elm-ui-widgets/README.md
2021-02-02 22:22:10 +01:00

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# Elm-Ui-Widgets
This package contains **independent** widgets (no components) written for [Elm-Ui](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/mdgriffith/elm-ui/latest/). These widgets have no dependencies to other parts of this package. So you can just use as much as you need.
* It also supports custom themes and has a material design theme already ready to use.
* [Examples of all widgets can be found here](https://orasund.github.io/elm-ui-widgets/3.0.0/).
* It is highly customizable. Checkout [Widget.Customize](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/Orasund/elm-ui-widgets/latest/Widget-Customize) for more information.
Feel free to start an [issue on the repository](https://github.com/Orasund/elm-ui-widgets/issues) if you have any questions.
![Example using the Material Design style](https://orasund.github.io/elm-ui-widgets/assets/material-style.png)
## Summary
* Each widget comes with a _Widget Type_ and a _Style Type_. The Widget Type is an abstract representation of the widget and the Style Type has all styling attributes.
* Widget Types can be used as building Blocks for more complicated Widgets
(Button -> Select Buttons -> Menu -> Layout)
## Example
Let's look at the button widget.
** Style Type**
```elm
button: ButtonStyle msg
->
{ text : String
, icon : Icon
, onPress : Maybe msg
}
-> Element msg
```
In comparison to Elm-Ui's button, we see that `List (Attribute msg)` has changed into a _Style Type_. Furthermore, the Style type mirrors the implementation. `element` corresponds to `Element.element`, `elementRow` corresponds to `Element.row` and so on.
```
type alias ButtonStyle msg =
{ element : List (Attribute msg)
, ifDisabled : List (Attribute msg)
, ifActive : List (Attribute msg)
, otherwise : List (Attribute msg)
, content :
{ elementRow : List (Attribute msg)
, content :
{ text : { contentText : List (Attribute msg) }
, icon : IconStyle
}
}
}
}
```
** Style Implementation **
For actually displaying the button we have a few different implementations:
``` elm
{-| Button with only an icon and no text -}
iconButton :
ButtonStyle msg
->
{ text : String --for screen readers
, icon : Icon
, onPress : Maybe msg
}
-> Element msg
{-| Button with a text but no icon -}
textButton :
ButtonStyle msg
->
{ textButton
| text : String
, onPress : Maybe msg
}
-> Element msg
{-| Button with both icon and text -}
button :
ButtonStyle msg
->
{ text : String
, icon : Icon
, onPress : Maybe msg
}
-> Element msg
```
** Widget Type **
We also have a `Widget Type` for the button:
```
type alias Button msg =
{ text : String
, icon : Icon
, onPress : Maybe msg
}
```
We can use it to build more complex widgets, for example a select button:
```
type alias Select msg =
{ selected : Maybe Int
, options :
List
{ text : String
, icon : Icon
}
, onSelect : Int -> Maybe msg
}
select :
Select msg
-> List ( Bool, Button msg )
selectButton :
ButtonStyle msg
-> ( Bool, Button msg )
-> Element msg
```
Checkout the examples in [Widget](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/Orasund/elm-ui-widgets/latest/Widget) for more details.
## Reusable Views vs. Components
In Elm we like to use reusable views instead of components.
At first this packages had a few components, but they where more complicated in comparison. They got slowly turned into reusable views one by one. Most could be reduced even further into _view functions_: Reusable views without a model. All function in [Widget](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/Orasund/elm-ui-widgets/latest/Widget) are view functions.
## Alternatives
For comparison, here are some alternative packages for creating UIs:
* **Using Elm-Ui**
* [lucamug/style-framework](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/lucamug/style-framework/latest/) - Full customization requires the cloning of the package.
* [jxxcarlson/elm-widget](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/jxxcarlson/elm-widget/latest/Widget-Button) - Uses a Builder pattern. Has some redefined customizations.
* [QiTASC/hatchinq](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/QiTASC/hatchinq/latest/) - Similar Arroach but still in experimental phase
* **Using Elm/Html**
* [nathanjohnson320/elm-ui-components](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/nathanjohnson320/elm-ui-components/latest/) - Uses the elm/html way of styling.
* [NoRedInk/noredink-ui](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/NoRedInk/noredink-ui/latest/) - Similar Approach but no customization options.
* [peterszerzo/elm-natural-ui](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/peterszerzo/elm-natural-ui/latest) - Uses custom Attributes with some customization.
* **Ui Frameworks**
* [aforemny/material-components-web-elm](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/aforemny/material-components-web-elm/latest/) - Wrapper of Material design using custom elements.
* [afidegnum/elm-tailwind](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/afidegnum/elm-tailwind/latest/) - Wrapper of Tailwind by including the tailwind stylesheet.
* [surprisetalk/elm-bulma](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/surprisetalk/elm-bulma/latest/) - Wrapper for Bulma by including the bulma stylesheet.
* [rundis/elm-bootstrap](https://dark.elm.dmy.fr/packages/rundis/elm-bootstrap/latest/) - Wrapper for Bootstrap by including the bootstrap stylesheet.
* [supermacro/elm-antd](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/supermacro/elm-antd/latest/) - Implementation of Ant Design in Elm
## Motivation
After looking at the current packages that implement various reusable views (and components) I noticed two things:
* There are (nearly) no widgets for Elm-Ui, and that's a problem because while going from `Element` to `Html` is easy, the opposite is not always possible (as a lot of styling in Elm-Ui would not be adapted to the `Html` element.)
* There is no collection of widgets, all in one place. A lot of components get reimplemented over and over again. It's hard to keep track of what package is currently the best.
This package tries to solve both of these problems.
## Changelog
* **Version 3.0.0** - Reworked Style Types making it easier to customize. Added full icon support.
* **Version 2.0.0** - Complete rewrite of the package. Now including a material design implementation.