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Attrs initialization without @attr decorator聽#207

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Description

@kristoforsalmin

Hi there 馃槃

After upgrading from v1.1.4 to v1.3.2, I noticed that my attributes were no longer shadowed by initializeAttrs(). I started digging and stumbled upon this piece of logic introduced in #191:

if (initialized.has(instance)) return

It prevents initializeAttrs() from doing anything the second time around, thus skipping the manual initialization of attributes. Also, it seems like this change was one of the main things addressed by the above-mentioned PR.

So, what would be the correct way now to initialize the attributes without the @attr decorator?

Thanks!


Example

<script>
  class InfoMessage extends HTMLElement {
    open = true

    connectedCallback() {
      initializeAttrs(this, ['open'])
    }
  }

  controller(InfoMessage)
</script>

<info-message data-open="false"></info-message>
  1. controller(InfoMessage) wraps original connectedCallback() and calls:

initializeAttrs(instance)

  1. InfoMessage is marked as initialized (attrs.ts):

initialized.add(instance)

  1. The original connectedCallback() is executed, but initializeAttrs() would hit that early-return condition.
  2. this.open is stuck in its default state (true) 馃様

Activity

  1. keithamus commented on Apr 29, 2022

    @keithamus
    Contributor

    In the guide we mention calling defineObservedAttributes. I notice your example doesn't do that. Does your example work when that is called?

  2. kristoforsalmin commented on May 2, 2022

    @kristoforsalmin
    Author

    Hey @keithamus!

    Yes, you're right. I'm not calling defineObservedAttributes() as in the example. There are 2 things:

    1. initializeAttrs() used to work without calling defineObservedAttributes() in v1.1.4. My use case was that a component has some properties, but they needed no observation. It was OK to just initialize them, so that this.open returns a value form data-open, or a default value defined in the component's class itself open = true. I knew it's a risk to utilize just one part and not the other, but initializeAttrs() was doing the exact thing it promised: taking the values from the DOM and defining them on an instance (shadowing the default values along the way).
    2. Unfortunately, calling defineObservedAttributes() won't fix it (please see Attrs are never observed unless added with @attr decorator聽#208 for the details). When I look at the code of the latest version of Catalyst, I see no "connection" between initializeAttrs() and defineObservedAttributes(). The link is the attr() function...

    I created those 2 issues hoping we could tackle them one by one, but now it seems to me they're more interdependent than I thought. Sorry about that 馃槄

    Maybe this summary will make it easier:

    attrs.js

    // Using a word "instance" everywhere for simplicity
    
    /**
     * Maps instances to their attributes
     */
    const attrs = new WeakMap(...)
    
    /**
     * Adds a new attribute to the mapping
     */
    function attr(proto, key) {
    	// The ONLY place where `attrs` is populated
    }
    
    /**
     * Defines computed properties on an instance with values from DOM
     */
    function initializeAttrs(instance, names = []) {
    	// Takes attribute names from the `names` argument OR from the `attrs` variable
    }
    
    /**
     * Defines a static computed `observedAttributes` property on an instance
     */
    function defineObservedAttributes(classObject) {
    	// Takes attribute names ONLY from the `attrs` variable
    }

    Please let me know if it's clear or not. I can also prepare an example repo or something 馃檪

  3. keithamus commented on May 2, 2022

    @keithamus
    Contributor

    Thanks for the detailed reply @kristoforsalmin! We can work to fix the breakage, such that existing code continues to work (after all that鈥檚 the semver contract!).

    We鈥檙e working on a 2.0 release which significantly changes how these fields are managed, especially for non-decorator code. It might be preferable to wait for this release - we hope to get a pre-release out this week. In 2.0, instead of using the decorator you can do the following:

    import {controller, attr} from '@github/catalyst'
    class AnExampleElement extends HTMLElement {
      static [attr.static] = ['open']
    }
    AnExampleElement = controller(AnExampleElement)
  4. kristoforsalmin commented on May 2, 2022

    @kristoforsalmin
    Author

    @keithamus cool! I'll just stick to whatever works now and wait for the upcoming release then 馃憤

    Feel free to close those 2 issues (or keep them, if it makes sense). My main goal was to simply let you know about the behavior and my findings. Majority of people are probably using TypeScript anyway, so they won't even notice 馃槃

    And thanks for making Catalyst! So far I only enjoyed its simple design and determination to fix "boilerplaty" aspects of Web Components with just a pinch of features on top and no more than that.

  5. added this to the v2 milestone on May 3, 2022
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