pyret-blocks

A screenreader-accessible, hybrid block and text editor for the Pyret programming language.

Usage

Export the pyret-blocks module using the normal npm run build mechanism, then include it in your favorite Pyret-using, CodeMirror-enabled project. You can now use the new CodeMirrorBlocks constructor to replace an existing CodeMirror instance with blocks. In other words, you'd replace code that looks like this:

// make a new CM instance inside the container elt, passing in CM ops
this.editor = CodeMirror(container, {/* CodeMirror options  */}});

With code that looks like this:

// make a new CMB instance inside the container elt, passing in CMB ops
this.editor = CodeMirrorBlocks(container, {/* CodeMirrorBlocks options  */});

NOTE: your IDE will need to load CodeMirror as an external dependency. We assume it already does (otherwise, why would you be here?), so you'll need to provide it yourself.

Development

To get your dev environment up and running, follow these steps. Note that to run tests, you will need either Chrome or Chromium and point the variable CHROME_BIN to the binary like this:

export CHROME_BIN=/usr/bin/chromium

You must enter the following command in every session before you run the test. Alternatively, you can put it in your .{bash,zsh}rc, which will run them automatically.

1. Checkout the repository in your favorite manner

2. install dependencies with npm

    npm install
   

3. start the webpack development server:

    npm start
   

4. browse to http://localhost:8080/ and fire away!

5. while you work, be sure to run the unit tests (early and often!) with:

    npm run test
   

Language-specific code is in the src/languages/pyret/ directory. The files there include:

• ast.tsx - a TypeScript file describing the AST nodes for this language, over-and-above the builtin nodes that the CMB library includes natively. If you are adding support for language features or changing the way existing nodes render, this is where you'll do most of your work. You'll need some JS and minimal JSX/React chops to work here.
• index.js - the interface where the language mode declares itself to the CMB library. It's unlikely you will edit anything here (except maybe some of the strings).
• Parser.js - this file contains that code that takes an AST produced by your language's native parser and converts it to a CMB AST. Pay special attention to the aria-label fields! These strings are what the screenreader will announce to describe an AST node.
• style.less - this is where the CSS rules are declared, for styling the rendered AST nodes. If you know CSS, learning LESS is pretty easy and downright fun!

6. you can generate local coverage reports in the .coverage/ folder by running:

    COVERAGE=true npm test
   

7. you can generate a static, minified ball of JS and CSS in the dist/ folder by running:

    npm run build
   

Inserting New Themes

We have also given the option for you to add your own themes into the application during development. Style-specific code is in the src/languages/pyret/style-selection directory, where you will find:

• style-list.js - which exports an array of JSONs indicating the Styles available in the editor. More on this below.
• style-selector.js - the script that exports a constructor that will create the selector of styles for the editor in the application. If you are only concerned with adding new styles, you probably won't need to edit this.
• \style\ - a directory where all the less files for the theme are at. More on this below. Inside this directory, you will find a file called default.less, this is a template for what you can modifiy into any other style.

Once you have your style compiled, all you need to insert a new style is to:

1. Upload your file to the style directory mentioned above if you haven't already.

2. Open up style-list.js, and insert a json of the following format:

    {
            displayName: STRING,
            themeName: STRING,
            id: STRING
    }
   

• displayName - Theme Name of your Style that will be displayed on the UI
• themeName - the ClassName of the Wrapper around Code Mirror, add this to style.less
• id - id of the option block in the UI, formatted in the style of "[name]-block-style"

3. In style.less referenced in Development, add the following to the less file:

    .[themeName]{
            @import "./style-selection/style/[file you uploaded]";
    }
   

#TODO (Check off in commit when complete)

• Dragging things into the function/lambda body (class Block) does not place it in the correct place (cannot append to the top)

• Make drop targets in a block properly highlight/respond to hover (might have something to do with appending to the list)

• Make the drop targets within the functions extend all the way to the left (looks strange otherwise)

• Fix navigations tests - [x] Come up with a way to emulate hover properly (since some boxes will only display on hover)