Instalation

npm i -D mithril-template

Usage

var mithrilTemplate = require("mithril-template")

console.log(mithrilTemplate('<h1 class="greetings">Hello World</h1>'))

Template syntax- guide

Interpolation

The most basic form of data binding is text interpolation using the “Mustache” syntax (double curly braces):

<div class="greeting">
    Hello {{ name }}!
</div>

that will output:

m(".greeting","Hello "+name+"!")

Awesome, right? So let's dive deeper.

Interpolations can't be used within html tag definiition (also in attributes), so this code is invalid:

<div key="{{ foo }}" class="bar">
    Hello World!
</div>

instead use a binding attribute:

<div :key="foo" class="bar">
    Hello World!
</div>

output:

m(".bar",{key:foo},"Hello World!")

Note that { and } characters are reserved in templates for interpolation, so if you have to write them use this workaround:

<span>This is how to use {{ "{" }} and {{ "}"+"}" }} chars.</span>

You can't use { and } html entities because mithril will escape them

Eembeding components

To embed component, his name must end on -component, be kebab-case (a.k.a. snake-case) that will be automatically converted to camelCase and can't be self-closed tag:

<custom-component></custom-component>

output:

m(customComponent)

Attributes that are not followed by : (colon) will be ommited.

<custom-component class="custom-class"></custom-component>

output:

m(customComponent)

so if you want to pass data into component use binding syntax instead:

<custom-component :class="'custom-class'"></custom-component>

output:

m(customComponent,{class:'custom-class'})

You can nest anything inside the component:

<custom-component :key="'unique420'">
  <span style="color: red;">Hello!</span>
</custom-component>

output:

m(customComponent,{key:'unique420'},m("span[style='color: red;']","Hello!"))

Nested data will be available in vnode.children component view property:

<!--customComponent view-->
<div class="styled-message">{{ vnode.children }}</div>

output:

m(".styled-message",vnode.children)

Binding attributes

You probably noticed that html attributes are compiled to hardcoded selectors:

<input type="text" name="name" value="name">

output:

m("input[type=text][name=name][value=name]")

if you want to bind html attribute just put : (colon) before attribute name:

<input type="text" name="name" :value="name">

output:

m("input[type=text][name=name]",{value:name})

you can also bind events and lifecycle hooks:

<div :oninit="initialize" :onclick="doSomething">
  Hello World!
</div>

output:

m("div",{oninit:initialize,onclick:doSomething},"Hello World!")

Directives

Directives are putted as html attributes that are previxed by * (asterisk). The result hyperscript code will be surrounded by javascript flow statements.

There are four available directives, that can be mixed togheder:

• for
• if
• elseif
• else

Let's explain, but note that examples' outputs below are unminified, for better readability.

if:

usage:

<div class="foo" *if="varr % 2 == 0">
  odd
</div>

output:

varr % 2 == 0
    ? m(".foo","odd")
    : ""

if-elseif && if-else:

<div class="foo" *if="varr % 2 == 0">
  odd
</div>
<div *elseif="varr % 5 == 0">
  divisible by 5
</div>
<div *else>
  other
</div>

output:

[
    varr % 2 == 0
        ? m(".foo","odd")
        : varr % 5 == 0
            ? m("div","divisible by 5")
            : m("div","other")
]

for:

<ul>
  <li *for="item in items">
    {{ item.name }}
  </li>
</ul>

output:

m("ul", items.map(function(n){
    return m("li", n.name)
}))

for with index:

<ul>
  <li *for="item, index in items">
    #{{ index }}: {{ item.name }}
  </li>
</ul>

output:

m("ul", items.map(function(n, a){
    return m("li","#"+a+": "+n.name)
}))

for-else

for loop can be used with else (or elseif) statement:

<ul>
  <li *for="item, index in items">
    #{{ index }}: {{ item.name }}
  </li>
  <li *else>
    items not found
  </li>
</ul>

output:

m("ul", items.length
    ? items.map(function(n, t){
        return m("li","#"+t+": "+n.name)
    })
    : m("li","items not found")
)

so if items array is empty (loop won't execute even once) then else statement will be executed

Gotchas

To maximally compress output- whitespaces whose belongs to tags are not properly handled, so if you write this code:

foo <span>bar</span> baz qux

the transpiled code will be:

["foo",m("span","bar"),"baz qux"]

instead of:

["foo ",m("span","bar")," baz qux"]

that you may expected. So if you need space between text and tag do it by this workaround:

foo{{ " " }}<span>bar</span>{{ " " }}baz qux

Additional advantages

• properly support splats for better minification
• produce maximally minified js code (also minify literal selectors)