cartodb/doc/frontend

CARTO Frontend documentation

1. Running the project
2. Tasks
3. Pull Request rules
4. JS Styleguide
5. CSS Styleguide
6. Testing
7. Static pages

Running the project

We use Webpack to automate build tasks related to both CSS and JS and NodeJS v6.9.2 (we recommend to use NVM).

Install dependencies using a normal npm install as such:

npm install

Then you can run the project with:

npm start

That enables CSS and JS watchers for rebuilding bundles automatically upon changes.

Note! Make sure config/app_config.yml doesn't contain the app_assets configuration, i.e.:

# Make sure the following lines are removed, or commented like this:
# app_assets:

#   asset_host: '//cartodb-libs.global.ssl.fastly.net/cartodbui'

Don't forget to restart Rails after you have modified config/app_config.yml.

Tasks

This is a list of available tasks to run:

Task	Description
npm start	Compiles carto-node, the static pages and watches Builder and Dashboard
npm run dev	Runs webpack for Builder and Dashboard
npm run dev:static	Runs webpack for static pages
npm run dev:editor	Runs Editor for development
npm run build	Create production builds for Builder and Dashboard
npm run build:static	Create production builds for static pages
npm run carto-node	Create production builds for carto-node
npm run test	Run all test suites
npm run test:builder	Run and watches builder test suites
npm run test:dashboard	Run and watches dashboard test suites
npm run test:editor	Run and watches editor test suites
npm run lint	Runs the Javascript linter
npm run lint:fix	Runs the Javascript linter with the --fix flag
npm run lint:css	Runs the CSS linter
npm run bump	Creates a patch version
npm run bump:major	Creates a major version
npm run bump:minor	Creates a minor version
npm run update-internal-deps	Update the package-lock file
npm run ci	Runs the CSS lint and tests

Pull Request rules

There are several rules you should follow when creating a new pull request:

• Title has to be descriptive. If you are fixing a bug don't use the ticket title or number.
• Explain what you have achieved in the description. If you change something related with the UI of the application add an image or an animation (LiceCap is awesome) about the feature you have just implemented. Or show the change against what it is already done.
• Add acceptance instructions, they're really useful for the person who tests it.
• Update NEWS.md file with a description about the task, and the issue number.
• CSS and JS linters must pass.
• Every new feature (as well as bug fixes) must come with a test case.
• All tests must pass (see Testing).
• You can see an example of a pull request here.

JS Styleguide

CARTO is built on top of CARTO.js, which in turns depends on some common libraries, in particular worth mentioning:

• BackboneJS 1.2.3.
• jQuery 2.1.4
• Underscore.js 1.8.3

Source code is located at lib/assets/javascripts, dependencies at vendor/assets/javascripts.

We use semistandard style guide for syntax consistency, it's checked as part of test run.

It's recommended to use it in your IDE, you can either use a Semistandard plugin or a ESLint plugin.

General rules

We use dangling underscores to mark a method as "private", so we know it's only used there. For example _showTooltip.

Backbone events

To keep the code organised we initialise all events in the _initBinds function, which is usually called in the constructor.

When using on or bind methods, we have to use add_related_model so when the view is removed, the binding is removed too. We won't need to do it if we're using listenTo or the model is this.model.

// Example with listenTo
_initBinds: function () {
  this.listenTo(this.model, 'change:show', this._onShowChange);
  this.listenTo(this.model, 'destroy', this._onDestroy);
},

// Example with on and add_related_model
_initBinds: function () {
  this._stateModel.on('change:status', this.render, this);
  this.add_related_model(this._stateModel);
},

If you want to create a custom event, remember to create it in camelCase and using the action in past simple, example:

this.model.trigger('sendMessage', 'Hello there!');
this.listenTo(this.model, 'sendMessage', message => console.log(message));

Backbone views

The render method should be the first in the view after the initialize.

The test should always have the toHaveNoLeaks test.

You can add a label to help you relate where the view belongs in the code. Use the attribute module in any view and you'll see a data attribute in the HTML element when in development node. more info

If we have to initialise multiple views inside another view, we use the _initViews function as same as we do with events, to keep the code organised.

