Best In Place

Build Status The Unobtrusive in Place editing solution

Description

Best in Place is a jQuery based AJAX Inplace-Editor that takes profit of RESTful server-side controllers to allow users to edit stuff with no need of forms. If the server have standard defined REST methods, particularly those to UPDATE your objects (HTTP PUT), then by adding the Javascript file to the application it is making all the fields with the proper defined classes to become user in-place editable.

The editor works by PUTting the updated value to the server and GETting the updated record afterwards to display the updated value.

SEE DEMO

Features

  • Compatible with text inputs
  • Compatible with textarea
  • Compatible with select dropdown with custom collections
  • Compatible with custom boolean values (same usage of checkboxes)
  • Compatible with jQuery UI Datepickers
  • Sanitize HTML and trim spaces of user's input on user's choice
  • Displays server-side validation errors
  • Allows external activator
  • Allows optional, configurable OK and Cancel buttons for inputs and textareas
  • ESC key destroys changes (requires user confirmation)
  • Autogrowing textarea
  • Helper for generating the best_in_place field only if a condition is satisfied
  • Provided test helpers to be used in your integration specs
  • Custom display methods using a method from your model or an existing rails view helper

Usage of Rails 3 Gem

best_in_place

best_in_place object, field, OPTIONS

Params:

  • object (Mandatory): The Object parameter represents the object itself you are about to modify
  • field (Mandatory): The field (passed as symbol) is the attribute of the Object you are going to display/edit.

Options:

  • :type It can be only [:input, :textarea, :select, :checkbox, :date (>= 1.0.4)] or if undefined it defaults to :input.
  • :collection: In case you are using the :select type then you must specify the collection of values it takes. In case you are using the :checkbox type you can specify the two values it can take, or otherwise they will default to Yes and No.
  • :path: URL to which the updating action will be sent. If not defined it defaults to the :object path.
  • :nil: The nil param defines the content displayed in case no value is defined for that field. It can be something like "click me to edit". If not defined it will show "-".
  • :activator: Is the DOM object that can activate the field. If not defined the user will making editable by clicking on it.
  • :ok_button: (Inputs and textareas only) If set to a string, then an OK button will be shown with the string as its label, replacing save on blur.
  • :cancel_button: (Inputs and textareas only) If set to a string, then a Cancel button will be shown with the string as its label.
  • :sanitize: True by default. If set to false the input/textarea will accept html tags.
  • :html_attrs: Hash of html arguments, such as maxlength, default-value etc.
  • :inner_class: Class that is set to the rendered form.
  • :display_as: A model method which will be called in order to display this field.
  • :object_name: Used for overriding the default params key used for the object (the data-object attribute). Useful for e.g. STI scenarios where best_in_place should post to a common controller for different models.
  • :data: Hash of custom data attributes to be added to span. Can be used to provide data to the ajax:success callback.

best_in_place_if

best_in_place_if condition, object, field, OPTIONS

It allows us to use best_in_place only if the first new parameter, a condition, is satisfied. Specifically:

  • Will show a normal best_in_place if the condition is satisfied
  • Will only show the attribute from the instance if the condition is not satisfied

Say we have something like

<%= best_in_place_if condition, @user, :name, :type => :input %>

In case condition is satisfied, the outcome will be just the same as:

<%= best_in_place @user, :name, :type => :input %>

Otherwise, we will have the same outcome as:

<%= @user.name %>

It is a very useful feature to use with, for example, Ryan Bates' CanCan, so we only allow BIP edition if the current user has permission to do it.

TestApp and examples

A test_app was created, and can be seen in action in a running demo on heroku.

Examples (code in the views):

Input

<%= best_in_place @user, :name, :type => :input %>

<%= best_in_place @user, :name, :type => :input, :nil => "Click me to add content!" %>

Textarea

<%= best_in_place @user, :description, :type => :textarea %>

<%= best_in_place @user, :favorite_books, :type => :textarea, :ok_button => 'Save', :cancel_button => 'Cancel' %>

Select

<%= best_in_place @user, :country, :type => :select, :collection => [[1, "Spain"], [2, "Italy"], [3, "Germany"], [4, "France"]] %>

Of course it can take an instance or global variable for the collection, just remember the structure [[key, value], [key, value],...]. The key can be a string or an integer.

