modules.md

Modules

This document explains the modules that are available to use in your generated scout file. Modules are located in the lib/browser directory, and can be included in your application's portion of the scout file as follows:

// require a module provided by the scout repo
var ie = require('scoutfile/lib/browser/ie');

// use that module
if (ie && ie < 8) {
  // get a new job
}

With the exception of the namespace module, only modules that you chose to require in your application will be included in your generated scout file.

application

The application module provides a function that creates an application instance using a name you provide. An application instance provides methods to queue your user's calls until the actual code to support those calls is present. For documentation of the application class, see:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/application

For example, your user may expect to be able to ask your application to render immediately after your scout file is loaded, even though the code to perform the rendering has not yet loaded.

Once you create an application instance, it is available via its application name as a property in the scout file's namespace. (By default, the scout file's namespace is window.APP, but this can be changed in your build configuration). So, for example, if you create an application with a name of "Spotlights," then the application instance will be available at window.APP.Spotlights.

The application module is typically used in conjunction with the loader module and some configuration data:

// require modules provided by the scout repo
var app = require('scoutfile/lib/browser/application');
var loader = require('scoutfile/lib/browser/loader');
var config = require('json!config.json');

// creates an application object at window.APP.MyApp
var myApp = app('MyApp');

// store configuration data so other code can access it
myApp.config = config;

// load the core application, which will define
// the APP.MyApp.onLoad method
loader.loadScript(config.appJS).then(APP.MyApp.onLoad);

appConfig

The appConfig module provides a way to include in-memory configuration information in your scout file. For example, you may build different scout files to support different products or customers, where product- or customer-specific configuration changes even though the fundamental contents of the scout file do not.

In this case, you can provide this configuration information at build time using the appConfig option:

scout.generate({
  appModules: [
    // ...
  ],
  appConfig: {
    reviews: true,
    comments: false,
    customerName: 'atticus'
  }
});

You can then access the provided configuration using the appConfig module:

var appConfig = require('scoutfile/lib/browser/appConfig');

if (appConfig.reviews) {
  // ...
}

cookie

The cookie module provides methods for interacting with browser cookies. See:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/cookie

evented

The evented module provides a function that can be called on a constructor in order to make instances act as event emitters. See:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/evented

global

The global module provides reliable access to the window object. See:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/global

ie

The ie module provides the version of IE in which the scout is running. See:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/ie

loader

The loader module provides the following methods to load scripts and stylesheets. See:

https://github.com/bazaarvoice/bv-ui-core/tree/master/lib/loader

namespace

The namespace module provides access to the "namespace" for the scout file. By default, this will be window.APP, but it can be changed using the namespace option in the configuration you provide to the scout file generator. See the README for details.

Generally, you should not create new properties on the namespace object directly; the application module creates a property on the object for each registered application, and you should create application- specific properties there instead.

util

The util module provides a very limited subset of lodash, which includes only the following methods:

• each
• forEach
• indexOf
• isArray
• isFunction

Typical usage:

var _ = require('scoutfile/lib/browser/util')._;

_.each([ 1, 2, 3 ], function (item, index, arr) {
  console.log(item, index, arr);
});