smartclient-eval

Provides access to SmartClient Evaluation's client-side UI components documented here. Currently, using this module requires an environment, such as React or Angular, that defines "window" as a global with real browser document and navigator objects.

Installation

When installing a module in npm v7, console output is suppressed, and interactive output is not allowed. So by default, we now install without prompting wherever a default response is available. Please be patient as it may take a minute or more, depending on your connection and hardware, to finish, with no console updates to indicate progress.

Install module and SmartClient runtime(s):

npm install smartclient-eval [flags]

Update/reconfigure SmartClient runtime(s) (must be run from module directory):

npm run update [flags]

where the supported flags are:

--location=<directory>  where to install the SmartClient runtime(s);
                        default is to place runtime root (isomorphic)
                        in the dependent module directory

--branch=<number>       desired branch (e.g. 11.1); default is release
                        branch

--date=<date>|latest    desired build date, in format YYYY-MM-DD,
                        or 'latest'; default is 'latest'

--runtime=release|debug|both
                        which runtime(s) to install; default is 'both'

--reference[=<boolean>] whether to keep the framework reference directory;
                        default is to not install it to save disk space

--skins=Tahoe|all|none  which skins (if any) to install;
                        default is to only install Tahoe

--prompt[=<boolean>]    wait for input instead of assuming the default
                        response to all queries during install; default
                        is to not prompt to support newer npm releases

After installation, command-line configuration is persisted, so command-line arguments only need to be supplied when updating if the desired configuration has changed.

Note that since 'npm update' no longer runs a module's update script if the version hasn't changed, you must use the syntax above, run from the module directory, to update the runtime(s) if the module has already been installed. (The smartclient-eval module is versioned separately from nightly SDK builds.)

Command-line Examples

New install, selecting a specific branch and date:

npm install smartclient-eval --branch=11.1 --date=2018-12-30

Update to latest nighlty build (run from module directory):

npm run update --date=latest

Update to SmartClient 12.1 branch, installing all skins:

npm run update --branch=12.1 --skins=all

npm v7

The install script for a module is no longer allowed to write output in npm v7, which means that we can no longer interactively query for decisions or show zip download progress. So, to still have a complete install process, the module now proceeds automatically, without waiting, wherever a default response is available for what was formerly an interactive query. Please be patient as the zip download and installation of framework, skins, and other assets may take more than a minute, during which no additional output indicating progress will be printed.

You have a few alternatives to this default behavior:

• You can pass "--prompt" to "npm install ...". Due to npm v7 rules, installing the module this way will skip the download and installation of the SmartClient framework and skins, and the isc-config.json configuration file won't be created. So afterwards, to install the missing assets you should navigate down to the module directory (in node_modules) and manually execute "npm run update [flags]", passing your install flags.
• In addition to "--prompt", you can also pass "--foreground-scripts" as a flag to the install command to allow output as in npm v6, but in npm v7 this seems to trigger other timing logs that obfuscate what we print. Hopefully, support for the "--foreground-scripts" flag will improve in future npm releases.

"Uninstall" is no longer a lifecycle event in npm v7, so a module's uninstall script declared in package.json no longer gets called during uninstallation. The recommended workaround is to run "npm run uninstall" from the module directory (in node_modules) before uninstalling.

Importing

If you are building a new Angular, React or similar application, and plan to use SmartClient pervasively throughout, you can just add an import declaration to your main.ts or App.tsx to make the framework available. However, if you are adding SmartClient to an existing application, and you only plan to use SmartClient for specific components like grids, or for Reify screens, consider using background download instead of importing SmartClient directly (importing causes SmartClient to load immediately on all pages).

To directly import the release or debug framework, respectively, in your application, you can write:

import 'smartclient-eval/release';

or

import 'smartclient-eval/debug';

To import a skin as well, such as "Tahoe", you can add:

import 'smartclient-eval/skins/Tahoe';

If you want to refer to SmartClient APIs through your own constant, you can always insert a declaration such as:

const ISC: typeof isc = window['isc'];

after importing the framework.

Importing skins in Angular

In Angular, if you directly import the skin, you may need to also manually add the path to the skin_styles.css file for your skin to the src/styles.css file (or equivalent) for your app, in addition to importing the skin as described above.

For example, if you've installed the SmartClient runtime in the default location, and are importing Tahoe, you'd add the following to src/style.css in your app:

@import '../isomorphic/skins/Tahoe/skin_styles.css';

Note that if you are using the FileLoader to load a skin, it must be installed under src/assets (for example copied from isomorphic/skins) to work properly.

TypeScript

To provide typescript support, the installation process should automatically augment your tsconfig.json file to include SmartClient's typescript file.

Alternatively, you can copy the typescript declaration file, smartclient.d.ts, from the installed resources under the isomorphic directory to your app's source directory, and then import it from your app like:

import 'smartclient.d.ts';

Note that SmartClient's TypeScript support is intended for IDE auto-completion and inline documentation, not for transpilation. So, if you run into compile errors, you can always remove any reference to our TypeScript file from your own TS file and application, remove smartclient.d.ts from under src/assets (if present), and instead make TypeScript active for your IDE only. For further details, see the TypeScript support documentation for our framework or your IDE.