FlexLayout

FlexLayout is a layout manager that arranges React components in multiple tab sets, these can be resized and moved.

Features:

• splitters
• tabs
• tab dragging and ordering
• tabset dragging (move all the tabs in a tabset in one operation)
• dock to tabset or edge of frame
• maximize tabset (double click tabset header or use icon)
• tab overflow (show menu when tabs overflow)
• border tabsets
• submodels, allow layouts inside layouts
• tab renaming (double click tab text to rename)
• themeing - light and dark
• touch events - works on mobile devices (iPad, Android)
• add tabs using drag, indirect drag, add to active tabset, add to tabset by id
• preferred pixel size tabsets
• headed tabsets
• tab and tabset attributes: enableHeader, enableTabStrip, enableDock, enableDrop...
• customizable tabs and tabset header rendering
• esc cancels drag
• typescript type declarations included
• supports overriding css class names via the classNameMapper prop, for use in css modules

Installation

FlexLayout is in the npm repository. Simply install React and FlexLayout from npm:

npm install react --save
npm install react-dom --save
npm install flexlayout-react --save

Import React and FlexLayout in your modules:

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import FlexLayout from "flexlayout-react";

Include the light or dark style in your html:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/flexlayout-react/style/dark.css" />

Usage

The <Layout> component renders the tabsets and splitters, it takes the following props:

Prop	Required/Optional	Description
model	required	the layout model
factory	required	a factory function for creating React components
onAction	optional	function called whenever the layout generates an action to update the model (allows for intercepting actions before they are dispatched to the model, for example, asking the user to confirm a tab close)
onRenderTab	optional	function called when rendering a tab, allows leading (icon) and content sections to be customized
onRenderTabSet	optional	function called when rendering a tabset, allows header and buttons to be customized
onModelChange	optional	function called when model has changed
classNameMapper	optional	function called with default css class name, return value is class name that will be used. Mainly for use with css modules.

The model is tree of Node objects that define the structure of the layout.

The factory is a function that takes a Node object and returns a React component that should be hosted by a tab in the layout.

The model can be created using the Model.fromJson(jsonObject) static method, and can be saved using the model.toJson() method.

this.state = {model: FlexLayout.Model.fromJson(json)};

render() {
	<Layout model={this.state.model} factory={factory}/>
}

Example Configuration:

var json = {
	global: {},
	borders: [],
	layout:{
		"type": "row",
		"weight": 100,
		"children": [
			{
				"type": "tabset",
				"weight": 50,
				"selected": 0,
				"children": [
					{
						"type": "tab",
						"name": "FX",
						"component":"grid",
					}
				]
			},
			{
				"type": "tabset",
				"weight": 50,
				"selected": 0,
				"children": [
					{
						"type": "tab",
						"name": "FI",
						"component":"grid",
					}
				]
			}
		]
	}
};

Example Code

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import FlexLayout from "flexlayout-react";

class Main extends React.Component {

    constructor(props) {
        super(props);
        this.state = {model: FlexLayout.Model.fromJson(json)};
    }

    factory(node) {
        var component = node.getComponent();
        if (component === "button") {
            return <button>{node.getName()}</button>;
        }
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <FlexLayout.Layout model={this.state.model} factory={this.factory.bind(this)}/>
        )
    }
}

ReactDOM.render(<Main/>, document.getElementById("container"));

(See the examples for full source code)

The above code would render two tabsets horizontally each containing a single tab that hosts a button component. The tabs could be moved and resized by dragging and dropping. Additional grids could be added to the layout by sending actions to the model.

Try it now using JSFiddle

The model is built up using 4 types of 'node':

• row - rows contains a list of tabsets and child rows, the top level row will render horizontally, child 'rows' will render in the opposite orientation to their parent.

• tabset - tabsets contain a list of tabs and the index of the selected tab

• tab - tabs specify the name of the component that they should host (that will be loaded via the factory) and the text of the actual tab.

• border - borders contain a list of tabs and the index of the selected tab, they can only be used in the borders
  top level element.

The main layout is defined with rows within rows that contain tabsets that themselves contain tabs.

