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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.
Producing an application that is functional, usable, and beautiful across all devices is the holy grail of application development. With Ext JS 6 you now have the tools you need to achieve this goal with minimal difficulty.
Creating an application that meets all of these requirements can be accomplished in a few different ways.
One of the biggest changes in Ext JS 6 is the merging of Ext JS and Touch into a single framework containing two distinct toolkits: classic and modern. These toolkits contain the view layers from Ext JS and Touch. Applications that share core resources and logic and utilize both toolkits are called Universal applications.
To select the application's toolkit, users simply adjust their Sencha Cmd generated
application’s app.json as follows:
"toolkit": "classic", // or "modern"
The core of both frameworks (data, controllers, models, etc) has been reconciled into a singular, common platform. This allows for shared data and logic, which can help developers optimize their applications even further.
Note: We'll talk about each toolkit in further detail below.
If you're not familiar with app.json, it's a list of configs that is the core of
your application.
The app.json file generated by Sencha Cmd contains many properties that you may want
to adjust. These properties are documented inline to explain what they each control.
If you are upgrading a project, your app.json may not contain all of the possible options.
After performing the upgrade, the default values for any missing properties can instead be
found in ".sencha/app/app.defaults.json". You should not edit that file, but can copy
pieces from it to your app.json file.
For more information about app.json, please check out the microloader guide.
The classic toolkit provides traditional Ext JS 5 application support. This includes support for the desktop browsers, tablets, and touchscreen enabled laptops.
The modern toolkit provides universal HTML5 application support all modern browsers (IE11+) from desktop to phone.
Build profiles allow developers to create variations of an application based on the builds
object found in an application's app.json file. Historically, users have had the
opportunity to differentiate builds based on theme and locale.
We talked more about app.json above, but for more information, please check out
the microloader guide.
As of Ext JS 6 and Sencha Cmd 6, developers may now include a toolkit key within their
build configs. This allows users to set the toolkit to classic or modern (more below). Cmd
then loops through each build key and applies the appropriate toolkit and any toolkit
agnostic logic for each build.
Toolkit agnostic code includes anything that can be shared between toolkits. This includes
anything previously found within the sencha-core package (i.e., data, controllers, etc).
It's important to note that this shared logic must be usable by both toolkits.
A builds config for a Universal application should look similar to the following
JSON structure:
"builds": {
"mymodern": {
"toolkit" : "modern",
"theme" : "theme-cupertino",
"requires": [
"charts",
"ux"
]
},
"myclassic": {
"toolkit" : "classic",
"theme" : "theme-neptune",
"slicer" : null,
"requires": [
"charts"
]
}
}
Let's talk about the outcome you would expect based on the builds object above. This builds
config allows you to issue the following build commands from Sencha Cmd:
// Build modern application only
sencha app build mymodern
// Build classic application only
sencha app build myclassic
// Build all targets within the builds object
sencha app build
It's important to note that the build target names can be anything you choose. You could
replace mymodern with foo, and then issue:
sencha app build foo
The resulting mymodern application would use the modern toolkit, have access to the ux
and charts package, and display the Cupertino theme.
The resulting myclassic application would use the classic toolkit, have access to the
charts package, and display the Neptune theme.
You can create as many variations within the builds object as you like. All output will
show up in your root level builds folder by default.
Universal applications utilize Sencha Cmd to produce multiple application builds spanning
both toolkits. These builds result in applications that may be run on Desktop or
Mobile devices. It's important to note that a single application cannot include
modern and classic frameworks in a single classpath. In most cases, an application will
contain global logic in the traditional application directory; the root level ’app’ folder.
Ideally, the Universal aspect of the your application will contain data, models,
viewmodels, etc. You can also share controllers, though, developers may need to be
creative in order to produce logic that can span toolkits.
For instance, let's assume your classic application has a grid, and your modern application has a list, and they both consume a shared store and model. Then, let's say that you'd like both applications to react to user interaction with these components. We must look for common events between the grid and the list. An ideal solution may be to utilize the select event, since both components are able to fire it. However, if your logic included "itemtap", your classic application would not know what that meant, and it would most likely cause issues during the classic portion of the Cmd build process.
After considering shared logic and resources, developers can then create toolkit specific code within the appropriate toolkit src folder. This is best understood by viewing the new Universal application folder structure in Ext JS 6.
Note: Folder structure should look quite similar to past implementations if you are creating a single toolkit application.
It's important to note some significant differences in Ext JS 6 and Sencha Cmd 6's new directory structure when creating a Universal application. These changes were made in order to ensure applications were able to target three specific areas:
Global Application Code
Classic Specific Code
Modern Specific Code
Here's a representation of a Universal app folder structure:
// app
// app
// model
// store
// view
// classic
// src
// sass
// resources
// modern
// src
// sass
// resources
// resources
// sass
It's simple to get started with a Universal application. Sencha Cmd now produces a
"starter app" that contains the appropriate file structure, app.json, and examples of
shared code. To create your Universal application, generate an application as per usual:
sencha -sdk /path/to/ExtSDK generate app MyApp ./MyAppLocation
Sencha Cmd will now create a fully functional Universal application. This application will produce a classic and modern application that both share data that can be found in the "app" folder. Toolkit specific definitions may be found in their respective toolkit named folders (modern and classic).
