Introduction to Futures API
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.
As you may know, when a dynamic web app (such as an Ext JS app) is loaded in the browser, the HTML is dynamically created as and when new views and components are needed.
Ext JS also allows multiple instances of the same view to be rendered, so whenever
components are rendered to the page as HTML elements, all of the id properties
are dynamically generated.
Ext JS renders its components through customized div tags on the page, along
with wrapping standard HTML form inputs.
For example, columns from an Ext JS grid when rendered to the browser would have HTML markup similar to this:
...
<div class="x-gridcolumn x-component x-size-monitored x-paint-monitored x-resizable x-layout-box-item x-layout-hbox-item x-flexed x-stretched x-widthed"
id="ext-gridcolumn-1" data-componentid="ext-gridcolumn-1"
style="min-width: 40px; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 0px;">
<div class="x-title-el" id="ext-element-93">
<div class="x-text-el" id="ext-element-94">Name</div>
</div>
...
</div>
<div class="x-gridcolumn x-component x-size-monitored x-paint-monitored x-resizable x-layout-box-item x-layout-hbox-item x-flexed x-stretched x-widthed"
id="ext-gridcolumn-2" data-componentid="ext-gridcolumn-2"
style="min-width: 40px; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 0px;">
<div class="x-title-el">
<div class="x-text-el" id="ext-element-99">Type</div>
</div>
...
</div>
...
In a standard testing tool, if we wanted to reference one of the grid's columns, we might
try to use the id of the element associated with the column, but in the example
above, you can see that the columns have an id similar to this:
id="ext-gridcolumn-2"
This type of automated output makes it very difficult for a standard testing tool to reliably locate elements on the page, as identifiers will regularly change.
Other testing tools also do not have an awareness of the link between Ext JS Components and the physical representation of that Component on the web page (the rendered HTML).
One of the powerful features of Sencha Test is its built-in awareness of Ext JS and ExtReact components, through the use of the Futures API.
The Futures API is a suite of JavaScript helper methods, that allow you to more reliably (and easily) reference Ext JS and ExtReact components, and the items within those components, along with other Elements in the page.
For example, if we wanted to interact with a particular grid's row as part of a test, we can use the following code:
it('Should click on a row in the Assets grid', function() {
ST.grid('assetgrid')
.rowAt(2)
.click();
});
Using just a few simple lines of code, we are able to reference an Ext JS
grid through a particular locator (in this case, the grid's xtype is being used),
and once we have a reference to it, there
are built-in methods for referencing the rows. Once we have the row, we
can simulate a user clicking on that part of the grid through the .click()
method.
We call all the methods in the above example chainable methods; this is where we can append methods one after the other.
By using the Futures API, you don't usually need to make specific Jasmine assertions, for example:
expect(something).toBe(something)
Instead, in the example shown in the previous section, just through the virtue of
executing ST.grid('assetgrid'), if
the grid isn't located within the default timeout period (5 seconds), then
that failure will cause the associated test to fail with an error
indicating that a timeout occurred while waiting for the grid to be located.
Likewise, if there isn't a row at index 2 in the grid, then .rowAt(2) will
cause the test to fail, with an error indicating that the expected row
was not located.
Due to the dynamic nature of frameworks like Ext JS, a component might not have become fully rendered to the page at the point a test is executed, or data for a grid may not have yet loaded.
The Futures API handles these timing issues for you. In the example below, if
there is no grid matching the defined locator (assetgrid), then it will
wait for one to become available (within the default timeout period).
it('Should click on a row in the Assets grid', function() {
ST.grid('assetgrid')
.rowAt(2)
.click();
});
The same logic applies for the rows within the grid. If the grid has to load
data from a remote server, there could be a one second delay after the grid
is rendered on screen until data has been retrieved from the server and populated
within the grid. If there is no row in the grid when calling .rowAt(2),
the Futures API will wait for one to become available before proceeding to the
next action.
When you make use of separate ST. Future API calls in the same test, Sencha Test
automatically queues and executes them in the order they're written in the test.
For example:
it('Should click on a row in the Assets grid', function() {
ST.grid('assetgrid')
.rowAt(2)
.click();
ST.component('assetform')
.visible();
});
Sencha Test will queue each of the above actions, and execute them in the order shown below. It will only move to the next action after the previous action is fulfilled.
assetgrid2assetformassetform is visibleEssentially the Futures API run synchronously one after the other, rather than asynchronously where the APIs could run altogether, or in a random order.
In the example shown in the previous section, if there wasn't a row located at index 2, it would cause .rowAt(2)
to issue a timeout failure on that particular action.
The .click() would therefore be skipped, along with all remaining actions in that test. Sencha Test would
then move on to the next test in the test suite.
For more details on the inner workings of the Futures API, take a look at the documentation for ST.future.Element.
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