Controllers
Many classes have shortcut names used when creating (instantiating) a class with a
configuration object. The shortcut name is referred to as an alias (or xtype if the
class extends Ext.Component). The alias/xtype is listed next to the class name of
applicable classes for quick reference.
Framework classes or their members may be specified as private or protected. Else,
the class / member is public. Public, protected, and private are access
descriptors used to convey how and when the class or class member should be used.
Public classes and class members are available for use by any other class or application code and may be relied upon as a stable and persistent within major product versions. Public classes and members may safely be extended via a subclass.
Protected class members are stable public members intended to be used by the
owning class or its subclasses. Protected members may safely be extended via a subclass.
Private classes and class members are used internally by the framework and are not intended to be used by application developers. Private classes and members may change or be omitted from the framework at any time without notice and should not be relied upon in application logic.
static label next to the
method name. *See Static below.Below is an example class member that we can disect to show the syntax of a class member (the lookupComponent method as viewed from the Ext.button.Button class in this case).
Let's look at each part of the member row:
lookupComponent in this example)( item ) in this example)Ext.Component in this case). This may be omitted for methods that do not
return anything other than undefined or may display as multiple possible values
separated by a forward slash / signifying that what is returned may depend on the
results of the method call (i.e. a method may return a Component if a get method calls is
successful or false if unsuccessful which would be displayed as
Ext.Component/Boolean).PROTECTED in
this example - see the Flags section below)Ext.container.Container in this example). The source
class will be displayed as a blue link if the member originates from the current class
and gray if it is inherited from an ancestor or mixed-in class.view source in the example)item : Object in the example).undefined a "Returns" section
will note the type of class or object returned and a description (Ext.Component in the
example)Available since 3.4.0 - not pictured in
the example) just after the member descriptionDefaults to: false)The API documentation uses a number of flags to further commnicate the class member's function and intent. The label may be represented by a text label, an abbreviation, or an icon.
classInstance.method1().method2().etc();false is returned from
an event handler- Indicates a framework class
- A singleton framework class. *See the singleton flag for more information
- A component-type framework class (any class within the Ext JS framework that extends Ext.Component)
- Indicates that the class, member, or guide is new in the currently viewed version
- Indicates a class member of type config
- Indicates a class member of type property
- Indicates a class member of type
method
- Indicates a class member of type event
- Indicates a class member of type
theme variable
- Indicates a class member of type
theme mixin
- Indicates that the class, member, or guide is new in the currently viewed version
Just below the class name on an API doc page is a row of buttons corresponding to the types of members owned by the current class. Each button shows a count of members by type (this count is updated as filters are applied). Clicking the button will navigate you to that member section. Hovering over the member-type button will reveal a popup menu of all members of that type for quick navigation.
Getting and setter methods that correlate to a class config option will show up in the methods section as well as in the configs section of both the API doc and the member-type menus just beneath the config they work with. The getter and setter method documentation will be found in the config row for easy reference.
Your page history is kept in localstorage and displayed (using the available real estate) just below the top title bar. By default, the only search results shown are the pages matching the product / version you're currently viewing. You can expand what is displayed by clicking on the button on the right-hand side of the history bar and choosing the "All" radio option. This will show all recent pages in the history bar for all products / versions.
Within the history config menu you will also see a listing of your recent page visits. The results are filtered by the "Current Product / Version" and "All" radio options. Clicking on the button will clear the history bar as well as the history kept in local storage.
If "All" is selected in the history config menu the checkbox option for "Show product details in the history bar" will be enabled. When checked, the product/version for each historic page will show alongside the page name in the history bar. Hovering the cursor over the page names in the history bar will also show the product/version as a tooltip.
Both API docs and guides can be searched for using the search field at the top of the page.
On API doc pages there is also a filter input field that filters the member rows using the filter string. In addition to filtering by string you can filter the class members by access level, inheritance, and read only. This is done using the checkboxes at the top of the page.
The checkbox at the bottom of the API class navigation tree filters the class list to include or exclude private classes.
Clicking on an empty search field will show your last 10 searches for quick navigation.
Each API doc page (with the exception of Javascript primitives pages) has a menu view of metadata relating to that class. This metadata view will have one or more of the following:
Ext.button.Button class has an alternate class name of Ext.Button). Alternate class
names are commonly maintained for backward compatibility.Runnable examples (Fiddles) are expanded on a page by default. You can collapse and expand example code blocks individually using the arrow on the top-left of the code block. You can also toggle the collapse state of all examples using the toggle button on the top-right of the page. The toggle-all state will be remembered between page loads.
Class members are collapsed on a page by default. You can expand and collapse members using the arrow icon on the left of the member row or globally using the expand / collapse all toggle button top-right.
Viewing the docs on narrower screens or browsers will result in a view optimized for a smaller form factor. The primary differences between the desktop and "mobile" view are:
The class source can be viewed by clicking on the class name at the top of an API doc page. The source for class members can be viewed by clicking on the "view source" link on the right-hand side of the member row.
