sTeam

In the previous article we have seen how handling different mime types is important, So while extending that discussion one might think what is the case of files that come under a completely different aspect, As in scripts, documents etc have dynamic operations that are performed over them.
sTeam's old web interface gave the user the provision for creating and editing the documents within the interface. So in short the user had complete control over the documents as he didn’t have to go through complex process for altering documents that which are stored in his/her playground.

The sTeam web interface has a controller in the workspace called workspaceDetailedCtrl which basically comprises of a function called mimeTypeHandler that helps in matching the mime-type and performing the required action if it matches a particular mime type. So let us have a look as to how should one design such things;

$scope.mimeTypeHandler = function () {
	if(localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType') == 'application/x-unknown-content-type') {
		return 'unknown'
	}
	else if (localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType').match(/image\/*/)) {
		return 'image'
	}
	else if (localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType') == 'application/pdf') {
		return 'pdf'
	}
	else if (localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType').match(/audio\/*/)) {
		return 'audio'
	}
	else if (localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType').match(/video\/*/)) {
		return 'video'
	}
	else if (localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType').match(/text\/*/) ||
		localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType') == 'application/x-javascript' ||
		localStorageService.get('currentObjMimeType') == 'application/x-pike') {
		return 'text'
	}
	else { return 'notfound' }
}

So before we go and understand about developing a text editor let us understand the library that is used for developing it. textAngular is the library that which is used for developing the text editor, although there are many options textAngular proves to be a minimal text editing development source that can be easily setup and broadly configured.

We all know that a text editor must have the following things necessarily :

• It must support basic formatting options and must extend feasibility to make changes to the document in a easier way
• Enabling live preview in order to see the changes made to the document instantly
• Supporting indentation options for documents which are identified as scripts

We might feel that the technicalities are important apart from these notions, but it is important to have these in place along with the technicalities.

Let us observe the syntax and usage of text angular.

angular.module('steam')

  .controller('workSpaceEditorCtrl', ['$scope', 'handler', 'localStorageService', 'textAngularManager', '$document',
   function ($scope, handler, localStorageService, textAngularManager, $document) {
    $scope.data = {
      empty: 'Please enter text',
      full: ''
    }
    $scope.editable = true;
    $scope.content = $scope.data.empty;

    $scope.allh1 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h1', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 1'
      });
    }

    $scope.allh2 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h2', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 2'
      });
    }

    $scope.allh3 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h3', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 3'
      });
    }

    $scope.allh4 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h4', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 4'
      });
    }

    $scope.allh5 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h5', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 5'
      });
    }

    $scope.allh6 = function() {
      textAngularManager.updateToolDisplay('h6', {
        buttontext: 'Heading 6'
      });
    }

    $scope.submit = function () {
      console.log("The document has been submitted");
    }
    $scope.clear = function () {
      console.log("The document has been reset");
      $scope.data = {
        orightml: $scope.content
      }
    }
    $scope.resetEditor = function () {
      textAngularManager.resetToolsDisplay();
    }
  }])

So if we observe we can see that there is a service called textAngularManager which is needed for customizing the text editor. There are a few things that are to be looked upon while customizing the editor.

• We can totally customize the text editor’s options as well as the appearence of the text editor
• We can give scope for customized functions that could be part of the controller. Observe the above code snippet where functions like resetEditor etc are customized to the needs of the application
• Finally We can add more options to the text editor using the textAngular service in order to make it better

After all the customizations and changes Here is how it looks:

Source : click here

Thats it folks,
Happy Hacking !!

Handling different mime types and giving support to them is quite important when a collaboration platform is being developed. Previously sTeam web UI had essential components like :

• image viewer
• audio player
• video player

So in the process of developing new components and adding support for different mime types a PDF viewer grew out as a possibility. So the concept of a PDF viewer is quite simple, it just helps you to display, control all the files that come with the mime-type application/pdf.

