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https://github.com/kbrw/reaxt

Use React template into your Elixir application for server rendering
https://github.com/kbrw/reaxt

elixir javascript react server-side-rendering webpack

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Use React template into your Elixir application for server rendering

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README 

        
Reaxt

=====



Use your [React](http://facebook.github.io/react/) components into your elixir application, using [webpack](http://webpack.github.io/) compilation, so :



- An isomorphic ready library (SEO/JS are now nice together), but with Elixir on the server side

- Just a Library, with a minimum constraint about your application organization and layout :

  - use any javascript compiled language

  - use any javascript routing logic or library

  - you can use JS React rendered component only for parts of your webpage

- Nice fluent dev workflow, with :

  - combined stacktrace : elixir | javascript

  - hot loading on both server and browser

  - NPM/Webpack as the only config for respectively dependencies/compilation

  - A cool UI to have an overview of your compiled javascript application

  - You do not have to think about the server side Javascript configuration, 

    just write a webpack conf for the browser, and it is ready to use.



TODO List :



- [ ] Handle Source map in server side for combined stacktrace generation

- [ ] Add Source map in client side 

- [ ] Currently the compiler compile in parallel server entry and client

      entries, but server side compilation does not handle *cacheable* and slow

      down very much the compilation

- [ ] handle css loader for `reaxt/style` loader, currently it is ignored in

      server side, which is a problem for URL remapping in CSS.



## Usage ##



See https://github.com/awetzel/reaxt-example for a ready to use example

application, but lets look into details and requirements.



In your mix.exs, add the dependency and the custom compiler for webpack: 

- Add the `:reaxt` dependency to your project.deps and application.applications

- Add `compilers: [:reaxt_webpack] ++ Mix.compilers` to your project, (`:reaxtWebpack` for elixir < v1.0.3)



In your config/config.exs, link the reaxt application to the

application containing the JS web app

- `config :reaxt,:otp_app,:yourapp`



Create the good directory and file layout:

- `MIXROOT/web`

- `MIXROOT/web/package.json` containing your app NPM dependencies

- `MIXROOT/web/webpack.config.js` containing only the client side

  logic, use "reaxt/style" instead of "style" loader to load your css.

  A typical output path is `../priv/static`.

- `MIXROOT/web/components` containing modules exporting React components



In your elixir code generating HTML :

- add `WebPack.header` in the ``

- add a script with src `/your/public/path/<%= WebPack.file_of(:entry_name) %>` 



Then render your server side HTML :



```elixir

# if web/components/thefile exports the react component

Reaxt.render!(:thefile,%{it: "is", the: "props"})



# if web/components/thefile exports an object containing a react component

# at the key "component_key"



Reaxt.render!({:thefile,:component_key},%{it: "is", the: "props"})

```



The function return a `%{html: html,css: css,js_render: js_render}`, you have to add in the html :

- the css `<%= render.css %>`

- the html in an identified block (`
<%= render.html %>
`)

- the client side rendering call with `<%= render.js_render %>("myblockid")`



For example, if you want a page entirely generated by the react

component exported at `web/components/app.js`, then in your elixir web server, send :



```elixir

EEx.eval_string("""

  

   <%= WebPack.header %>

    <%= render.css %>

  

  

    
<%= render.html %>


    

    <%= render.js_render %>("content")

  

  

""",render: Reaxt.render!(:app,%{my: "props"}))

```



Finally, you have to serve files generated by webpack :

```elixir

plug Plug.Static, at: "/public", from: :yourapp

```



Then `iex -S mix` and enjoy, but the best is to come.



## Custom Plug : Live reloading and WebPack web UI



When you serve files generated by webpack, use the plug

`WebPack.Plug.Static` instead of `Plug.Static`, it contains 

 an elixir implementation of

 [webpack-dev-server](https://www.npmjs.com/package/webpack-dev-server),

 and a [nice UI](http://webpack.github.io/analyse/).



```elixir

  if Mix.env == :dev do 

    use Plug.Debugger

    plug WebPack.Plug.Static, at: "/public", from: :myweb

  else

    plug Plug.Static, at: "/public", from: :myweb

  end

```



Then go to http://yourhost/webpack to see a beautiful summary of

your compiled js application.



