creatable/README.md

Elegant HTML generation. No templating. Just Javascript.

Create DOM Elements with nestable arrays that reflect the structure of HTML:

```javascript
document.body.appendChild(Creatable.create(
	["#content", [
		["h1.prominent", "Blogs"],
		["ul", [
			["li a", { href: "http://functionsource.com" }, "FunctionSource"],
			["li a", { href: "http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com" }, "Javascript, Javascript"],
			["li a", { href: "http://ejohn.org/category/blog" }, "John Resig"]
		]]
	]]
))
```

Results in:

```html
<div id="content">
	<h1 class="prominent">Blogs</h1>
	<ul>
		<li><a href="http://functionsource.com">FunctionSource</a></li>
		<li><a href="http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com">Javascript, Javascript</a></li>
		<li><a href="http://ejohn.org/category/blog">John Resig</a></li>
	</ul>
</div>
```

It all happens with one function: **Creatable.create**

```javascript
Creatable.create([TAGNAME, ATTRIBUTES, CHILDREN|CONTENT]) // returns a native DOM element
Creatable.create(["a", { href: "http://google.com" }, "Google"]);
```

Why?
-----------
* Switching in and out of Javascript and whatever templating language you use is ugly.
* No special templating language syntax. 100% pure Javascript.
* Implement view composition using plain, old functions.
* Properly formatted input still reflects the actual structure of HTML for readability.

Documentation
===========

Specify ids and classes with css-syntax
-----------

```javascript
Creatable.create(["div#footer", [
	["p.fine-print", "Don't forget to read this!"]
]])
```

```html
<div id="footer">
	<p class="fine-print">Don't forget to read this!</p>
</div>
```

Document Fragments
-----------

```javascript
Creatable.create([[
	["p", "First paragraph!!!"],
	["p", "Second paragraph!!!"],
	["p", "Third paragraph I'm bored"]
]]);
```

```html
<p>First paragraph!!!"</p>
<p>Second paragraph!!!"</p>
<p>Third paragraph I'm bored</p>
```

HTML is automatically escaped
-----------

```javascript
Creatable.create(['p', 'Something <strong>important</strong> to say.'])
```

```html
<p>Something &lt;strong&gt;important&lt;/strong&gt; to say.</p>
```

You can unescape HTML by adding { html: true }

```javascript
Creatable.create(['p', { html: true }, 'Something <strong>important</strong> to say.'])
```

```html
<p>Something <strong>important</strong> to say.</p>
```

Highly compatible with underscore and functional programming
-----------

```javascript
var links = [
	{ url: "http://functionsource.com", label: "FunctionSource" },
	{ url: "http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com", label: "Javascript, Javascript" },
	{ url: "http://ejohn.org/category/blog", label: "John Resig" }
];

var buildLinkItem = function(model) {
	return ["li", [
		["a", { href: model.url }, model.label]
	]];
};

Creatable.create(["ul", _.map(links, buildLinkItem)])
```

```html
<ul>
	<li><a href="http://functionsource.com">FunctionSource</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com">Javascript, Javascript</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://ejohn.org/category/blog">John Resig</a></li>
</ul>
```

Built-in support for jQuery elements
-----------
```javascript
Creatable.create(["#myModule", [
	["h1", "This is a header"],
	"Some text.",
	$("<div><p>Go, Go jQuery</p></div>")
]])
```

```html
<div id="myModule">
	<h1>This is a header</h1>
	Some text.
	<div><p>Go, Go jQuery</p></div>
</div>
```

Use it to return a string of HTML instead of a DOM node
-----------
```javascript
var html = Creatable.createHtml(['a#go.small.button', 'test']);
console.log(html); //<a id="go" class="small button">test</a>
```


Unit Tests
===========

**creatable** has full [unit test coverage](https://github.com/RaineOrShine/creatable/tree/master/test) using mocha.

Installation
===========

Just include creatable.js in your HTML:

```html
<script src="creatable.js"></script>
```