The process as a whole is quite simple in developing the pdf viewer. Let us have a look at the process;

• We have to utilize the PDFViewerService in order to build the PDF viewer
• The configuration variables are pretty much few in number, although it is very necessary to look after what URI is being passed to the pdfURL variable as it is solely responsible for loading the content from the file.
• Using the pdf viewer instance is pretty much simple as we have to declare the instance viewer first and then use the same $scope.instance for performing operations like :
  1. Going to the next page
  2. Going to the prev page
  3. Going to a particular page
  4. Displaying the total number of pages loaded
  5. Displaying the progress of the loaded files
• Lastly there is one important thing to be noted, ngPDFViewer is comparitively a light weight library that could be used for development of a PDF viewer although when the application is bloated with large sized PDF’s it takes couple of seconds to load the PDF. A smart move here would be using the $scope.currentPages and $scope.totalPages in order to make a small calculation and display it at the users end as to how much percentage of the file is loaded.

angular.module('steam', [ 'ngPDFViewer' ])
.controller('workspaceDetailedCtrl', [ '$scope', 'PDFViewerService', function($scope, pdf) {
  $scope.pdfURL = "test.pdf"
  $scope.instance = pdf.Instance("viewer")

  $scope.nextPage = function() {
    $scope.instance.nextPage()
  }
  $scope.prevPage = function() {
    $scope.instance.prevPage()
  }
  $scope.gotoPage = function(page) {
    $scope.instance.gotoPage(page)
  }
  $scope.pageLoaded = function(curPage, totalPages) {
    $scope.currentPage = curPage
    $scope.totalPages = totalPages
  }
  $scope.loadProgress = function(loaded, total, state) {
    console.log('loaded =', loaded, 'total =', total, 'state =', state)
  }
}]);

Here is the final outcome of it:

Source : click here

Thats it folks,
Happy Hacking !!

In the previous article i have addressed about writing tests with frisby. Frisby is helpful in writing tests for angular applications that have active communications involving RESTful api’s. So more or less frisby is helpful as an API testing tool.

The sTeam web interface actively talks to a REST api written in pike along with controllers that make the entire application a complete collaboration platform. So in order to test the working ability of individual units of code, it was necessary to have unit tests written for the application.

What is unit testing really ?
In order to validate different segments of the same code base or isolated parts of the code base we have a testing mechanism called Unit testing which extends the afore mentioned idea of having individual or isolated pieces of code that constitute as units that are tested and ensured that they are working properly.
NOTE: It is always a good practice to write unit tests for your code base in order to ensure that all the individual segments as well as the entire code base is working without flaws.

What is jasmine and how is it related ?
Jasmine is a unit testing framework which is helpful in writing unit tests for applications and it is combined with a test runner called Karma in order to run/execute the tests so written. Now to put things in a simpler perspective, jasmine is test framework which we are going to use, but to run these tests so written we must a test runner that shall execute and give us the outcome of the tests so written with the help of the afore mentioned framework.
NOTE: Jasmine has its own syntax and code conventions.

Is it really going to help ?
Yes, let me give an example to illustrate the effect of writing unit tests. Let’s suppose we have an angular application and it involves controllers, directives etc etc. Now in order to quantify that communication is happening between all the components and the process as a whole is not broken we must first ensure that in the chain of communication the previous functionalities are not effecting components that are connected further and also whilst validating that the code is not breaking there has to be some proof to support the quantification which we before established. Therefore writing unit tests will help us to prove all of that.

Syntax and style :

'use strict';

describe('controllers', function(){

  beforeEach(module('sTeam.controllers'));

  it('should ....', inject(function() {
    // here the test specs go
  }));

  it('should ....', inject(function() {
    // here the test specs go
  }));
});

Let’s go ahead and test a real directive

'use strict';

describe('directives', function() {

  beforeEach(module('sTeam.directives'));

  describe('fileModel', function() {
    it('Must give the flag whether the file upload directive is working or not', function() {
      module(function($provide) {
        $provide.value('model', 'attrs.fileModel');
      });
      inject(function($compile, $rootScope) {
        var DOM = $compile("the html goes here")($rootScope);
    	$rootScope.$digest();
    	expect(element.status()).toEqual('something');
      });
    });
  });
});

Basically in the above example we are testing a unit of the sTeam web interface, a file uploader. It is basically a directive written in order to upload files to the web interface.

So the unit test comprises of a function called $inject which is responsible for injected the DOM code which we wish to test, and then compile the HTML. So after compiling the HTML we have a function called expect which is used for checking whether the desired output is obtained in the DOM or not.

Source : fileModel.js

Thats it folks,
Happy Hacking !!