Controllers are the glue that binds the parts of an application together, implementing the business rules and logic that make your application behave as intended. They listen for events (usually from Views) and take some action based on the event, whether that is rendering Views, instantiating Models, or performing some other application logic. For example, if your app contains a tappable Logout button, a Controller listens to the button's tap event and takes the appropriate action, such as sending a move to another user in a game. A Controller lets Views handle the display of data and Models handle the loading and saving of data.
In Sencha's MVC package, Controllers manage Views. Views do not call out to Controllers to invoke methods. Views fire events, and Controllers respond to them. With Architect, you associate a View with a Controller by selecting the Controller in the Inspector, navigating to the Views config in the Config panel, and selecting from the list of available Views that shown in the dropdown list that appears there, or you can type the name of the View you want to select. Note that you have to add and build Views to your project before you can associate a View with a Controller.
You enable a Controller to respond to an event by adding a Controller action to the controller. using the Config panel:
Once you choose the target View and event, Architect has everything it needs to subscribe to all user interface controls of that type.
For example in a Touch project,
say you choose Ext.Button as the target type and the tap event.
Architect automatically generates an onButtonTap method
(which you can rename).
It also generates a controlQuery of button.
controlQuery specifies which UI controls the Controller needs monitor.
It is akin to a CSS selector
that works with components instantiated on the page.
Double clicking the Controller action in the Inspector
opens Code View for the action,
where you can add your own code to determine the behavior
that is triggered when a user taps the button.
Use the Inspector to add Controllers to either Ext JS or Sencha Touch projects: click the add button ("+") at the top right of the Inspector and select Controller from the list of components. Architect displays the Controller ("MyController") under the Controller node. From there, use the Config Panel to add functionality to the Controller. See the next section to learn how to do that.
You can also add Controllers through the Toolbox, where Controller, Controller Action, and Controller Reference are all available as standard components. This is not the recommended practice.
To set configs for a Controller, select that Controller in the Inspector, then open the Config panel. The most commonly used configs for both Ext JS and Sencha Touch projects are:
Actions. Click the add button next to Actions in the Config panel to add actions to a Controller. Select either Controller Action or Application Action. For Controller Action, follow the instructions in Config to choose a target type from the list of View components and an event for the action. Double-click the Controller Action in the Inspector to add custom code to the Action. Select (single-click) the Controller Action and Application Action in the Inspector to see available configs for them. Key Action configs are targetType, where you set the type of component targeted by the Action, and name, which binds an event to the target.
References. Click the add button next to References in Config to add a reference to a Controller, then follow the directions in Config to enter a name for the reference and a selector. Click the reference in the Inspector to edit these values in Config (the name is contained in the ref config). You should use the exact name of a View component in the application for the name and selector to reference only that specific View.
init. Click the add button next to init in Config
to add init functions to a Controller.
An init function sets up how a Controller interacts with a View,
and is usually used in conjunction with
another Controller function -- control.
Control helps the Controller listen for events
and take some action with a handler function.
Double-click the init function in the Inspector
to open the Architect code editor
and add the code needed to add functionality to the init,
including control and other functions.
onLaunch. Click the add button next to Actions in Config to add onLaunch functions to a Controller. Double-click the onLaunch function in the Inspector to open the Architect code editor and add the code needed to add functionality.
Controller configs are slightly different for Touch projects. Here are the additional main configs Architect makes available for mobile apps:
Before Filters. Click the add button next to Before Filters in Config to add a before filter, then select in the Inspector to see available configs. These are used to define filter functions that run before the function specified in the route. Examples include user authentication/authorization for specific actions or loading classes that are not yet on the page.
Routes. Click the add button next to Routes in Config to add a route, then select in the Inspector to see available configs. These are used to specify the routes of interest to a Controller, which provides history support within an app as well as the ability to deeply link to any part of an app for which we provide a route.
Architect also makes the following configs available for Controllers. Typically, these parts of your application are set at the application level. You only set them for Controllers if you want them to be available only for a particular Controller and not to be available at the application level:
Functions. Click the add button next to Functions in Config to add functions to the Controller. Select the function in the Inspector to view all function configs in the Config panel.
Models. Binds Models to the Controller. Names of Models added to a project are displayed as a scrolling list in the Value field on the right of Config; open the list by clicking the field (which by default includes the text "(none)").
stores. Binds stores to the Controller. Names of stores added to a project are displayed as a scrolling list in the Value field on the right of Config; open the list by clicking the field (which by default includes the text "(none)").
Views. Binds Views to the Controller; only top-level Views can be selected. Names of a project's top-level Views are displayed as a scrolling list in the Value field on the right of Config; open the list by clicking the field (which by default includes the text "(none)")
For more details about using Controllers in Architect, see the following:
Architect | Terms of Use