Checkbox

<%= best_in_place @user, :receive_emails, :type => :checkbox, :collection => ["No, thanks", "Yes, of course!"] %>

The first value is always the negative boolean value and the second the positive. Structure: ["false value", "true value"]. If not defined, it will default to Yes and No options.

Date

<%= best_in_place @user, :birth_date, :type => :date %>

With the :date type the input field will be initialized as a datepicker input. In order to provide custom options to the datepicker initialization you must prepare a $.datepicker.setDefaults call with the preferences of your choice.

More information about datepicker and setting defaults can be found here

Controller response with respond_with_bip

Best in place provides a utility method you should use in your controller in order to provide the response that is expected by the javascript side, using the :json format. This is a simple example showing an update action using it:

def update
  @user = User.find params[:id]

  respond_to do |format|
    if @user.update_attributes(params[:user])
      format.html { redirect_to(@user, :notice => 'User was successfully updated.') }
      format.json { respond_with_bip(@user) }
    else
      format.html { render :action => "edit" }
      format.json { respond_with_bip(@user) }
    end
  end
end

Custom display methods

Using display_as

As of best in place 1.0.3 you can use custom methods in your model in order to decide how a certain field has to be displayed. You can write something like:

= best_in_place @user, :description, :type => :textarea, :display_as => :mk_description

Then instead of using @user.description to show the actual value, best in place will call @user.mk_description. This can be used for any kind of custom formatting, text with markdown, etc...

Using display_with

In practice the most common situation is when you want to use an existing helper to render the attribute, like number_to_currency or simple_format. As of version 1.0.4 best in place provides this feature using the display_with option. You can use it like this:

= best_in_place @user, :money, :display_with => :number_to_currency

If you want to pass further arguments to the helper you can do it providing an additional helper_options hash:

= best_in_place @user, :money, :display_with => :number_to_currency, :helper_options => {:unit => "€"}

You can also pass in a proc or lambda like this:

= best_in_place @post, :body, :display_with => lambda { |v| textilize(v).html_safe }

Ajax success callback

Binding to ajax:success

The 'ajax:success' event is triggered upon success. Use bind:

$('.best_in_place').bind("ajax:success", function(){$(this).closest('tr').effect('highlight'));});

Providing data to the callback

Use the :data option to add HTML5 data attributes to the best_in_place span. For example, in your view:

<%= best_in_place @user, :name, :data => {:user_name => @user.name} %>

And in your javascript:

$('.best_in_place').bind("ajax:success", function(){ alert('Name updated for '+$(this).data('userName')); });

Non Active Record environments

We are not planning to support other ORMs apart from Active Record, at least for now. So, you can perfectly consider the following workaround as the right way until a specific implementation is done for your ORM.

Best In Place automatically assumes that Active Record is the ORM you are using. However, this might not be your case, as you might use another ORM (or not ORM at all for that case!). Good news for you: even in such situation Best In Place can be used!

Let's setup an example so we can illustrate how to use Best In Place too in a non-ORM case. Imagine you have an awesome ice cream shop, and you have a model representing a single type of ice cream. The IceCream model has a name, a description, a... nevermind. The thing is that it also has a stock, which is a combination of flavour and size. A big chocolate ice cream (yummy!), a small paella ice cream (...really?), and so on. Shall we see some code?

class IceCream < ActiveRecord::Base
  serialize :stock, Hash

  # consider the get_stock and set_stock methods are already defined
end

Imagine we want to have a grid showing all the combinations of flavour and size and, for each combination, an editable stock. Since the stock for a flavour and a size is not a single and complete model attribute, we cannot use Best In Place directly. But we can set it up with an easy workaround.

In the view, we'd do:

// @ice_cream is already available
- flavours = ... // get them somewhere
- sizes = ... // get them somewhere
%table
  %tr
    - ([""] + flavours).each do |flavour|
      %th= flavour
  - sizes.each do |size|
    %tr
      %th= size
      - flavours.each do |flavour|
        - v = @ice_cream.get_stock(:flavour => flavour, :size => size)
        %td= best_in_place v, :to_i, :type => :input, :path => set_stock_ice_cream_path(:flavour => flavour, :size => size)

Now we need a route to which send the stock updates:

TheAwesomeIceCreamShop::Application.routes.draw do
  ...

  resources :ice_creams, :only => :none do
    member do
      put :set_stock
    end
  end

  ...
end

And finally we need a controller:

class IceCreamsController < ApplicationController::Base
  respond_to :html, :json

  ...

  def set_stock
    flavour = params[:flavour]
    size = params[:size]
    new_stock = (params["fixnum"] || {})["to_i"]

    @ice_cream.set_stock(new_stock, { :flavour => flavour, :size => size })
    if @ice_cream.save
      head :ok
    else
      render :json => @ice_cream.errors.full_messages, :status => :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end

  ...

end

And this is how it is done!