The model json contains 3 top level elements:

• global - where global options are defined
• layout - where the main row/tabset/tabs layout hierarchy is defined
• borders - (optional) where up to 4 borders are defined ("top", "bottom", "left", "right").

Weights on rows and tabsets specify the relative weight of these nodes within the parent row, the actual values do not matter just their relative values (ie two tabsets of weights 30,70 would render the same if they had weights of 3,7).

example borders section:

	"borders": [
		 {
		    "type":"border",
		 	"location": "left",
			"children": [
				{
					"type": "tab",
					"enableClose":false,
					"name": "Navigation",
					"component": "grid",
				}
			]
		},
		{
		    "type":"border",
		 	"location": "right",
			"children": [
				{
					"type": "tab",
					"enableClose":false,
					"name": "Options",
					"component": "grid",
				}
			]
		},
		{
		    "type":"border",
			"location": "bottom",
			"children": [
				{
					"type": "tab",
					"enableClose":false,
					"name": "Activity Blotter",
					"component": "grid",
				},
				{
					"type": "tab",
					"enableClose":false,
					"name": "Execution Blotter",
					"component": "grid",
				}
			]
		}
	]

To control where nodes can be dropped you can add a callback function to the model:

model.setOnAllowDrop(this.allowDrop);

example:

    allowDrop(dragNode, dropInfo) {
        let dropNode = dropInfo.node;

        // prevent non-border tabs dropping into borders
        if (dropNode.getType() == "border" && (dragNode.getParent() == null || dragNode.getParent().getType() != "border"))
            return false;

        // prevent border tabs dropping into main layout
        if (dropNode.getType() != "border" && (dragNode.getParent() != null && dragNode.getParent().getType() == "border"))
            return false;

        return true;
    }

By changing global or node attributes you can change the layout appearance and functionality, for example:

Setting tabSetEnableTabStrip:false in the global options would change the layout into a multi-splitter (without
tabs or drag and drop).

 global: {tabSetEnableTabStrip:false},

Global Config attributes

Attributes allowed in the 'global' element

Attribute	Default	Description
splitterSize	8
enableEdgeDock	true
tabEnableClose	true
tabEnableDrag	true
tabEnableRename	true
tabClassName	null
tabIcon	null
tabEnableRenderOnDemand	true
tabDragSpeed	0.3	CSS transition speed of drag outlines (in seconds)
tabSetEnableDeleteWhenEmpty	true
tabSetEnableDrop	true
tabSetEnableDrag	true
tabSetEnableDivide	true
tabSetEnableMaximize	true
tabSetClassNameTabStrip	null
tabSetClassNameHeader	null
tabSetEnableTabStrip	true
tabSetHeaderHeight	20
tabSetTabStripHeight	20
borderBarSize	25
borderEnableDrop	true
borderClassName	null

Row Attributes

Attributes allowed in nodes of type 'row'.

Attribute	Default	Description
type	row
weight	100
width	null	preferred pixel width
height	null	preferred pixel height
children	required	a list of row and tabset nodes

Tab Attributes

Attributes allowed in nodes of type 'tab'.

Inherited defaults will take their value from the associated global attributes (see above).

Attribute	Default	Description
type	tab
name	required
component	required
config	null	a place to hold json config for the hosted component
id	auto generated
enableClose	inherited
enableDrag	inherited
enableRename	inherited
className	inherited
icon	inherited
enableRenderOnDemand	inherited

Tab nodes have a getExtraData() method that initially returns an empty object, this is the place to
add extra data to a tab node that will not be saved.

TabSet Attributes

Attributes allowed in nodes of type 'tabset'.

Inherited defaults will take their value from the associated global attributes (see above).

Note: tabsets can be dynamically created as tabs are moved and deleted when all their tabs are removed (unless enableDeleteWhenEmpty is false).

