∴ spræ

DOM tree microhydration

Sprae is a compact & ergonomic progressive enhancement framework.
It provides :-attributes for inline markup logic with signals-based reactivity.
Perfect for small-scale websites, prototypes, or lightweight UI.

Usage

<div id="container" :if="user">
  Hello <span :text="user.name">World</span>.
</div>

<script type="module">
  import sprae, { signal } from 'sprae'

  const name = signal('Kitty')
  sprae(container, { user: { name } }) // init

  name.value = 'Dolly' // update
</script>

Sprae evaluates :-directives and evaporates them, attaching state to html.

Directives

:if="condition", :else

Control flow of elements.

<span :if="foo">foo</span>
<span :else :if="bar">bar</span>
<span :else>baz</span>

<!-- fragment -->
<template :if="foo">foo <span>bar</span> baz</template>

:each="item, index in items"

Multiply element. Item is identified either by item.id, item.key or item itself.

<ul><li :each="item in items" :text="item"/></ul>

<!-- cases -->
<li :each="item, idx in list" />
<li :each="val, key in obj" />
<li :each="idx in number" />

<!-- by condition -->
<li :if="items" :each="item in items" :text="item" />
<li :else>Empty list</li>

<!-- fragment -->
<template :each="item in items">
  <dt :text="item.term"/>
  <dd :text="item.definition"/>
</template>

<!-- prevent FOUC -->
<style>[:each] {visibility: hidden}</style>

:text="value"

Set text content of an element.

Welcome, <span :text="user.name">Guest</span>.

<!-- fragment -->
Welcome, <template :text="user.name" />.

:class="value"

Set class value, extends existing class.

<!-- string with interpolation -->
<div :class="'foo $<bar>'"></div>

<!-- array/object a-la clsx -->
<div :class="[foo && 'foo', {bar: bar}]"></div>

:style="value"

Set style value, extends existing style.

<!-- string with interpolation -->
<div :style="'foo: $<bar>'"></div>

<!-- object -->
<div :style="{foo: 'bar'}"></div>

<!-- CSS variable -->
<div :style="{'--baz': qux}"></div>

:value="value"

Set value of an input, textarea or select. Takes handle of checked and selected attributes.

<input :value="value" />
<textarea :value="value" />

<!-- selects right option -->
<select :value="selected">
  <option :each="i in 5" :value="i" :text="i"></option>
</select>

:*="value", :="values"

Set any attribute(s).

<label :for="name" :text="name" />

<!-- multiple attributes -->
<input :id:name="name" />

<!-- spread attributes -->
<input :="{ id: name, name, type: 'text', value }" />

:scope="data"

Define or extend data scope for a subtree.

<x :scope="{ foo: signal('bar') }">
  <!-- extends parent scope -->
  <y :scope="{ baz: 'qux' }" :text="foo + baz"></y>
</x>

:ref="name"

Expose element to current scope with name.

<textarea :ref="text" placeholder="Enter text..."></textarea>

<!-- iterable items -->
<li :each="item in items" :ref="item">
  <input :onfocus..onblur=="e => (item.classList.add('editing'), e => item.classList.remove('editing'))"/>
</li>

:fx="code"

Run effect, not changing any attribute.
Optional cleanup is called in-between effect calls or on disposal.

<div :fx="a.value ? foo() : bar()" />

<!-- cleanup function -->
<div :fx="id = setInterval(tick, interval), () => clearInterval(tick)" />

:on*="handler"

Attach event(s) listener with possible modifiers.

