Blades and navigation
Overview
UI is organized and divided into panels called blades. Blades are ordered from left to right on the screen and have parent-child relations. Parent blade possesses a collection of children blades and every child has a reference to it's parent. The hierarchy depth is unlimited.
3 blades: parent and a child blade having another child.
Blade structure and properties
Every blade is instantiated from a highly customizable template. The template has basic parts such as Maximize, Close buttons on the top and the title, toolbar, main content placeholders following down. We've created a "Blade constructor" page demonstrating all the customization possibilities and allowing to "construct a blade on the fly". Despite the completeness, "Blade constructor" is a useful resource for quick reference too. Check it out at https://virtocommerce.com/guides/blade-constructor.
The blade object has the following properties that VirtoCommerce platform respects:
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | string | blade identifier. Required and should be unique in module level. |
| isLoading | bool | value indicating that loading indicator should be displayed in UI. |
| headIcon | string | icon to show on the blade header. A Font Awesome icon identifier. A default icon 'fa-folder' is used if value undefined. |
| title | string | blade title |
| subtitle | string | blade subtitle |
| toolbarCommands | object [] | toolbar commands. Check Blade toolbar documentation for details. |
| controller | string | angularJS controller id. Required. |
| template | string | angularJS template path. Required. |
| parentBlade | object | reference to parent blade. Platform sets the value automatically. |
| childrenBlades | object [] | children blades. Platform sets and manages the value automatically. |
| isClosingDisabled | bool | value indicating that the close botton (x) should be inactive in UI. This blade can be closed from script only. |
| onClose(callback) | function | action to call before closing the blade. Can prevent blade from closing if provided callback action not executed. onClose is usually used to show confirmation dialog. |
| isExpandable | bool | value indicating that the blade will open maximized and shrink when a child blade is opened. |
| onExpand() | function | action to call on maximizing the blade. onExpand is usually used to expand inner controls of the blade. |
Blade instance can have any other additional properties like isNew, currentEntity, etc., but you have to deal with those properties manually in the associated controller.
Blade navigation
A VirtoCommerce platform service "platformWebApp.bladeNavigationService" is dedicated for blades management. Methods:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| showBlade(blade, parentBlade) | Opens a new blade instance for provided parent blade. The blade parameter should have at least id, controller and template properties set. |
| closeBlade(blade, callback, onBeforeClosing) | Tries to close the provided blade. If specified, the onBeforeClosing function is called before closing the blade. If provided, the callback function is called after it was closed. |
| closeChildrenBlades(blade, callback) | Tries to close all blade's children. Callback function is called only if all children blades were closed successfully. |
| setError(msg, blade) | Set an error message for the blade. |
| clearError(blade) | Clears the error message for the blade. |
angular.module('sampleApp')
.controller('sampleController', ['$scope', 'platformWebApp.bladeNavigationService', function ($scope, bladeNavigationService) {
...
var newBlade = {
id: "settingDetailChild",
currentEntityId: node.name,
title: $scope.blade.title,
controller: 'platformWebApp.settingDictionaryController',
template: 'Scripts/app/settings/blades/setting-dictionary.tpl.html'
};
bladeNavigationService.showBlade(newBlade, $scope.blade);
The blade instance is accessible in associated controller by $scope.blade property.