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Terms, Icons, and Labels

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.

Access Levels

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.

Member Types

Member Syntax

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).

lookupComponent ( item ) : Ext.Component
protected

Called when a raw config object is added to this container either during initialization of the items config, or when new items are added), or {@link #insert inserted.

This method converts the passed object into an instanced child component.

This may be overridden in subclasses when special processing needs to be applied to child creation.

Parameters

item :  Object

The config object being added.

Returns
Ext.Component

The component to be added.

Let's look at each part of the member row:

Member Flags

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.

Class Icons

- 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

Member Icons

- 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

Class Member Quick-Nav Menu

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.

Getter and Setter Methods

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.

History Bar

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.

Search and Filters

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.

API Doc Class Metadata

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:

Expanding and Collapsing Examples and Class Members

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.

Desktop -vs- Mobile View

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:

Viewing the Class Source

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.

Cmd 7.5.0


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Inside The App Build Process

The build script provided by Sencha Cmd is the component that ties together and automates the many low-level features of Sencha Cmd (such as the Compiler). There is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution for builds so the build script provides many options to configure and customize its behavior. This guide will explain the principles behind the build script and where you might look should you need to tailor the build process to suit your needs.

Prerequisites

The following guides are recommended reading before proceeding further:

Introduction

Internally, the sencha app build command does basic validation and calls in to the Apache Ant build script found in "build.xml" at the root of the application. Specifically, it calls the "build" target of this script. This means the entire build process can be examined, extended and (if necessary) even modified.

Because sencha app build simply invokes the "build" target of the Ant "build.xml" file, you can equivalently invoke a build directly from Ant. This can be useful in IDE's like Eclipse and NetBeans for invoking your builds but also in a Continuous Integration server that understands Ant (which is just about all of them).

The generated build.xml is a minimal Ant script that uses an Ant import task to import .sencha/app/build-impl.xml as well as several other files. While build.xml is intended to be edited after it is generated, the .sencha/app/*-impl.xml files are not. These files will be replaced by sencha app upgrade and should NOT be edited. These files are excellent for reference, but should not be modified unless absolutely necessary.

Build Targets

The targets below define the application build process from start to finish. With the exception of init each target has a property that can be set to 1 to disable that step.

  • init
  • refresh
  • resolve (defaults to 1; set skip.resolve=0 to enable)
  • js
  • resources
  • sass
  • slice
  • page
  • native-package

With the exception of init each of these targets can be dropped out of the default build by use of a build property (see below) with the target name prefixed by "skip.". For example, to disable the slice target:

skip.slice=1

These steps can also be run individually if only that piece is desired. This is often the useful for rebuilding only the Sass:

sencha ant sass

Note: Using sencha ant is equivalent to using your own version of Ant if you have Ant 1.8 or higher installed.

Configuration

Most aspects of the build script behind sencha app build are controlled by properties as is typical of Ant. In this case there are two kinds of properties: configuration properties and build properties.

Configuration Properties

Sencha Cmd configuration properties are available to the build script but also drive many other features of Sencha Cmd (like the compiler). To see the current set of configuration properties, run this command:

sencha diag show

In most cases you can tell where each property comes from by its prefix:

  • app. -- See "app.json" and ".sencha/app/sencha.cfg".
  • workspace. -- See "workspace.json" and ".sencha/workspace/sencha.cfg".
  • framework. -- See "cmd/sencha.cfg" in the Ext JS or Sencha Touch SDK.
  • cmd. -- See "sencha.cfg" in the Sencha Cmd install folder.

The use of configuration properties is much broader than the build process and is discussed in some detail in Advanced Sencha Cmd.

Build Properties

The build script defines many other properties that are specific to builds. These build properties are typically prefixed by "build.".

To see the current values of these you can run this command from your app folder:

sencha ant .props

Setting Build Properties

There are many ways to configure build properties. The simplest way is to edit one of the build properties files. To decide which file to edit it is helpful to know the priority of each of these files and under what conditions they are loaded.

  • "local.properties" -- If present, this file is loaded first. This file is intended to be applied only locally (to the local machine). It should not be committed to source control to be used by others. These settings take priority over any properties defined in other properties files as well as the current configuration properties.
  • Sencha Cmd configuration properties
  • ".sencha/app/${build.environment}.properties" -- Based on the value of the build.environment properties, exactly one of the following will be loaded. Setting properties in these files allow you to have different values for properties based on the type of build being run.
    • ".sencha/app/native.properties"
    • ".sencha/app/package.properties"
    • ".sencha/app/production.properties"
    • ".sencha/app/testing.properties"
  • ".sencha/app/build.properties" -- These properties are loaded next and have lower priority over the build-environment-specific properties. These are properties that are used by all (or most) environments. This file is intended for customization.
  • ".sencha/app/defaults.properties" -- These properties are the last (default) values to load. This file is "owned" by Sencha Cmd and will be updated each release as new properties are added. This file serves as a reference for the defined set of build properties but should not be edited; edit any of the other files instead.

The only properties that have higher priority than "local.properties" are those passed in via the command line.

Customization

Many common needs are accounted for via build properties, but it is impossible to account for all use cases in this way. When configuration options cannot accomplish the task, the next level of customization is to extend the generated "build.xml" Ant script.

In addition to the import task, "build.xml" contains a comment block describing many of the available extension points. These are in the form of optional Ant targets and are named after their build process step but with prefixes of "-before-" and "-after-". The most common extensions point then are these:

  • init
    • -before-init
    • -after-init
  • refresh
    • -before-refresh
    • -after-refresh
  • resolve
    • -before-resolve
    • -after-resolve
  • js
    • -before-js
    • -after-js
  • resources
    • -before-resources
    • -after-resources
  • sass
    • -before-sass
    • -after-sass
  • slice
    • -before-slice
    • -after-slice
  • page
    • -before-page
    • -after-page
  • native-package
    • -before-native-package
    • -after-native-package

To perform additional processing before or after any build step, add an appropriately named target to "build.xml". These targets will be invoked by sencha app build. These will also be invoked if you use Ant to directly invoke a particular target.

One common use of these extensions points is to post-process the build output in the "all-classes.js" file. Using a few predefined Ant tasks we can, for example, put a copyright header on the generated file after it is generated:

<target name="-after-page">
    <tstamp>
        <format property="THISYEAR" pattern="yyyy"/>
    </tstamp>

    <!--
    The build.classes.file property holds the full path to the "all-classes.js"
    file so we use that variable rather than hard-code the name.
    -->
    <move file="${build.classes.file}" tofile="${build.classes.file}.tmp"/>

    <concat destfile="${build.classes.file}">
        <header filtering="no" trimleading="yes">
/*
 * Copyright (C) ${THISYEAR}. All Rights Reserved.
 * My Company Name
 */
        </header>
        <fileset file="${build.classes.file}.tmp"/>
    </concat>

    <delete file="${build.classes.file}.tmp" />
</target>

Next Steps

Cmd 7.5.0