Welcome to Qooxdoo! Qooxdoo is a one-stop javascript framework that helps you write single page web applications in pure JavaScript without touching HTML or CSS.
Qooxdoo applications are written in javascript. The Qooxdoo framework is a large, well-structured class library composed of both graphical and non-graphical elements you can use to build your applications. The following guide will show how this works in practice.
If you have worked with Qooxdoo and its Python-based tool chain before, please also have a look at our guide to migrate your applications to the new NodeJS-based tooling.
The following introduction to Qooxdoo takes less than 10 minutes to complete.
Before you can load a Qooxdoo application in your browser, it has to be compiled. The compilation step takes care including all the Qooxdoo classes into your application that were referenced either directly or indirectly from your code.
The Qooxdoo compiler is called qx and runs in node.js. Qooxdoo requires
a current version of Node.js to work.
To check your version, run node -v in a terminal/console window.
If you don't have node installed, or your version is too old, either go to nodejs.org or use the nvm system to get up and running.
Node comes with its own package manager called npm which you can now use to install the Qooxdoo framework and the Qooxdoo compiler. There are two ways to set up Qooxdoo. You can install it in the same directory as your Qooxdoo project or you can install it globally.
The following command line installs the Qooxdoo framework globally, which includes the compiler and makes it available anywhere via your path settings.
$ npm install -g @qooxdoo/frameworkTo start the Qooxdoo compiler type
$ qxBoth the compiler and the Qooxdoo framework are evolving, so if you are writing a large application which you may have to maintain for months and years to come, you will probably be better off to install Qooxdoo together with the application code.
$ mkdir myapp
$ cd myapp
$ npm init
$ npm install --save-dev @qooxdoo/framework
$ ls
node_modules package-lock.json package.jsonTo start the Qooxdoo compiler type
$ npx qxLooking at the myapp directory you find two files: package.json and
package-lock.json as well as a folder node_modules. Add the package.json
and package-lock.json to your project files. This will allow you later to
re-install the exact same version of the compiler and of the framework by typing
npm i without the need to keep a copy of the node_modules folder around.
!> Save some keystrokes by setting an alias for qx by setting
alias qx='npx qx'!
The Qooxdoo compiler is not only a compiler. It can also provide little template
apps and it can act as a webserver so that you can use your browser to access
the application. To get started, lets create a little application and then have
a look at its code. The create command in the Qooxdoo compiler lets you
quickly produce a simple skeleton app. The following command line assumes that
you have to set up a local copy of the Qooxdoo compiler in the myapp subdirectory.
$ cd myapp
$ npx qx create myapp --type desktop --noninteractive --out=.
$ npx qx serveThe serve command will compile the application and then also make it available
on localhost. Use your web browser to open http://localhost:8080.
An application which displays a single button. Ok, not all that impressive. A
few lines of HTML and CSS could do that too. So how does Qooxdoo do it? Open
source/class/myapp/Application.js and have a look at the application code.
Here is a stripped down version of the code with just the essential lines:
qx.Class.define("myapp.Application", {
extend: qx.application.Standalone,
members: {
main() {
super.main(); // call the super class
let button1 = new qx.ui.form.Button("Click me");
let doc = this.getRoot();
doc.add(button1, { left: 100, top: 50 });
button1.addListener("execute", function () {
alert("Hello World!");
});
}
}
});If you have worked with javascript before you may find that it looks like javascript but also different from most javascript you have seen to date. This is because Qooxdoo introduces both a rich set of widgets as well as class based object orientation into the language. There is quite a lot of documentation on these topics in the next few sections.
And yes, this is the complete program, there is neither HTML nor CSS. The Qooxdoo framework creates all that on the fly as the program is started. There is also a powerful theming system which lets you write your own themes to give your application a distinctive look.
Try editing the file a bit. You will notice that the server detects your modifications and recompiles the application automatically.
If you look at the files that are created by the compiler (in the
compiled/source directory), you might notice that the resulting code is quite
large in size. This is because even the tiniest application makes use of
Qooxdoo's core classes, and the compiler produces a large number of artefacts
that are needed for quick recompilation and debugging. The compiler can also
produce a deployable version of your app which will be much smaller and not
contain any of the debugging support.
With the first mini application up and running you are now ready for bigger things. You can either start reading our comprehensive manual or you can try some more hands-on by working through the tutorials first.
If you ever get stuck, feel free to open the chat window by pressing the button in the bottom right-hand corner of the documentation.
You can help improve this manual by fixing individual pages (Click on the "Edit
this page on GitHub" button). For more extensive changes that involve more than
one page, please clone
the repository and do
your edits. Before creating a PR with your changes, make sure to npm install
and npm test. This will check your markdown and enforce certain style rules.
If you move or rename pages, make sure to add a redirection in the alias.js file, so that internal links and especially external links to them are not broken.