=encoding ISO8859-1

=head1 NAME

Alien::GvaScript::Repeat - Support for repeated sections

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  <div repeat="foo">
    <h2>Foo #{foo.count}</h2>
    This is the repeated foo section
    <table>
      <tr repeat="bar">
        <td>Item #{bar.count}</td>
        <td><input name="#{bar.path}.buz"></td>
        <td><button onclick="GvaScript.Repeat.remove('#{bar.path}')">
              Remove this row
            </button></td>
      </tr>
    </table>
     <button onclick="GvaScript.Repeat.add('#{foo.path}.bar')">
        Add a bar
     </button>
  </div>  
  <button onclick="GvaScript.Repeat.add('foo')">Add a foo</button>

  <script>
    GvaScript.Repeat.init(document.body);
  </script


=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module of L<Alien::GvaScript> implements a mechanism for repeated
elements within an HTML page. The main use is within forms, for
dynamic expansion of subforms, so it is quite likely that you will
want to use the L<Alien::GvaScript::Form> API instead of calling the
present module directly. However, the repeat mechanism will work for
any kind of HTML element.

The design is partially inspired by the C<Web Forms 2.0> proposal
(L<http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-forms/current-work/>), but is 
not an attempt to implement the proposed specification: there are
some differences both in syntax and in semantics.


=head2 Terminology

At initialization stage, the DOM is inspected for finding
I<repeat elements> (elements having a C<repeat> attribute).
These elements are removed from the DOM and replaced
by I<placeholders> (empty DOM elements, just marking where
the repetition blocks should be inserted).
Each placeholder stores a I<template>, which is 
a plain string representation of the repeat element, with 
special markup for template instanciation. 
The template may then be dynamically instanciated into
I<repetition blocks> by calling the L</add> method.


=head1 HTML 

=head2 Markup of repeat elements

  <div repeat="foo" repeat-start="3" repeat-min="2" repeat-max="6" 
                    repeat-prefix="">
    <!-- content to be repeated, using #{foo.ix}, #{foo.path}, etc. -->
  </div>

Any element marked with a non-empty C<repeat> attribute is
a I<repeat element>; the value of that attribute defines
the I<repeat name>. Repeat elements can be nested, and their
repeat names are used to distinguish at which level a repetition
block should be instanciated.

Other attributes of the repetion model all start with 
the C<repeat> prefix, as listed below; these attributes are optional. 

=over

=item repeat

marks the element as a repeat element, and defines the repeat name.

=item repeat-start

defines how many repetition blocks should be automatically
created as initialization time. Default is 1.

=item repeat-min

minimum number of repetition blocks. Prevents deletion
of repetition blocks under that number. Default is 0.

=item repeat-max

maximum number of repetition blocks. Prevents addition
of repetition blocks over that number. Default is 99.

=item repeat-prefix

defines the initial fragment of the C<repeat path> (see 
explanation below). Only valid for top-level repetition elements, 
because nested repetition elements are automatically prefixed
by their parent repetition element. Default is the empty string.

=back


=head2 String substitutions within repeat elements

The content of a repeat element may contain special markup
for repetition variables, which will be replaced by values
when the element is instanciated into a repetition block.

Variables are written C<< #{<repetition name>.<variable>} >>, like for
example C<#{foo.ix}>, C<#{foo.count}> or C<#{bar.path}>. The
repetition name is the value of the C<repeat> attribute of the repeat
element, as explained above; in this namespace, the following
variables are defined

=over

=item count

current number of repetition blocks for that repeat element, starting at 1.

=item ix 

integer index of the current repetition block, starting at 0.

=item path

cumulated list of repetition name and repetition indices, separated
by dots. 

=item min

value of the C<repeat-min> attribute.

=item max

value of the C<repeat-max> attribute.

=back

The C<path> is unique within any nesting of repeat elements,
and therefore is typically used for ids or for
names of input elements :

  <tr repeat="bar">
    <td>Item #{bar.count}</td>
    <td><input name="#{bar.path}.buz"></td>
  </tr>

Within the 3rd repetition block of C<bar>, nested
within the 2nd repetition block of C<foo>, the value of
C<#{bar.path}> will be C<foo.2.bar.3> and therefore
in this example the input name would be
C<foo.2.bar.3.buz>.


I<Implementation note>: the C<< #{...} >> syntax for
variables is borrowed from C<prototype.js>'s C<Template>
class; however, the implementation of substitutions
is done in plain javascript, without calling
C<Template.evaluate()> method.

=head1 METHODS

=head2 init

  GvaScript.Repeat.init(element)

Walks down the DOM under the given element, finds all 
elements having a C<repeat> attribute, replaces these
by placeholders.

The C<element> argument will be fed to C<prototype.js>'s
C<$()> function, so it can be either a DOM element or
an id string.

=head2 add

  GvaScript.Repeat.add(repeat_name, count)

Creates one or several new repetition blocks in the DOM, 
after the current blocks, by instanciating
the repeat element C<repeat_name> (including prefix).
The  C<count> argument is optional and states how many blocks
should be added; default is 1. Returns the final number of 
repetition blocks for that repeat element.

If the repeat structure looks like

  <div repeat="foo" repeat-prefix="top">
     <div repeat="bar">

then a new C<foo> repetition block is instanciated
through C<add('top.foo')>, and a new C<bar> repetition
block is instanciated through C<add('#{foo.path}.bar')>.




=head2 remove

  GvaScript.Repeat.remove(repetition_block[, live_update])

Removes a repetition block from the DOM. The argument is either
a DOM element or a string containing the element id.

param C<Boolean> live_update: flag to indicate whether the 'remaining'
repeatable sections are to be also removed from DOM, recreated by re-merging
the data with repeat template, then finally re-appended to the DOM.
Default true.

All repetition blocks below the removed block are renumbered,
leaving no hole in the index sequence. To do so, these
blocks are also removed from the DOM, and then added
again through the L</add> method.

If the repetition block is within a form, you probably
want to call L<Alien::GvaScript::Form/remove> instead
of the present method, in order to properly preserve
current form data.

=head1 EVENTS

For a general explanation on registering handlers
for GvaScript events, see the L<event> documentation.

=head2 onAdd

  <div repeat="Foo" 
       onAdd="alert('a new Foo is born with index #{Foo.ix}')">

This event is triggered whenever a new repetition block
is created through the L</add> method
(including when the L</init> method
instantiates C<repeat-start> initial repetition blocks).

=head2 onRemove

  <div repeat="Foo" 
       onRemove="alert(event.target.id + ' is removed')">

This event is triggered whenever a repetition block
is removed through the L</remove> method.
Since this method also removes all repetition blocks
above the requested block, the event will be triggered
once for each block.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<Alien::GvaScript>
