Ember.js - Using a Handlebars helper to detect that a subview has rendered

Question

There are numerous questions that ask in one way or another: "How do I do something after some part of a view is rendered?" (here, here, and here just to give a few). The answer is usually:

1. use didInsertElement to run code when a view is initially rendered.
2. use Ember.run.next(...) to run your code after the view changes are flushed, if you need to access the DOM elements that are created.
3. use an observer on isLoaded or a similar property to do something after the data you need is loaded.

What's irritating about this is, it leads to some very clumsy looking things like this:

didInsertElement: function(){
    content.on('didLoad', function(){
        Ember.run.next(function(){
            // now finally do my stuff
        });
    });
}

And that doesn't really even necessarily work when you're using ember-data because isLoaded may already be true (if the record has already been loaded before and is not requested again from the server). So getting the sequencing right is hard.

On top of that, you're probably already watching isLoaded in your view template like so:

{{#if content.isLoaded}}
    <input type="text" id="myTypeahead" data-provide="typeahead">
{{else}}
    <div>Loading data...</div>
{{/if}}

and doing it again in your controller seems like duplication.

I came up with a slightly novel solution, but it either needs work or is actually a bad idea...either case could be true:

I wrote a small Handlebars helper called {{fire}} that will fire an event with a custom name when the containing handlebars template is executed (i.e. that should be every time the subview is re-rendered, right?).

Here is my very early attempt:

Ember.Handlebars.registerHelper('fire', function (evtName, options) {
    if (typeof this[evtName] == 'function') {
        var context = this;
        Ember.run.next(function () {
            context[evtName].apply(context, options);
        });
    }
});

which is used like so:

{{#if content.isLoaded}}
    {{fire typeaheadHostDidRender}}
    <input type="text" id="myTypeahead" data-provide="typeahead">
{{else}}
    <div>Loading data...</div>
{{/if}}

This essentially works as is, but it has a couple of flaws I know of already:

1. It calls the method on the controller...it would probably be better to at least be able to send the "event" to the ancestor view object instead, perhaps even to make that the default behavior. I tried {{fire typeaheadHostDidRender target="view"}} and that didn't work. I can't see yet how to get the "current" view from what gets passed into the helper, but obviously the {{view}} helper can do it.
2. I'm guessing there is a more formal way to trigger a custom event than what I'm doing here, but I haven't learned that yet. jQuery's .trigger() doesn't seem to work on controller objects, though it may work on views. Is there an "Ember" way to do this?
3. There could be things I don't understand, like a case where this event would be triggered but the view wasn't in fact going to be added to the DOM...?

As you might be able to guess, I'm using Bootstrap's Typeahead control, and I need to wire it after the <input> is rendered, which actually only happens after several nested {{#if}} blocks evaluate to true in my template. I also use jqPlot, so I run into the need for this pattern a lot. This seems like a viable and useful tool, but it could be I'm missing something big picture that makes this approach dumb. Or maybe there's another way to do this that hasn't shown up in my searches?

Can someone either improve this approach for me or tell me why it's a bad idea?

UPDATE

I've figured a few of the bits out:

1. I can get the first "real" containing view with options.data.view.get('parentView')...obvious perhaps, but I didn't think it would be that simple.
2. You actually can do a jQuery-style obj.trigger(evtName) on any arbitrary object...but the object must extend the Ember.Evented mixin! So that I suppose is the correct way to do this kind of event sending in Ember. Just make sure the intended target extends Ember.Evented (views already do).

Here's the improved version so far:

Ember.Handlebars.registerHelper('fire', function (evtName, options) {
    var view = options.data.view;
    if (view.get('parentView')) view = view.get('parentView');

    var context = this;
    var target = null;
    if (typeof view[evtName] == 'function') {
        target = view;
    } else if (typeof context[evtName] == 'function') {
        target = context;
    } else if (view.get('controller') && typeof view.get('controller')[evtName] == 'function') {
        target = view.get('controller');
    }

    if (target) {
        Ember.run.next(function () {
            target.trigger(evtName);
        });
    }
});

Now just about all I'm missing is figuring out how to pass in the intended target (e.g. the controller or view--the above code tries to guess). Or, figuring out if there's some unexpected behavior that breaks the whole concept.

Any other input?

Answer 1

UPDATED

Updated for Ember 1.0 final, I'm currently using this code on Ember 1.3.1.