_initViews: function () {
  // Create view
  this._firstView = new FirstView({
    model: this.model,
  });
  // Render it
  this.$('.js-first').append(this._firstView.render().el);
  // Add as subview to the current view
  this.addView(this._firstView);

  // ... more views here
},

CSS Styleguide

We use SASS, with .scss format, which are located at assets/stylesheets. Webpack is used to compile the files into .css files.

Also CARTO makes use of a linter machine for checking possible errors in those stylesheets. Rules are specified in the scss-style.yml file.

We use Stylelint with the standard config and the property sort ordering based on the SMACSS methodology.

General rules

• All new elements added in this CartoAssets repository should have included a CDB- namespace.
• Don't create default styles for common elements (e.g. input { padding: 10px 0 }). It will make more difficult edit styles for the future custom elements and the !important use will grow.
• Avoid creating new classes with only one attribute (e.g. .marginRight { margin-right: 10px }). It is impossible to manage the amount of cases we would like to cover.

Components

The component's name must be written in camel case:

.MyComponent {}

Component modifiers

A component modifier is a class that modifies the presentation of the base component in some form.

• Modifier names must be written in “camelCase” and be separated from the component name by two hyphens.
• The class should be included in the HTML in addition to the base component class.

.Button {}
.Button--small {}

Component descendants

A component descendent is a class that is attached to a descendent node of a component. It's responsible for applying presentation directly to the descendent on behalf of a particular component. Descendent names must be written in camel case.

.Card {}
.Card-header {}
.Card-footer {}
.Card-fullWidth {}

Component states

Use is-stateName to reflect changes to a component's state, the state name must be camel case.

Never style these classes directly, they should always be used as an adjoining class, this means that the same state names can be used in multiple contexts, but every component must define its own styles for the state (as they are scoped to the component).

.Dropdown {}
.Dropdown.is-open {}
.Dropdown.is-disabled {}

Component javascript classes

JavaScript-specific classes reduce the risk that changing the structure or theme of components will inadvertently affect any required JavaScript behaviour and complex functionality. It is not necessary to use them in every case, just think of them as a tool in your utility belt. If you are creating a class, which you dont intend to use for styling, but instead only as a selector in JavaScript, you should probably be adding the js- prefix. In practice this looks like this:

<button class="Button Button--primary js-delete">Delete</button>

JavaScript-specific classes should not, under any circumstances, be styled.

Testing

We use Jasmine 2.5.2 as test framework.

You can find the spec files in:

lib/assets/test/spec/(dashboard|builder|carto-node|deep-insights)

To start specs development type the next command:

# Builder specs
npm run test:builder

# Dashboard specs
npm run test:dashboard

You can optionally provide an argument to grunt to filter what specs will be generated, like this:

npm run test:builder -- --match=dropdown

After building the whole suite for the first time, a web server will be started on port 8088 and the spec runner webpage will show up. If you need to use a different port, change the port & URL values on the connect task

The process will watch changes in the codebase and will regenerate the specs as needed. Just refresh the Jasmine page to pass the tests again.

If you only want to run a subset of tests the easiest and fastest way is to use focused specs, but you can also append ?spec=str-matching-a-describe to test URL, or use --filter flag if running tests in a terminal.

Static pages

There are some views that can be served from a static file in public/static/ directory and must be built beforehand. For that purpose run the following command:

npm run build:static

Carto v3

• Backbone with organizations
• Global objects
• Conventions
• URLs

Update CartoDB.js v3

Follow these steps to update to get latest changes:

• go to lib/assets/javascripts/cdb/
• git checkout v3 && git pull
• go back to root and run grunt cdb
• commit both the new revision of the submodule and the generated file vendor/assets/javascripts/cartodb.uncompressed.js

Old Editor specs

In order to develop tests for the codebase outside Builder (that is, old Editor and dashboard pages) we advise to run:

npm run test:editor

After the building process finish, a webpage will show up with a link to the Jasmine page with all the specs. The URL of this page is http://localhost:8089/_SpecRunner.html

Then, the process will watch changes in the codebase and will regenerate the specs as needed. Just refresh the Jasmine page to pass the tests again.

Run specs and regular codebase simultaneously

If you want to run simultaneously the application and the specs generation follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal with Node v6.9.2 (use nvm) and run grunt editor. This will build the application assets and will watch for changes.

2. Open a second terminal and run grunt affected_editor_specs.

3. That's it. When you change any Builder Javascript file grunt editor will build the application bundle and grunt affected_editor_specs will build the specs.