<input type="checkbox" :onchange="e => isChecked = e.target.value">

<!-- multiple events -->
<input :value="text" :oninput:onchange="e => text = e.target.value">

<!-- events sequence -->
<button :onfocus..onblur="e => ( handleFocus(), e => handleBlur())">

<!-- event modifiers -->
<button :onclick.throttle-500="handler">Not too often</button>

Modifiers:

• .once, .passive, .capture – listener options.
• .prevent, .stop – prevent default or stop propagation.
• .window, .document, .outside, .self – specify event target.
• .throttle-<ms>, .debounce-<ms> – defer function call with one of the methods.
• .ctrl, .shift, .alt, .meta, .arrow, .enter, .escape, .tab, .space, .backspace, .delete, .digit, .letter, .character – filter by event.key.
• .ctrl-<key>, .alt-<key>, .meta-<key>, .shift-<key> – key combinations, eg. .ctrl-alt-delete or .meta-x.
• .* – any other modifier has no effect, but allows binding multiple handlers to same event (like jQuery event classes).

:html="element" 🔌

Include as import 'sprae/directive/html'.

Set html content of an element or instantiate a template.

Hello, <span :html="userElement">Guest</span>.

<!-- fragment -->
Hello, <template :html="user.name">Guest</template>.

<!-- instantiate template -->
<template :ref="tpl"><span :text="foo"></span></template>
<div :html="tpl" :scope="{foo:'bar'}">...inserted here...</div>

:data="values" 🔌

Include as import 'sprae/directive/data'.

Set data-* attributes. CamelCase is converted to dash-case.

<input :data="{foo: 1, barBaz: true}" />
<!-- <input data-foo="1" data-bar-baz /> -->

:aria="values" 🔌

Include as import 'sprae/directive/aria'.

Set aria-* attributes. Boolean values are stringified.

<input role="combobox" :aria="{
  controls: 'joketypes',
  autocomplete: 'list',
  expanded: false,
  activeOption: 'item1',
  activedescendant: ''
}" />
<!--
<input role="combobox" aria-controls="joketypes" aria-autocomplete="list" aria-expanded="false" aria-active-option="item1" aria-activedescendant>
-->

Expressions

Expressions use justin, a minimal JS subset. It avoids "unsafe-eval" CSP and provides sandboxing. Also it's fast.

Operators:

++ -- ! - + ** * / % && || ??
= < <= > >= == != === !==
<< >> & ^ | ~ ?: . ?. [] ()=>{} in

Primitives:

[] {} "" ''
1 2.34 -5e6 0x7a
true false null undefined NaN

Signals

Sprae uses minimal signals based on ulive. It can be switched to @preact/signals-core, @webreflection/signal, usignal, which are better for complex states:

import sprae, { signal, computed, effect, batch, untracked } from 'sprae';
import * as signals from '@preact/signals-core';

sprae.use(signals);

sprae(el, { name: signal('Kitty') });

Customization

Sprae build can be tailored to project needs via sprae/core and sprae/directive/*:

import sprae, { directive, compile } from 'sprae/core.js'

// include directives
import 'sprae/directive/if.js';
import 'sprae/directive/text.js';

// define custom directive
directive.id = (el, expr, state) => {
  const evaluate = compile(state, 'id') // expression string -> evaluator
  return () => el.id = evaluate(state)  // return update function
}

v9 changes

• No autoinit → use manual init via import sprae from 'sprae'; sprae(document.body, state).
• No default globals (console, setTimeout etc) - pass to state if required.
• :class="`abc ${def}`" → :class="'abc $<def>'" (justin)
• :with={x:'x'} -> :scope={x:'x'}
• No reactive store → use signals for reactive values.
• :render="tpl" → :html="tpl"
• @click="event.target" → :onclick="event => event.target"
• Async props / events are not supported, pass async functions via state.
• Directives order matters, eg. <a :if :each :scope /> !== <a :scope :each :if />
• Only one directive per <template>, eg. <template :each />, not <template :if :each/>

Justification

Template-parts / templize is progressive, but is stuck with native HTML quirks (parsing table, SVG attributes, liquid syntax conflict etc). Alpine / petite-vue / lucia escape native HTML quirks, but have excessive API (:, x-, {}, @, $) and tend to self-encapsulate.

Sprae holds open & minimalistic philosophy, combining :-directives with signals.

Examples

• ToDo MVC: demo, code
• JS Framework Benchmark: demo, code
• Wavearea: demo, code
• Prostogreen demo, code

🕉