dna.js

An uncomplicated user interface library for building data-driven semantic templates

dna.js is a lightweight easy-to-use UI library enabling developers to rapidly build maintainable JavaScript applications.

1. Bookstore Example

Designate templates with the dna-template class, and put the templates directly into the HTML of your web page.  Use the element's id to indicate the name of the template.  Enclose data fields in double tildes ~~.

a) HTML for book template

<h1>Featured Books</h1>
<div id=book class=dna-template>
   <h2>~~title~~</h2>
   Author: <cite>~~author~~</cite>
</div>

Then call the dna.clone() function to insert a copy of the template into the DOM.  The supplied JSON data object populates the fields of the template.

b) JavaScript call to add book node

dna.clone('book', { title: 'The DOM', author: 'Jan' });

The new clone element replaces the template.  The original template is detached from the DOM and kept for additional cloning.

c) Resulting HTML with clone

<h1>Featured Books</h1>
<div class=book>
   <h2>The DOM</h2>
   Author: <cite>Jan</cite>
</div>

Need to clone the template multiple times?  Simply pass an array of data objects into the dna.clone() function.

2. Additional Information

• https://dnajs.org (see the "Try it out" section for an interactive example)
• Sample To-Do Application (jsfiddle)
• Introduction to dna.js (YouTube)
• Documentation
• Release Notes

3. Contributor Notes

To be a contributor, fork the project and run the commands npm install and npm test on your local clone.  Make your edits and rerun the tests.  Pull requests welcome.

Pull requests (PRs) should not update the version number in package.json or any files in the dist folder.  The version number and dist files are all updated as part of the release process.

Issues labeled "good first issue" make it easy for first time contributors to participate.  Only submit a PR for one of these issues if you're new to this project.

Feel free to submit questions at:
github.com/dnajs/dna.js/issues

dna.js is open source under the MIT License.  The website and documentation are published under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.