Attribute	Default	Description
type	tabset
weight	100
width	null	preferred pixel width
height	null	preferred pixel height
name	null	named tabsets will show a header bar above the tabs
selected	0
maximized	false
id	auto generated
children	required	a list of tab nodes
enableDeleteWhenEmpty	inherited
enableDrop	inherited
enableDrag	inherited
enableDivide	inherited
enableMaximize	inherited
classNameTabStrip	inherited
classNameHeader	inherited
enableTabStrip	inherited
headerHeight	inherited
tabStripHeight	inherited

Border Attributes

Attributes allowed in nodes of type 'border'.

Inherited defaults will take their value from the associated global attributes (see above).

Attribute	Default	Description
type	border
size	200	size of the tab body when selected
selected	-1	-1 is the unselected value
id	auto generated	border_ + border name e.g. border_left
show	true	show/hide this border
children	required	a list of tab nodes
barSize	inherited
enableDrop	inherited
className	inherited

Model Actions

All changes to the model are applied through actions, you can intercept actions resulting from GUI changes before they are applied by
implementing the onAction callback property of the Layout. You can also apply actions directly using the Model.doAction()
method.

Example

        model.doAction(Actions.updateModelAttributes({
            splitterSize:40,
            tabSetHeaderHeight:40,
            tabSetTabStripHeight:40
        }));

The above example would increase the size of the splitters, tabset headers and tabs, this could be used to make
adjusting the layout easier on a small device.

Action Creator	Description
Actions.addNode(newNodeJson, toNodeId, location, index)	add a new tab node to the given tabset node
Actions.moveNode(fromNodeId, toNodeId, location, index)	move a tab node from its current location to the new node and location
Actions.deleteTab(tabNodeId)	delete the given tab
Actions.selectTab(tabNodeId)	select the given tab
Actions.setActiveTabset(tabsetNodeId)	set the tabset as the active tabset
Actions.adjustSplit(splitterNodeId, value)	adjust the size of the given splitter
Actions.maximizeToggle(tabsetNodeId)	toggles whether the given tabset node is maximized
Actions.updateModelAttributes(attributes)	updates the global attributes
Actions.updateNodeAttributes(nodeId, attributes)	updates the attributes of the given node
Actions.adjustBorderSplit(borderNodeId, pos)	updates the size of the given border node

for example:

model.doAction(Actions.addNode({type:"tab", component:"grid", name:"a grid", id:"5"}, "1", DropLocation.CENTER, 0));

This would add a new grid component to the center of tabset with id "1" and at the 0'th tab position (use value -1 to add to the end of the tabs).
Note: you can get the id of a node using the method node.getId(), if an id wasn't assigned when the node was created then one will be created for you of the form # (e.g. #1, #2 ...).

Layout Component Methods to Create New Tabs

Methods on the Layout Component for adding tabs, the tabs are specified by their layout json.

Example:

this.refs.layout.addTabToTabSet("NAVIGATION", {type:"tab", component:"grid", name:"a grid"});

This would add a new grid component to the tabset with id "NAVIGATION".

Layout Method	Description
addTabToTabSet(tabsetId, json)	adds a new tab to the tabset with the given Id
addTabToActiveTabSet(json)	adds a new tab to the active tabset
addTabWithDragAndDrop(dragText, json, onDrop)	adds a new tab by dragging a marker to the required location, the drag starts immediately
addTabWithDragAndDropIndirect(dragText, json, onDrop)	adds a new tab by dragging a marker to the required location, the marker is shown and must be clicked on to start dragging

Tab Node Events

You can handle events on nodes by adding a listener, this would typically be done
in the components constructor() method.

Example:

    constructor(props) {
        super(props);
        let config = this.props.node.getConfig();

        // save state in flexlayout node tree
        this.props.node.setEventListener("save", function (p) {
             config.subject = this.subject;
        }.bind(this));
    }

Event	parameters	Description
resize		called when tab is resized during layout, called before it is rendered with the new size
close		called when a tab is closed
visibility		called when the visibility of a tab changes
save		called before a tabnode is serialized to json, use to save node config by adding data to the object returned by node.getConfig()

Building the Project

To compile the project just run webpack in the top level directory, this will compile and bundle flexlayout and the examples into
the bundles dir. Once compiled the examples can be run by opening their index.html files.

To build the npm distribution run 'npm run build', this will create the artifacts in the dist dir.

GitHub