compose-jb/tutorials/HTML/Building_UI

Building the UI with the Compose HTML library

In this tutorial we will look at several examples that use the Composable HTML/CSS DSL to describe the user interface for your web application.

Entry point

The Compose HTML library needs an HTML node that will be a root of its composition. Inside this root node, Compose then manages its own DOM tree.

renderComposable(rootElementId = "root") {
    // content goes here
}

HTML tags

Let's have a look at the Composable for a Div tag (most other tags have the same signature):

Div(
    attrs = {
        // specify attributes here
        style {
            // specify inline style here
        }
    }
) {
    // div content goes here
}

For convenience, some tags like Input, A, Form, or Img allow you to specify some extra parameters in the signature that are specific to the respective HTML tag. For example, let’s look at the Input tag:

Input(
    type = InputType.Text, // All InputTypes supported
    attrs = {}
)

We can use the type parameter which is provided for our convenience, or can use the attrs block to specify the input type:

Input(attrs = { type(InputType.Text) })

Text

The Text allows you to add text content to an HTML tag. Besides the text content it represents, it does not have any parameters:

Text("Arbitrary text")

If you want to apply styles to text, it needs to be wrapped in a container with a style applied, like a Span or P:

Span(
    attrs = { style { color(Color.red) } } // inline style
) {
    Text("Red text")
}

This corresponds to the following HTML code:

<span style="color: red;">Red text</span>

Attributes

The attrs parameter (which we’ve already seen in some of the previous examples) allows us to specify element's attributes and properties.

The most flexible way to define attributes is by using the attr function, which allows you to specify the attribute name and its value.

Div(
    attrs = {
        attr(attr = "custom_attr", value = "its_value")
    }
) { /* content */ }

However, with this approach, Compose is not able to validate that the attribute exists on the HTML element, or is valid. This is why we also provide a set of helper functions for common attributes.

Common attributes

Here are some examples of common attributes that are available for most Composables representing HTML tags:

attrs = {
    id("elementId")
    classes("cl1", "cl2")
    hidden(false)
    title("title")
    draggable(Draggable.Auto)
    dir(DirType.Auto)
    lang("en")
    contentEditable(true)
}

Element specific attributes

Depending on the element you are working with, you may also have access to some specific attributes – attributes that are only meaningful for this particular tag. For example, the A tag provides some specific attributes, that are specific to hyperlinks:

A(
    attrs = {
        href("https://localhost:8080/page2")
        target(ATarget.Blank)
        rel(ARel.Next)
        hreflang("en")
        download("https://...")
    }
) {}

Some other elements that provide specific attributes include:

• Button
• Form
• Input
• Option
• Select
• OptGroup
• TextArea
• Img

To discover all attributes that are available in your current scope, you can use your IDE’s autocomplete feature. As we evolve these APIs, we also plan to add detailed documentation for them.

Events

You can declare event listeners in the attrs block:

Button(
    attrs = { 
        onClick { println("Button clicked") }
    }
) { Text("Button") }

There are more examples about events handling here - Events Handling

Style

There are ways to set the style for a component:

• Using inline styles
• Using stylesheets

You can declare inline styles via the style block of a component:

Div(
    attrs = {
        style {
            display(DisplayStyle.Flex)
            padding(20.px)
            
            // custom property
            property("font-family", "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif")
        }
    }
) { /* content goes here */ }

You can find a more detailed overview of the style DSL, as well as additional examples here - Style DSL

Runnable example

import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import org.jetbrains.compose.web.attributes.*
import org.jetbrains.compose.web.css.*
import org.jetbrains.compose.web.dom.*
import org.jetbrains.compose.web.renderComposable

fun main() {
    renderComposable(rootElementId = "root") {
        Div(
            attrs = {
                // specify attributes here
                style {
                    // specify inline style here
                }
            }
        ) {
            Text("A text in <div>")
        }

        Input(
            type = InputType.Text, // All InputTypes supported
            attrs = {}
        )

        Text("Arbitrary text")

        Span({
            style { color(Color.red) } // inline style
        }) {
            Text("Red text")
        }

        Div(
            attrs = {
                id("elementId")
                classes("cl1", "cl2")
                hidden()
                title("title")
                draggable(Draggable.Auto)
                dir(DirType.Auto)
                lang("en")
                contentEditable(true)

                // custom attr
                attr(attr = "custom_attr", value = "its_value")
            }
        ) { /* content */ }

        A(
            attrs = {
                href("https://localhost:8080/page2")
                target(ATarget.Blank)
                hreflang("en")
                download("https://...")
            }
        ) { Text("Link") }

        Button(
            attrs = {
                onClick { println("Button clicked") }
            }
        ) { Text("Button") }

        Div({
            style {
                display(DisplayStyle.Flex)
                padding(20.px)

                // custom property
                property("font-family", "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif")
            }
        }) { Text("Text in Div with inline style") }
    }
}