In order to see each application for development, you can target your sencha app watch in the same manner as you target your builds.
sencha app watch modern
sencha app watch classic
Note: Omitting a watch target will default to the first named build in the builds object.
Once you've built your application, you can view the builds in their respective browsers.
For instance, loading the build folder on an iPhone should show you the modern version of
your application. Loading it in a desktop browser should show you the classic version
of your application.
There are also several ways to use an application’s runtime environment to create applications. These methods include app profile, responsive configs, and platform configs.
Let's explore the possibilities each of them presents and how they can work together to provide your users with a seamless experience across many mediums.
Using Ext.app.Profile allows developers to swap out an application's view based on a defined
criteria via the mainView (or Viewport). This means you can create an entirely different
view for your application by activating a profile for specific conditions. For instance,
you may want to present specific views depending on whether your application is being loaded
on a Mobile device -vs- a Desktop browser.
In this case, you would create two profiles and then list them in your profiles array found on the Application class. Here's a simple example of such a setup:
Ext.define('App.Application', {
extend: 'Ext.app.Application',
profiles: [
'Desktop',
'Mobile'
]
});
The active profile is determined by the returned value of the isActive
method on your profile. Here's an example of how you could configure an application to
load the desktop view based on the detected OS.
Ext.define('App.profile.Desktop', {
extend: 'Ext.app.Profile',
mainView: 'App.view.desktop.Main',
isActive: function () {
return Ext.os.is.Desktop;
},
launch: function () {
console.log('Launch Desktop');
}
});
Profiles do not have to use the mainView config. Instead, you could use the profile's
launch method for any further custom processing. Only the active profile’s launch method
will be called.
The platformConfig property can be used in class
declarations or to configure object instances based on the current platform or device
classification. We might use this in a view like so:
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
title: 'Mfg Summary',
platformConfig: {
desktop: {
title: 'Manufacturing Summary'
}
}
});
The above has the same result as the direct approach below:
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
title: testForDesktop ? 'Manufacturing Summary'
: 'Mfg Summary'
});
The idea is not to compare the merits of platformConfig versus a ternary operator,
but rather to see that platformConfig is treated as part of the class declaration. As
such, this approach will work regardless of the base class. One reason to prefer
platformConfig over inline logic is to keep a view as data-only which can be safely sent
in JSON format.
One can also use platformConfig to configure instances:
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
items: [{
xtype: 'panel',
platformConfig: {
desktop: {
title: 'Manufacturing Summary'
},
'!desktop': {
title: 'Mfg Summary'
}
}
}]
});
The best direct translation of the above would be:
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
items: [
Ext.merge({
xtype: 'panel'
},
testForDesktop ? {
title: 'Manufacturing Summary'
} : {
title: 'Mfg Summary'
})
]
});
In this use of platformConfig, however, the merging is handled by the initConfig
method. In other words, providing a platformConfig property as an instance configuration
is only supported for classes that call initConfig in their constructor. This is the case
for Ext.Widget, Ext.Component, most of the data package classes
(such as AbstractStore), and any class that uses Observable.
Similar to how using platformConfig in a class declaration modifies the class body, using
platformConfig on an instance config modifies the initial configuration of the object.
Ext JS 5.0 introduced the responsiveConfig and the Responsive Mixin
and plugin that enables it. responsiveConfig's rules and
properties are not only evaluated when creating instances, but when device orientation or
viewport size changes. While this adds some overhead compared to platformConfig, it is
likely to be more efficient than handling these yourself by listening to window resize or
orientation change.
If we adjust our criteria slightly, we can make the title respond to device size instead of device classification ("desktop").
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
mixins: ['Ext.mixin.Responsive'],
responsiveConfig: {
'width >= 600': {
title: 'Manufacturing Summary'
},
'width < 600': {
title: 'Mfg Summary'
}
}
});
Because the above class has a responsiveConfig, we benefit from using the mixin here and
avoid creating a plugin for each instance. When used on a component instance, however,
we must use the responsive plugin instead:
Ext.define('App.view.summary.Manufacturing', {
extend: 'Ext.panel.Panel',
items: [{
xtype: 'panel',
plugins: 'responsive',
responsiveConfig: {
'width >= 600': {
title: 'Manufacturing Summary'
},
'width < 600': {
title: 'Mfg Summary'
}
}
}]
});
It is important to remember that width in the above example is viewport width, not component width.
With all these tools at hand, it is just a matter of picking the right tool for the particular
situation. For simple tuning at load time, there is platformConfig. For more dynamic
conditions, there is responsiveConfig. To change things on a larger scale, there is
Ext.app.Profile.
And if you need an application that looks completely different on tablets than it does on desktop, or even phones, you could consider Sencha Cmd build profiles. Build profiles can remove the tablet overhead from the desktop build and vice versa.
Since there cannot be a "one size fits all" solution, Ext JS provides different tools that combine efficiency and flexibility. They each work together to help ensure that your application will be a natural fit for the widest possible range of devices.
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