Coreweb overview

Coreweb is an assortment of JavaScript tools used by Minerva.

In js_coreweb/cw/ you'll find:

• cw/unittest.js - JavaScript unit testing framework with Deferred support, inspired by Twisted Trial.

• cw/repr.js - Provides cw.repr.repr, a Python-like repr with support for __repr__ and an optimized variant __reprPush__ that avoids copying strings. cw/repr.js handles circular references.

• cw/eq.js - Provides cw.eq.equals, which can deep-compare objects using its own comparisons and the equals method on your objects. See its docstring for the exact behavior.

• cw/eventual.js - Provides a setTimeout(..., 0) that guarantees first-queued-first-called ordering. This is a port of Foolscap's eventual.

• cw/crosstab.js - Makes it possible to do synchronous funcalls across already-open browser tabs (or windows), using window.name/window.open. It doesn't work in Chrome or IE8+.

• cw/env.js - Provides functions to grab information about the browser environment: plugins, window properties, screen information, time zone.

• cw/externalinterface.js - A JS->Flash ExternalInterface that is fast and not broken (unlike what Flash Player injects into the page).

• cw/loadflash.js - Functions to load a Flash object that follows our own onloadcallback protocol. Returns a Deferred that fires when loading has finished.

• cw/clock.js - Provides a deterministic clock for unit testing, roughly equivalent to twisted.internet.task.Clock but with setTimeout and setInterval methods.

• cw/string.js - String utilities, some inspired by Python.

• cw/deferred.js - Provides cw.deferred.maybeDeferred.

• cw/objsize.js - Provides a function to guess how much memory an object is using.

• cw/math.js - Provides special numbers.

• cw/func.js - Provides cw.func.isCallable, which returns the right result even when called on IE's cross-window object proxies.

• cw/linkify.js - A copy of Ben Alman's js-linkify.

• Tests for the above, in js_coreweb/cw/Test/.

Coreweb also includes a set of test pages and browser experiments in coreweb/exp/. The convenient way to run these is to start the coreweb_site server (see below).

Use with Closure Library

If you want to use Coreweb in your JavaScript project, all you need is:

• Closure Library: http://code.google.com/intl/en/closure/library/

For uncompiled development, include js_coreweb as a sibling directory to closure-library on your filesystem or web server. If you make modifications to files in js_coreweb, remember to run ./build_depsjs.sh if necessary.

For compilation with Closure Compiler using closurebuilder, include js_coreweb as an additional --root=.

Running the tests

Right now, Coreweb requires using its built-in web server to run the tests. You'll need to install:

• Twisted: http://twistedmatrix.com/

• Webmagic: https://github.com/ludios/Webmagic

• Closure Library: http://code.google.com/intl/en/closure/library/

Note that Twisted and Webmagic can be installed using pip.

To start the server, run:

twistd -n coreweb_site -t tcp:9090:interface=127.0.0.1 --closure-library=/abspath/closure-library

or on Windows:

set PYTHONPATH=C:\Coreweb's_parent_directory (if not already in PYTHONPATH)
C:\Python27\python.exe C:\Python27\Scripts\twistd.py -n coreweb_site -t tcp:9090:interface=127.0.0.1 --closure-library=C:\abspath\closure-library

Note that if closure-library is in the parent of the source directory, you can omit --closure-library=.

Then, navigate to http://127.0.0.1:9090/ in your browser.

Recompiling the compiled .js and .swf files

If you want to recompile the compiled-JavaScript and .swf files, you also need:

• Closure Compiler: http://code.google.com/p/closure-compiler/

• haXe: http://haxe.org/

Then run:

./build_compiled_js.sh
./build_swfs.sh

Limited project scope

Why the separation between Coreweb and Minerva? Coreweb should contain JavaScript and haXe files that assist in building web applications, but do not rely on any server-side technology.

An example: client-side code to synchronize the client's clock with a server should not be here, because that requires a custom-built server.

Contributing

Patches and pull requests are welcome.

This coding standard applies: http://ludios.org/coding-standard/