Scooter Framework

View helpers

Scooter comes with the following view helper classes. Each class has multiple static helper methods for rendering a view.

Class	Description	Examples
D	D (DateTimeHelper) class has helper methods for Date and Time.	message
F	F (FormHelper) class has helper methods for http form.	formForOpen, formForClose
M	M (MiscHelper) class has helper methods for all other situations.	exist, isArray, isEmpty, isset
O	O (ObjectHelper) class has helper methods for objects including ActiveRecord related instances.	allAssociatedRecordsOf, associatedRecordOf, columnNames, columns, count, getErrorMessages, getObjectForKey, getProperty, homeInstance, hp, hv, interatorOf, property, restfulIdOf, rowInfoOf, value
R	R (RestfulHelper) class has helper methods for routes and resources.	addResourcePath, editResourceRecordPath, resourcePath, resourceRecordPath
T	T (TextHelper) class has helper methods for rendering a text or munipulating a string.	getDateProperty, isNumeric, pluralize, text, textOfCurrency, textOfDate, textOfNumber
W	W (WebHelper) class has helper methods for web related request.	buttonLink, cycle, diggStylePageLinks, yahooStylePageLinks, errorMessage, get, getContextName, getContextPath, getCurrentControllerPath, getDocumentRoot, getRealPath, getURL, globale, h, htmlEscape, imageLink, imageTag, isEmpty, isEqual, isGreaterThan, isGreaterThankOrEqual, isLessThan, isLessThanOrEqual, isLOcalRequest, isPresent, label, labelLink, labelLinkForRecord, marketdown, message, nl2br, pageLink, paginationLinks, param, request, session, setDateHeader, setHeader, submitButtonLink, taggedContent, thread, value

Why single letter for class name?

This is just a way to save some typing by programmers.

For example, which one do you prefer to use in a jsp:

//short-hand case
Content: <%=W.h(aStringVariable)%>

//formal case
Content: <%=WebHelper.getHtmlEscapeString(aStringVariable)%>

There are 18 more keystrokes in the second case.

Detailed description of each helper method

Please refer to Java doc of a specific helper method.

Why inline method is more preferrable than JSTL?

JSTL is a fine tool. But sometimes it can be very awkward. Scooter promotes using inline methods.

For example, the following is a typical example use of JSTL:

<c:choose>
  <c:when test="${state == 'CA'}">
     California
  </c:when>
  <c:when test="${state == 'NY'}">
     New York
  </c:when>
  <c:when test="$state == 'VA'}">
     Virginia
  </c:when>
  <c:otherwise>
     Please select a state
  </c:otherwise>
</c:choose>

In Scooter, we like to use decode method to replace the above code:

<%=Util.decode(state, "CA=California, NY=New York, VA=Virginia", "Please select a state")%>

Other helper methods

There are many other helper methods in util package. Please refer to Java doc of a specific helper method.

Examples

WordUtil

WordUtil.camelize("hello world")    ==> Hello world
WordUtil.camelize("active_record")  ==> ActiveRecord
WordUtil.pluralize("person")        ==> people
WordUtil.pluralize("photo")         ==> photos
WordUtil.underscore("Hello world")  ==> hello world
WordUtil.underscore("ActiveRecord") ==> active_record

T.getDateProperty

Today is <%=T.getDateProperty("weekday")%>, <%=T.getDateProperty("month")%>
         <%=T.getDateProperty("mday")%>, <%=T.getDateProperty("year")%>

==> Today is Thursday, October 29, 2009