Okay, I think I got it all figured out. Here's the "complete" handlebars helper:

Ember.Handlebars.registerHelper('trigger', function (evtName, options) {
    // See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13760733/ember-js-using-a-handlebars-helper-to-detect-that-a-subview-has-rendered
    // for known flaws with this approach

    var options = arguments[arguments.length - 1],
        hash = options.hash,
        hbview = options.data.view,
        concreteView, target, controller, link;

    concreteView = hbview.get('concreteView');

    if (hash.target) {
        target = Ember.Handlebars.get(this, hash.target, options);
    } else {
        target = concreteView;
    }

    Ember.run.next(function () {
        var newElements;
        if(hbview.morph){
            newElements = $('#' + hbview.morph.start).nextUntil('#' + hbview.morph.end)
        } else {
            newElements = $('#' + hbview.get('elementId')).children();
        }
        target.trigger(evtName, concreteView, newElements);
    });
});

I changed the name from {{fire}} to {{trigger}} to more closely match Ember.Evented/jQuery convention. This updated code is based on the built-in Ember {{action}} helper, and should be able to accept any target="..." argument in your template, just as {{action}} does. Where it differs from {{action}} is (besides firing automatically when the template section is rendered):

1. Sends the event to the view by default. Sending to the route or controller by default wouldn't make as much sense, as this should probably primarily be used for view-centric actions (though I often use it to send events to a controller).
2. Uses Ember.Evented style events, so for sending an event to an arbitrary non-view object (including a controller) the object must extend Ember.Evented, and must have a listener registered. (To be clear, it does not call something in the actions: {…} hash!)

Note that if you send an event to an instance of Ember.View, all you have to do is implement a method by the same name (see docs, code). But if your target is not a view (e.g. a controller) you must register a listener on the object with obj.on('evtName', function(evt){...}) or the Function.prototype.on extension.

So here's a real-world example. I have a view with the following template, using Ember and Bootstrap:

<script data-template-name="reportPicker" type="text/x-handlebars">
    <div id="reportPickerModal" class="modal show fade">
        <div class="modal-header">
            <button type="button" class="close" data-dissmis="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
            <h3>Add Metric</h3>
        </div>
        <div class="modal-body">
            <div class="modal-body">
                <form>
                    <label>Report Type</label>
                    {{view Ember.Select 
                        viewName="selectReport" 
                        contentBinding="reportTypes"
                        selectionBinding="reportType"
                        prompt="Select"
                    }}
                    {{#if reportType}}
                        <label>Subject Type</label>
                        {{#unless subjectType}}
                            {{view Ember.Select 
                                viewName="selectSubjectType" 
                                contentBinding="subjectTypes"
                                selectionBinding="subjectType"
                                prompt="Select"
                            }}
                        {{else}}
                            <button class="btn btn-small" {{action clearSubjectType target="controller"}}>{{subjectType}} <i class="icon-remove"></i></button>
                            <label>{{subjectType}}</label>
                            {{#if subjects.isUpdating}}
                                <div class="progress progress-striped active">
                                    <div class="bar" style="width: 100%;">Loading subjects...</div>
                                </div>
                            {{else}}
                                {{#if subject}}
                                    <button class="btn btn-small" {{action clearSubject target="controller"}}>{{subject.label}} <i class="icon-remove"></i></button>
                                {{else}}
                                    {{trigger didRenderSubjectPicker}}
                                    <input id="subjectPicker" type="text" data-provide="typeahead">
                                {{/if}}
                            {{/if}}
                        {{/unless}}
                    {{/if}}
                </form>
            </div>
        </div>
        <div class="modal-footer">
            <a href="#" class="btn" data-dissmis="modal">Cancel</a>
            <a href="#" {{action didSelectReport target="controller"}} class="btn btn-primary">Add</a>
        </div>
    </div>
</script>

I needed to know when this element was available in the DOM, so I could attach a typeahead to it:

<input id="subjectPicker" type="text" data-provide="typeahead">

So, I put a {{trigger}} helper in the same block:

{{#if subject}}
    <button class="btn btn-small" {{action clearSubject target="controller"}}>{{subject.label}} <i class="icon-remove"></i></button>
{{else}}
    {{trigger didRenderSubjectPicker}}
    <input id="subjectPicker" type="text" data-provide="typeahead">
{{/if}}

And then implemented didRenderSubjectPicker in my view class:

App.ReportPickerView = Ember.View.extend({
    templateName: 'reportPicker',

    didInsertElement: function () {
        this.get('controller').viewDidLoad(this);
    }
    ,
    didRenderSubjectPicker: function () {
        this.get('controller').wireTypeahead();
        $('#subjectPicker').focus();
    }

});

Done! Now the typeahead gets wired when (and only when) the sub-section of the template is finally rendered. Note the difference in utility, didInsertElement is used when the main (or perhaps "concrete" is the proper term) view is rendered, while didRenderSubjectPicker is run when the sub-section of the view is rendered.

If I wanted to send the event directly to the controller instead, I'd just change the template to read:

{{trigger didRenderSubjectPicker target=controller}}

and do this in my controller:

App.ReportPickerController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({
    wireTypeahead: function(){
        // I can access the rendered DOM elements here
    }.on("didRenderSubjectPicker")
});

Done!

The one caveat is that this may happen again when the view sub-section is already on screen (for example if a parent view is re-rendered). But in my case, running the typeahead initialization again is fine anyway, and it would be pretty easy to detect and code around if need be. And this behavior may be desired in some cases.

I'm releasing this code as public domain, no warranty given or liability accepted whatsoever. If you want to use this, or the Ember folks want to include it in the baseline, go right ahead! (Personally I think that would be a great idea, but that's not surprising.)