<style scoped>
#demo {
position: relative;
}
#homebase {
margin-left: 100px;
position: absolute;
left: 0;
top: 40px;
height: 150px;
width: 200px;
}
.robot {
height: 210px;
width: 180px;
position: absolute;
top: 0px;
left: 0;
outline-style: none;
opacity: 0.5;
filter: alpha(opacity=50);
}
.yui3-focused {
opacity: 1;
z-index: 1;
filter: alpha(opacity=100);
}
#B {
left: 125px;
}
#demo input {
margin-left: 4em;
}
#demo label {
font-size: 87%;
color: #555;
}
#detach {
margin-top: 150px;
}
</style>
<div class="intro">
<p>
This example will illustrate how to use the synthetic event creation
API. We'll create an `arrow` event that fires in response
to the user pressing the arrow keys (up, down, left, right) and adds a
`direction` property to the generated event.
</p>
<p>Subscribing to this new event will look like this:</p>
```
node.on("arrow", onArrowHandler);
```
<p>
Support will also be added for delegation, allowing a single subscriber
from a node higher up the DOM tree, to listen for the new event
emanating from its descendant elements.
</p>
```
containerNode.delegate("arrow", onArrowHandler, ".robot");
```
</div>
<div class="example yui3-skin-sam">
{{>synth-example-source}}
</div>
<h2>`on`, `fire`, and `detach`</h2>
<p>
The three interesting moments in the lifecycle of a DOM event subscription
are
</p>
<ol>
<li>The event is subscribed to</li>
<li>The event is fired</li>
<li>The event is unsubscribed from</li>
</ol>
<p>
Create a new synthetic DOM event with `Y.Event.define( <em>name</em>,
<em>config</em> )`. Define the implementation logic for the
`on` and `detach` moments in the configuration.
Typically the condition triggering the event firing is set up in the
`on` phase.
</p>
```
Y.Event.define("arrow", {
on: function (node, sub, notifier) {
// what happens when a subscription is made
// if (condition) {
notifier.fire(); // subscribers executed
// }
},
detach: function (node, sub, notifier) {
// what happens when a subscription is removed
}
});
```
<p>
In the case of arrow handling, the trigger is simply a key event with a
`keyCode` between 37 and 40. There are a few browser quirks with arrow
handling that warrant listening to `keydown` for some browsers and
`keypress` for others, so we'll take care of that transparently for `arrow`
subscribers.
</p>
```
Y.Event.define("arrow", {
on: function (node, sub, notifier) {
var directions = {
37: 'left',
38: 'up',
39: 'right',
40: 'down'
};
// Webkit and IE repeat keydown when you hold down arrow keys.
// Opera links keypress to page scroll; others keydown.
// Firefox prevents page scroll via preventDefault() on either
// keydown or keypress.
// Bummer to sniff, but can't test the repeating behavior, and a
// feature test for the scrolling would more than double the code size.
var eventName = (Y.UA.webkit || Y.UA.ie) ? 'keydown' : 'keypress';
// To make detaching the associated DOM event easy, store the detach
// handle from the DOM subscription on the synthethic subscription
// object.
sub._detacher = node.on(eventName, function (e) {
// Only notify subscribers if one of the arrow keys was pressed
if (directions[e.keyCode]) {
// Add the extra property
e.direction = directions[e.keyCode];
// Firing the notifier event executes the arrow subscribers
// Pass along the key event, which will be renamed "arrow"
notifier.fire(e);
}
});
},
detach: function (node, sub, notifier) {
// Detach the key event subscription using the stored detach handle
}
} );
```
<h2>Add Delegation Support</h2>
<p>
Since the `arrow` event is simply a filtered `keydown` or `keypress` event,
no special handling needs to be done for delegate subscriptions. We will
extract the key event handler and use it for both `on("arrow", ...)` and
`delegate("arrow", ...)` subscriptions.
</p>
```
Y.Event.define("arrow", {
// Webkit and IE repeat keydown when you hold down arrow keys.
// Opera links keypress to page scroll; others keydown.
// Firefox prevents page scroll via preventDefault() on either
// keydown or keypress.
_event: (Y.UA.webkit || Y.UA.ie) ? 'keydown' : 'keypress',
_keys: {
'37': 'left',
'38': 'up',
'39': 'right',
'40': 'down'
},
_keyHandler: function (e, notifier) {
if (this._keys[e.keyCode]) {
e.direction = this._keys[e.keyCode];
notifier.fire(e);
}
},
on: function (node, sub, notifier) {
// Use the extended subscription signature to set the 'this' object
// in the callback and pass the notifier as a second parameter to
// _keyHandler
sub._detacher = node.on(this._event, this._keyHandler,
this, notifier);
},
detach: function (node, sub, notifier) {
},
// Note the delegate handler receives a fourth parameter, the filter
// passed (e.g.) container.delegate('click', callback, '.HERE');
// The filter could be either a string or a function.
delegate: function (node, sub, notifier, filter) {
sub._delegateDetacher = node.delegate(this._event, this._keyHandler,
filter, this, notifier);
},
// Delegate uses a separate detach function to facilitate undoing more
// complex wiring created in the delegate logic above. Not needed here.
detachDelegate: function (node, sub, notifier) {
}
});
```
<h2>Use it</h2>
<p>
Subscribe to the new event or detach the event as you would any other DOM
event.
</p>
```
function move(e) {
// to prevent page scrolling
// See full code listing to show the data set up
var xy = this.getData();
switch (e.direction) {
case 'up': xy.y -= 10; break;
case 'down': xy.y += 10; break;
case 'left': xy.x -= 10; break;
case 'right': xy.x += 10; break;
}
top : (xy.y + 'px'),
left: (xy.x + 'px'),
duration: .2
});
}
// Subscribe using node.on("arrow", ...);
Y.one("#A").on("arrow", move),
Y.one("#B").on("arrow", move)
// OR using container.delegate("arrow", ...);
subs = Y.one('#demo').delegate('arrow', move, '.robot');
```
<h2>Bonus Step: to the Gallery!</h2>
<p>
Synthetic events are perfect candidates for Gallery modules. There are a
number already hosted there, and there are plenty of UI interaction
patterns that would benefit from being encapsulated in synthetic
events.
</p>
<p>
The `arrow` event in this example is also
<a href="http://yuilibrary.com/gallery/show/event-arrow">in the gallery</a>,
but with additional functionality. Check out
<a href="https://github.com/lsmith/yui3-gallery/blob/master/build/gallery-event-arrow/gallery-event-arrow-debug.js">its source</a>
to see what you can do with synthetic events.
</p>
<h2>Full Code Listing</h2>
```
{{>synth-example-source}}
```