CRAINE is a powerful html compiler allowing for components in pure html without using javascript. Currently in alpha but growing every day.
- Fast and effcient: Only compiles the required components and because it is built with rust, it is blazing fast.
- Easy to learn: If you know html, you are good to go with craine as the syntax is just html (future additions maybe added but adhering to html)
- No JavaScript required: Unlike frameworks like react.js, svelte etc, craine is a compiler and does not use javascript. (SvelteJS is also a compiler but it does use javascript). You can use javascript but it is not required to use craine
Requires the rust compiler and cargo to be in path
- Clone the repo and
cdinto the directory - Run
cargo checkThis compiles the program and informs it there are any errors. If any, please file a issue. - You can install it globally by
cargo install --path .
The tutorial is split between a few parts.
craine uses the concept of pages and components.
- Page: A page is a document that is rendered by the browser, containing
<!DOCTYPE>,<html> </html>etc. Pages can have components but pages can not be imported in other components or pages A page always begins with a capital letter (PascalCase) - Components: A component is like a split html fragment, ie without
<!DOCTYPE>,<html> </html>etc. Components can contain other component and can be imported into pages/components. A component always begins with a small letter (camelCase)
NOTE: The filename restrictions are not conventions. The compiler is built to work that way
CRAINE uses the import <path> syntax to import other components. <path> can be a relative path or a absolute path. Prefer keeping the imports at the top of the files. A component which is never imported is termed as a "Unused Component"
In a empty directory, create a "src" directory and inside that create a page named index.html
index.html
import ./components/FancyButton.html <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>CRAINE Tutorial</title> </head> <body> <FancyButton /> </body> </html>
Now, create a components directory inside the source dir and then create the FancyButton.html file
Notice how we used <FancyButton /> like a tag in html ? that is how craine works in the background.
FancyButton.html
<button class="fancy">Click me!!</button>
This is the FancyButton component, just containing a html fragment.
Variables in CRAINE are very similar to "props" in react.js ; Variables in CRAINE are also scoped variables.
Syntax:
To define a variable, {name||value} is used. If a new variable is declared, the value is overriden.
To get the value of a variable, (name) is used. A variable's value can be used in classes, id, attributes and text inside the component.
In the future, this will be changed to use
{name}to remain consistent with the definition syntax
Example
Modify the contents of the body tag:
<body> <FancyButton> {color||blue} </FancyButton> </body>
And, modify the FancyButton component with this:
<style> .fancy { background-color: "(color)" } </style> <button class="fancy">Click me!!</button>
The directory with the html files is termed as the working directory. Assuming craine is installed and the binary is in $PATH, run craine <path to working directory> in a terminal.
This would spit out the html into the terminal (ie, stdout). The example here shows formatted html so it is easy to follow
<html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <title>CRAINE Tutorial</title> </head> <body> <div> <style> .fancy { background-color: "(color)" } </style> <button class="fancy"> I am a fancy button </button> </div> </body> </html>
You would now be able to see that, <FancyButton /> got replaced with a div enclosing the component file.
CRAINE currently accepts a .craine or craine.json file for the following parameters:
build_dir: Sets the output directory.src_dir: Sets the source directory.
Config files are in json format.
Initializes a empty craine project
--path: Required ; Path to a empty directory to initialize a craine project.
Compiles a craine project
--path: Required ; Path to a craine workspace directory (ie, a directory containing a craine config file)--autorun: Optional ; Automatically compiles when any file inside the src directory changes
CRAINE is licensed under GPL-3.0