and children */ m tag: "button" attrs: type:"button" onclick:ctrlsave children: "Upload"
MSX assumes your component's (optional) controller()
and (required) view()
functions have the following signatures, where attributes
is an Object
and
children
is an Array
:
As such, if a component has children but no attributes, an empty attributes object will still be passed:
Input:
Output:
m
Object.assign()
JSX spread attributes and If you make use of JSX Spread Attributes,
the resulting code will make use of Object.assign()
to merge attributes - if
your code needs to run in environments which don't implement Object.assign()
natively, you're responsible for ensuring it's available via a
shim, or otherwise.
Other than that, the rest of React's JSX documentation should still apply:
- JSX in Depth
- JSX Spread Attributes
- JSX Gotchas - with
the exception of
dangerouslySetInnerHTML
: usem.trust()
on contents instead. - If-Else in JSX
In-browser JSX Transform
For development and quick prototyping, an in-browser MSX transform is available.
Download or use it directly from cdn.rawgit.com:
Include a <script type="text/msx">
tag to engage the MSX transformer.
To enable ES6 transforms, use <script type="text/msx;harmony=true">
. Check out
the source of the
live example of using in-browser JSX + ES6 transforms.
Here's a handy template you can use:
Command Line Usage
npm install -g msx
msx --watch src/ build/
To disable precompilation from the command line, pass a --no-precompile
flag.
Run msx --help
for more information.
Module Usage
npm install msx
var msx =
Module API
msx.transform(source: String[, options: Object])
Transforms XML-like syntax in the given source into object literals compatible
with Mithril's m.render()
function, or to function calls using Mithril's
m()
function, returning the transformed source.
To enable ES6 transforms supported by JSX Transformer,
pass a harmony
option:
msx
To disable default precompilation and always output m()
calls, pass a
precompile
option:
msx
Examples
Example inputs (using some ES6 features) and outputs are in test/jsx and test/js, respectively.
An example gulpfile.js
is provided, which implements an msxTransform()
step using msx.transform()
.
Related Modules
- gulp-msx - gulp plugin.
- grunt-msx - grunt plugin.
- mithrilify - browserify transform.
- msx-loader - webpack loader.