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authorelijah <elijah@riseup.net>2016-09-16 14:02:32 -0700
committerKali Kaneko (leap communications) <kali@leap.se>2016-09-22 11:40:11 -0400
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+Bitmask Javascript UI
+=================================================================
+
+Here lies the user interface for Bitmask, written in Javascript.
+
+quick start:
+
+ sudo apt install nodejs npm nodejs-legacy
+ npm install # installs development dependencies in "node_modules"
+ npm run watch # continually rebuilds source .js into "pydist"
+
+build for deployment:
+
+ npm install
+ npm run build:production
+
+After 'build', 'build:production', or 'watch' is run, everything needed for
+Bitmask JS is contained in the 'pydist' directory. No additional files are
+needed. Open the pydist/bitmask_js/public/index.html file in a browser or web
+widget.
+
+However! Because of the single origin policy of browsers, you will need to
+open public/index.html through the webserver included with bitmaskd (e.g.
+http://localhost:7070)
+
+In order for this JS app to be loaded by bitmask, it must be packaged as a
+python package and installed in the virtualenv:
+
+ source path-to-virtualenv/bin/activate
+ make dev-install # builds and installs JS app as python package
+ pkill bitmaskd # make sure bitmaskd is not already running
+ bitmaskd # launch backend
+ npm run open # opens http://localhost:7070/ in a browser
+ npm run watch # rebuild JS whenever source file is changed.
+
+In order to package for distribution:
+
+ make dist-build
+
+NOTE: If you make changes to the asset files, like add or modify an image, you
+ will need to stop then rerun `npm run watch` for the changes to take
+ effect.
+
+Development Dependencies
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This application has no "runtime" dependencies: all the javascript needed is
+bundled and included. However, there are many development dependencies.
+Run `npm ls` for a full list.
+
+**npm**
+
+Package management, controlled by the package.json file.
+
+**webpack**
+
+Asset bundling and transformation. It takes all your javascript and CSS and
+bundles it into one (or more) files, handling support for 'require' and scope
+separation.
+
+loaders & plugins:
+
+* babel-loader: use Babel with Webpack.
+
+* style-loader/css-loader: standard css loader.
+
+* less-loader: allows use the less stylesheet.
+
+* copy-webpack-plugin: allows us to specify what files to copy using Webpack.
+
+* extract-text-webpack-plugin: allows you to split js and css into separate
+ files.
+
+**babel**
+
+Babel is used to compile javascript into javascript, transforming along the
+way. We have enabled these plugins:
+
+* babel-presets-react: Adds support for React features, such as JSX (html
+ inlined in js files).
+
+* babel-presets-es2015: Allows the use of modern ES6 javascript.
+
+* babel-presets-stage-0: Allows the use of some ES7 proposals, even though
+ these are not standardized yet. Makes classes nicer.
+
+* babel-polyfill: This is not part of the babel transpiling, but is distributed by babel. This polyfill will give you a full ES2015 environment even if the browser is missing some javascript features. We include this in the 'entry' option of the webpack config. https://babeljs.io/docs/usage/polyfill/
+
+**react**
+
+React is an efficient way to generate HTML views with Javascript. It allows you
+to create interactive UIs without ever modifying the DOM by using "one way"
+data binding. This greatly simplifies the code and reduces errors.
+
+**bootstrap**
+
+The world's most popular CSS styles for UI elements. The npm package includes
+both pre-compiled css and less stylesheets. Even though Semantic UI is better,
+Bootstrap components for React are much more stable, I have found, and also are
+easy to theme.
+
+To integrate Bootstrap with React:
+
+* react-bootstrap: React components that use Bootstrap styles. These component
+ include all the needed javascript and don't require JQuery, although they do
+ require that the bootstrap CSS is loaded independently.
+
+**zxcvbn**
+
+A password strength checker that doesn't suck, but which is big. This JS is
+only loaded when we think we are about to need it.
+