datahub/index.html
Rufus Pollock a5c4f003de [docs][s]: improve documentation index page.
* lists of dependencies
* an overview of model and views
2012-02-16 16:16:10 +00:00

176 lines
7.6 KiB
HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>Recline DataExplorer</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/1.4.0/bootstrap.min.css">
<style type="text/css">
html, body {
background-color: #eee;
}
body {
padding-top: 40px; /* 40px to make the container go all the way to the bottom of the topbar */
}
.content {
background-color: #fff;
padding: 20px;
margin: 0 -20px; /* negative indent the amount of the padding to maintain the grid system */
-webkit-border-radius: 0 0 6px 6px;
-moz-border-radius: 0 0 6px 6px;
border-radius: 0 0 6px 6px;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
}
.page-header {
background-color: #f5f5f5;
padding: 20px 20px 10px;
margin: -20px -20px 20px;
}
.nav-logo img {
margin-top: 4px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<a href="http://github.com/okfn/recline"><img style="position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; border: 0; z-index: 100000;" src="https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com/img/7afbc8b248c68eb468279e8c17986ad46549fb71/687474703a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f6769746875622f726962626f6e732f666f726b6d655f72696768745f6461726b626c75655f3132313632312e706e67" alt="Fork me on GitHub"></a>
<div class="topbar">
<div class="fill">
<div class="container">
<a class="brand" href="#">Recline Data Explorer</a>
<ul class="nav">
<li><a href="demo/">Demo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://github.com/okfn/recline/">Code</a></li>
<li><a href="http://github.com/okfn/recline/issues">Issues</a></li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/maxogden">@maxogden</a></li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/rufuspollock">@rufuspollock</a></li>
</ul>
<a class="nav-logo pull-right" href="http://okfn.org/" title="An Open Knowledge Foundation Project">
<img src="http://assets.okfn.org/p/okfn/img/logo_28x30.png" alt="Open Knowledge Foundation logo" />
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="container">
<div class="content">
<div class="page-header">
<h1>
Recline Data Explorer <small>Data explorer library and app all in pure Javascript</small>
</h1>
</div>
<h4>Recline combines a data grid, Google Refine-style data transforms
and visualizations all in lightweight javascript and html.</h4>
<p>Designed for standalone use or as a library to integrate into your own
app.</p>
<h2 id="features">Main Features</h2>
<ul>
<li>View and edit your data in a clean grid / table interface</li>
<li>Bulk update/clean your data using an easy scripting UI</li>
<li>Easily extensible with new Backends so you can connect to your
database or storage layer</li>
<li>Visualize data</li>
<li>Pure javascript (no Flash) and designed for integration -- so it is
easy to embed in other sites and applications</li>
<li>Open-source</li>
<li>Built on <a
href="http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/">Backbone</a> - so
robust design and extremely easy to exend</li>
<li>Properly designed model with clean separation of data and presentation</li>
<li>Componentized design means you use only what you need</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="demo">Demo</h2>
<p><a href="demo/index.html" class="btn">Demo &raquo;</a></p>
<h2 id="downloads">Downloads & Dependencies <small>(Right-click, and use 'Save As')</small></h2>
<p><a href="recline.js" class="btn">Recline Current Version (v0.2) &raquo;</a></p>
<h3>Dependencies</h3>
<p>Javascript Libraries:</p>
<ul>
<li>Jquery >= 1.6</li>
<li>Underscore and Backbone (0.5.1)</li>
<li>JQuery Mustache</li>
<li>(Optional) JQuery Flot - for graphing</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>CSS</strong>: the demo utilizes bootstrap but you can integrate with your own HTML and CSS. Data Explorer specific CSS can be found here in the repo: <a href="https://github.com/okfn/recline/tree/master/css">https://github.com/okfn/recline/tree/master/css</a>.</p>
<h2 id="using">Using It</h2>
<pre>
// Note: you should have included the relevant JS libraries (and CSS)
// See above for dependencies
// Dataset is a Backbone model
var dataset = recline.Model.Dataset({
id: 'my-id'
backend: {
// backend ID so we can look backend up in the registry (see below)
type: 'memory'
// other backend config (e.g. API url with which to communicate)
// this will usually be backend specific
...
}
});
// DataExplorer is a Backbone View
var explorer = recline.View.DataExplorer({
model: dataset,
// you can specify any element to bind to in the dom
el: $('.data-explorer-here')
});
// Start Backbone routing (if you want routing support)
Backbone.history.start();
</pre>
<p>More details and examples: see docs below and the <a
href="demo/">Demo</a> (hit view source). The javascript you want for
actual integration is in: <a href="demo/js/app.js">app.js</a>.</p>
<h2 id="docs">Documentation</h2>
<p>Recline has a simple structure layered on top of the basic Model/View
distinction inherent in Backbone. There are the following three domain objects (all Backbone Models):</p>
<ul>
<li>Dataset: represents the dataset. Holds dataset info and a pointer to list of data items (Documents in our terminology) which it can load from the relevant Backend.</li>
<li>Document: an individual data item (e.g. a row from a relational database or a spreadsheet, a document from from a document DB like CouchDB or MongoDB).</li>
<li>Backend: provides a way to get data from a specific 'Backend' data source. They provide methods for loading and saving Datasets and individuals Documents as well as for bulk loading via a query API and doing bulk transforms on the backend</li>
</ul>
<p>There are then various Views (you can easily write your own). Each view holds a pointer to a Dataset:</p>
<ul>
<li>DataExplorer: the parent view which manages the overall app and sets up sub views.</li>
<li>DataTable: the data grid / table view.</li>
<li>FlotGraph: a simple graphing view using <a href="http://code.google.com/p/flot/">Flot</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Source</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="docs/model.html">Models</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend.html">Backends</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/view.html">Views including the main Data Explorer</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="tests">Tests</h2>
<p><a href="test/index.html">Run the tests online</a>.</p>
<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>Max Ogden was developing Recline as the frontend data browser and editor
for his <a href="http://datacouch.com/">http://datacouch.com/</a> project.
Meanwhile, Rufus Pollock and the <a href="http://ckan.org/">CKAN team</a>
at the <a href="http://okfn.org/">Open Knowledge Foundation</a> had been
working on a <a href="http://github.com/okfn/dataexplorer">Data
Explorer</a> for use in <a href="http://thedatahub.org">the DataHub</a>
and <a href="http://ckan.org/">CKAN software</a>.</p>
<p>When they met up, they realized that they were pretty much working on
the same thing and so decided to join forces to produce the new Recline
Data Explorer.</p>
<p>The new project forked off <a
href="https://github.com/maxogden/recline">Max's original recline
codebase</a> combining some portions of the <a
href="http://github.com/okfn/dataexplorer">original Data Explorer</a>.
However, it has been rewritten from the ground up using Backbone.</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>