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Generating javascript code

Once the PHP classes are registered, the next step is to generate the corresponding javascript code. Jaxon provides 3 different functions for this purpose.

  • The function $jaxon->getCss() returns the CSS code to insert into the page. This will often be instructions to load CSS files of Jaxon plugins.
  • The function $jaxon->getJs() returns the code to load external javascript files.
  • The function $jaxon->getScript() returns the javascript code corresponding to registered functions and classes, and the configuration of the library.

The separation into three distinct functions makes it possible to insert the codes generated by the Jaxon library in different parts of the HTML page. The call to $jaxon->getScript(true, true) returns the cumulative output of the 3 previous calls.

The Javascript code

When the js.app.export option is set to false, the call to $jaxon->getScript() returns the javascript code, which then will be directly included into the HTML code of the page.

If this option is set to true, the javascript code is saved into a file in the directory indicated by the js.app.dir option, and the call to $jaxon->getScript() returns the HTML code to load this file from the URL indicated by the js.app.uri option. If in addition, the js.app.minify option is set to true, the javascript code is minified and the file name ends with .min.js.

By default, the javascript file name is generated using a hash on a value computed by the library. If the js.app.file option is defined, its value is used as the file name. The javascript file will not be regenerated if it already exists.

It is then recommended to set the js.app.export option to false when developing, and generate a minified javascript file when deploying the application.

The names of the javascript functions generated by the library are described in this page.