Creating User Extensions
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.
This guide gives instructions for creating custom user extensions; see the using user extensions guide for information about using these facilities in a project.
User extensions enable you to package up components that implement non-standard functionality to be easily reused.
Sencha Architect also provides facilities that share individual classes or components with other projects and other users. These are discussed in the Working with Classes guide.
User extensions are user interface components that are developed outside of an Architect project. In earlier releases of Sencha Architect, components could be included as Resources in an Architect project but they were static. Additionally, they did not display in the Canvas and could not be used and manipulated like the components that are included in Architect.
As of Sencha Architect 3.0, properly packaged user extensions can be integrated into an Architect project. Full interactivity with components is not supported. For instance, you cannot click on and manipulate elements as if they are active within an application, but the components can be dragged to and displayed in the Canvas and you can set configs for the components in the Config Panel.
An individual class/component can be easily exported to a file and saved to the toolbox.
A user extension package, or .aux file, is appropriate when one or more of the following is true:
The steps for creating an Architect user extension are:
src folder in the UE package.architect directory to the root directory of your UE package and create a JSON definition file for each class
defined in your user extension. You would then put these definition files in the architect directory.package.json file with information about your UE.Each of these steps are discussed in detail below.
If you do not already have a Sencha Cmd workspace set up, choose the directory you want to use as your workspace and type the following into:
sencha generate workspace /path/to/directory
To create a package, navigate to the newly created workspace and type the following (replacing “FooExtension” with the name of your Extension):
sencha generate package -type code FooExtension
This creates a packages folder in your workspace if one does not already exist, with a directory under packages
named for your package (e.g. “FooExtension”)
Sencha Cmd does most of the work, but you must create a few directories and add some data manually. The format of an Extension package is shown in user extension structure.
Populate the Extension package by copying the .js files for all the classes into the src directory. Most User
Extensions only contain one or two classes, but you can include virtually any number of classes.
Add any CSS files that are specific to your Extension to the resources/css directory.
Each class in the user extension package must have a JSON definition file in order to be utilized via the toolbox
in Architect. Definition files are located in the architect directory that you created earlier in the root directory of
your package tree. The definitions define the characteristics and behaviors of a user extension as it is integrated into the
Sencha Architect infrastructure. They may be extremely simple files that simply give the item a name in the toolbox
and correspond to a class, but more complex behavior is also possible.
See user extension structure for detailed information about the definitions files and the fields that must be populated.
The sencha generate command sets up a skeletal package.json file. You must manually edit the file
to provide additional information about your Extension.
See user extension structure for detailed information about the
package.json file and the fields that must be populated.
Every user extension package should include a Readme.md file with the following information:
To test your user extension package, follow these steps:
Install it on your test system by copying it into the directory specified in your Architect settings for Extension storage, and then, into a versioned folder. For example:
C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Architect\Extensions\MyExtension\1.0\
Open an Architect project that uses a compatible framework, and use your user extension in the project.
Be sure to adhere to the following checklist:
To package a user extension from Architect:
The resulting .aux file can now be shared with other users of Architect!
To package your user extension manually (not recommended):
package.json. Do not zip from a directory
above the extension. When unzipping the extension, its contents must be decompressed at the working directory level..zip file to have an .aux extension.When packaging a new version of your user extension:
version field in your package.json file. Architect compares version numbers upon
installation, and skipping this step will result in users being unable to install your newly updated extension.
Architect | Terms of Use