Test Helpers

Best In Place has also some helpers that may be very useful for integration testing. Since it might very common to test some views using Best In Place, some helpers are provided to ease it.

As of now, a total of four helpers are available. There is one for each of the following BIP types: a plain text input, a textarea, a boolean input and a selector. Its function is to simulate the user's action of filling such fields.

These four helpers are listed below:

  • bip_area(model, attr, new_value)
  • bip_text(model, attr, new_value)
  • bip_bool(model, attr)
  • bip_select(model, attr, name)

The parameters are defined here (some are method-specific):

  • model: the model to which this action applies.
  • attr: the attribute of the model to which this action applies.
  • new_value (only bip_area and bip_text): the new value with which to fill the BIP field.
  • name (only bip_select): the name to select from the dropdown selector.

Installation

Rails 3.1 and higher

Installing best_in_place is very easy and straight-forward, even more thanks to Rails 3.1. Just begin including the gem in your Gemfile:

gem "best_in_place"

After that, specify the use of the jquery, jquery.purr and best in place javascripts in your application.js, and optionally specify jquery-ui if you want to use jQuery UI datepickers:

//= require jquery
//= require jquery-ui
//= require jquery.purr
//= require best_in_place

If you want to use jQuery UI datepickers, you should also install and load your preferred jquery-ui CSS file and associated assets.

Then, just add a binding to prepare all best in place fields when the document is ready:

$(document).ready(function() {
  /* Activating Best In Place */
  jQuery(".best_in_place").best_in_place();
});

You are done!

Rails 3.0 and lower

Installing best_in_place for Rails 3.0 or below is a little bit different, since the master branch is specifically updated for Rails 3.1. But don't be scared, you'll be fine!

Rails 3.0 support will be held in the 0.2.X versions, but we have planned not to continue developing for this version of Rails. Nevertheless, you can by implementing what you want and sending us a pull request.

First, add the gem's 0.2 version in the Gemfile:

gem "best_in_place", "~> 0.2.0"

After that, install and load all the javascripts from the folder /public/javascripts in your layouts. They have to be in the order:

  • jquery
  • jquery.purr
  • best_in_place

You can automatize this installation by doing

rails g best_in_place:setup

If you want to use jQuery UI datepickers, you should also install and load jquery-ui.js as well as your preferred jquery-ui CSS file and associated assets.

Finally, as for Rails 3.1, just add a binding to prepare all best in place fields when the document is ready:

$(document).ready(function() {
  /* Activating Best In Place */
  jQuery(".best_in_place").best_in_place();
});

Security

If the script is used with the Rails Gem no html tags will be allowed unless the sanitize option is set to true, in that case only the tags [b i u s a strong em p h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 ul li ol hr pre span img] will be allowed. If the script is used without the gem and with frameworks other than Rails, then you should make sure you are providing the csrf authenticity params as meta tags and you should always escape undesired html tags such as script, object and so forth.

<meta name="csrf-param" content="authenticity_token"/>
<meta name="csrf-token" content="YOUR UNIQUE TOKEN HERE"/>

TODO

  • Client Side Validation definitions
  • Accepting more than one handler to activate best_in_place fields

Development

Fork the project on github

$ git clone <<your fork>
$ cd best_in_place
$ bundle

Prepare the test app

$ cd test_app
$ bundle
$ bundle exec rake db:test:prepare
$ cd ..

Run the specs

$ bundle exec rspec spec/

Bundler / gem troubleshooting

  • make sure you've run the bundle command for both the app and test_app!
  • run bundle update < (in the right place) for any gems that are causing issues

Authors, License and Stuff

Code by Bernat Farrero from Itnig Web Services (it was based on the original project of Jan Varwig) and released under MIT license.

Many thanks to the contributors: Roger Campos, Jack Senechal and Albert Bellonch.