Then configure in your application configuration :

- `config :reaxt,:hot,true` to enable that:

  - server and client side JS will be compiled each time you change files

  - server side renderers will be restarted at each compilation 

  - client browser page will be reloaded, a desktop notification will be triggered

  - The `/webpack` UI will be automatically reloaded if it is on your browser

- `config :reaxt,:hot,:client` to enable the same hot loading, but

  with webpack module hot loading on browser to avoid full page reload

  - use the webpack loader `react-hot-loader` to load your

    component to enable automatic browser hot reloading of your components

  - the `reaxt/style` loader for your css enable hot reloading of your css



## Dynamic Handler and customize rendering (useful with react-router)



See a full example in [reaxt-example](https://github.com/awetzel/reaxt-example/blob/master/web/components/my_router.js)



Reaxt provides facilities to easily customize the rendering process at the

server and the client side : this is done by attaching `reaxt_server_render`

and/or `reaxt_client_render` to the module or object referenced by the first

argument of `Reaxt.render!(`.



- `reaxt_server_render(arg,render)` will 

  - take `arg` from the second argument of `Reaxt.render`, 

  - have to execute `render(component,param)` when the wanting handler and props

    are determined. `param` is any stringifyable object passed to client rendering

- `reaxt_client_render(props,render,param)` have to render the

  good selected component on the client side. 

  - `props` is the initial props used in server rendering,

  - `render` is function you have to call to make the client react rendering

  - `param` is the deserialized version of the third parameter of the callback in `reaxt_server_render`



To understand how they work, let's look at the default implementation

of these functions (what happened when they are not implemented).



```javascript

// default server rendering only take the exported module as the

// handler to render and the argument as the props

default_reaxt_server_render = function(arg,render){

  render(,null)

}

// default client rendering only take the exported module as the

// handler to render, the param is ignored

default_reaxt_client_render = function(props,render,param){

  render()

}

```



Now let's see an example usage of these functions : react-router

integration (`Reaxt.render` second argument is the Path):

See a full example in [reaxt-example](https://github.com/awetzel/reaxt-example/blob/master/web/components/my_router.js)



```elixir

Reaxt.render!(:router_handler,full_path(conn))

```



```javascript

var App = require("./app")

var Router = require("react-router")

var Routes = require("./routes")

module.exports = {

  reaxt_server_render: function(path,render){

    Router.run(Routes, path,function (Handler, state) {

      render()

    })

  },

  reaxt_client_render: function(props,render){

    Router.run(Routes,Router.HistoryLocation,function(Handler,state){

      render()

    })

  }

}

```



## Error management



JS exceptions and stacktraces during rendering are converted into

Elixir one with a fake stacktrace pointing to the generated javascript file.



This is really nice because you can see javascript stacktrace in the `Plug.Debugger` UI on exception.



## Global Configuration



You can define a term in Elixir using Application `env`

`global_config` which will be available globally in the server and

the client side with `require('reaxt/config')`.



```elixir

config :reaxt,:global_config, %{

  some_config1: "value1",

  some_config2: "value2"

}

```



This configuration is static once the `:reaxt` application has started. So if

you want to change this configuration at runtime, you need to reload all

`:reaxt` renderer with `Reaxt.reload`. Remember : this is a costly reload, do

not use it to maintain a state at real time but only for configuration purpose.



```elixir

Application.put_env :reaxt, :global_config, %{

  some_config1: "value3",

  some_config2: "value4"

}

Reaxt.reload

```



Then in your javascript component, you can use this config using : 



```javascript

require('reaxt/config').some_config1

```



## Perfs and pool management



The NodeJS renderers are managed in a pool (to obtain "multicore" JS rendering), so :



- `config :reaxt,:pool_size` configure the number of worker running permanently

- `config :reaxt,:pool_max_overflow` configure the maximum extension of the

  pool when query happens an it is full



A clever configuration could be : 



```elixir

config :reaxt,:pool_size, if(Mix.env == :dev, do: 1, else: 10)

```



For minification, remember that webpack compilation is launched by Mix, so you

can use `process.env.MIX_ENV` in your webpack config.



```elixir

{

  externals: { react: "React" },

  plugins: (function(){

    if(process.env.MIX_ENV == "prod") 

      return [new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({minimize: true})]

    else

      return []

  })()

}

```



# CONTRIBUTING



Hi, and thank you for wanting to contribute.

Please refer to the centralized informations available at: https://github.com/kbrw#contributing