Our goal is to have all JavaScript code in GNOME follow a consistent style. In a dynamic language like JavaScript, it is essential to be rigorous about style (and unit tests), or you rapidly end up with a spaghetti-code mess.
Life isn't fun if you can't break the rules. If a rule seems unnecessarily restrictive while you're coding, ignore it, and let the patch reviewer decide what to do.
- Use four-space indents.
- Braces are on the same line as their associated statements.
- You should only omit braces if both sides of the statement are on one line.
- One space after the
functionkeyword. - No space between the function name in a declaration or a call.
- One space before the parens in the
ifstatements, orwhile, orforloops.
function foo(a, b) {
let bar;
if (a > b)
bar = do_thing(a);
else
bar = do_thing(b);
if (bar === 5) {
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++)
print(i);
} else {
print(20);
}
}JavaScript allows omitting semicolons at the end of lines, but don't. Always end statements with a semicolon.
If using Emacs, do not use js2-mode. It is outdated and hasn't worked for a while. emacs now has a built-in JavaScript mode, js-mode, based on espresso-mode. It is the de facto emacs mode for JavaScript.
For JavaScript files, use lowerCamelCase-style names, with a .js extension.
We only use C where gjs/gobject-introspection is not available for the task, or
where C would be cleaner. To work around limitations in
gjs/gobject-introspection itself, add a new method in shell-util.[ch].
Like many other GNOME projects, we prefix our C source filenames with the
library name followed by a dash, e.g. shell-app-system.c. Create a
-private.h header when you want to share code internally in the
library. These headers are not installed, distributed or introspected.
Use UpperCamelCase when importing modules to distinguish them from ordinary variables, e.g.
import GLib from 'gi://GLib';Imports should be categorized into one of two places. The top-most import block should contain only "environment imports". These are either modules from gobject-introspection or modules added by gjs itself.
The second block of imports should contain only "application imports". These
are the JS code that is in the gnome-shell codebase,
e.g. './popupMenu.js'.
Each import block should be sorted alphabetically. Don't import modules you don't use.
import GLib from 'gi://GLib';
import Gio from 'gi://Gio';
import St from 'gi://St';
import * as Main from './main.js';
import * as Params from '../misc/params.js';
import * as Util from '../misc/util.js';The alphabetical ordering should be done independently of the location of the
location. Never reference imports in actual code.
We use CONSTANTS_CASE to define constants. All constants should be directly under the imports:
const MY_DBUS_INTERFACE = 'org.my.Interface';Always use either const or let when defining a variable.
// Iterating over an array
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; ++i) {
const item = arr[i];
}
// Iterating over an object's properties
for (const prop in someobj) {
const val = someobj[prop];
}If you use "var" then the variable is added to function scope, not block scope. See What's new in JavaScript 1.7
There are many approaches to classes in JavaScript. We use standard ES6 classes whenever possible, that is when not inheriting from GObjects.
export class IconLabelMenuItem extends PopupMenu.PopupMenuBaseItem {
constructor(icon, label) {
super({reactive: false});
this.actor.add_child(icon);
this.actor.add_child(label);
}
open() {
log('menu opened!');
}
}For GObject inheritance, we use the GObject.registerClass() function provided by gjs.
export const MyActor = GObject.registerClass(
class MyActor extends Clutter.Actor {
constructor(params) {
super(params);
this.name = 'MyCustomActor';
}
});GObject Introspection is a powerful feature that allows us to have native bindings for almost any library built around GObject. If a library requires you to inherit from a type to use it, you can do so:
export const MyClutterActor = GObject.registerClass(
class MyClutterActor extends Clutter.Actor {
vfunc_get_preferred_width(forHeight) {
return [100, 100];
}
vfunc_get_preferred_height(forWidth) {
return [100, 100];
}
vfunc_paint(paintContext) {
let framebuffer = paintContext.get_framebuffer();
let coglContext = framebuffer.get_context();
let alloc = this.get_allocation_box();
let pipeline = Cogl.Pipeline.new(coglContext);
pipeline.set_color4ub(255, 0, 0, 255);
framebuffer.draw_rectangle(pipeline,
alloc.x1, alloc.y1,
alloc.x2, alloc.y2);
}
});We use gettext to translate the GNOME Shell into all the languages that GNOME
supports. The gettext function is aliased globally as _, you do not need to
explicitly import it. This is done through some magic in the
environment.js
file. If you can't find a method that's used, it's probably either in gjs itself
or installed on the global object from the Environment.
gjs allows us to set so-called "expando properties" on introspected objects,
allowing us to treat them like any other. Because the Shell was built before
you could inherit from GTypes natively in JS, in some cases we have a wrapper
class that has a property called actor (now deprecated). We call this
wrapper class the "delegate".
We sometimes use expando properties to set a property called _delegate on
the actor itself:
export const MyActor = GObject.registerClass(
class MyActor extends Clutter.Actor {
constructor(params) {
super(params);
this._delegate = this;
}
});Or using the deprecated actor:
export class MyClass {
constructor() {
this.actor = new St.Button({text: 'This is a button'});
this.actor._delegate = this;
this.actor.connect('clicked', this._onClicked.bind(this));
}
_onClicked(actor) {
actor.set_label('You clicked the button!');
}
}The 'delegate' property is important for anything which trying to get the
delegate object from an associated actor. For instance, the drag and drop
system calls the handleDragOver function on the delegate of a "drop target"
when the user drags an item over it. If you do not set the _delegate
property, your actor will not be able to be dropped onto.
In case the class is an actor itself, the _delegate can be just set to this.
JavaScript Array objects offer a lot of common functional programming capabilities such as forEach, map, filter and so on. You can use these when they make sense, but please don't have a spaghetti mess of function programming messed in a procedural style. Use your best judgment.
this will not be captured in a closure, it is relative to how the closure is
invoked, not to the value of this where the closure is created, because "this"
is a keyword with a value passed in at function invocation time, it is not a
variable that can be captured in closures.
All closures should be wrapped with Function.prototype.bind or use arrow notation.
let closure1 = () => this._fnorbate();
let closure2 = this._fnorbate.bind(this);A more realistic example would be connecting to a signal on a method of a prototype:
import * as FnorbLib from './fborbLib.js';
export class MyClass {
constructor() {
let fnorb = new FnorbLib.Fnorb();
fnorb.connect('frobate', this._onFnorbFrobate.bind(this));
}
_onFnorbFrobate(fnorb) {
this._updateFnorb();
}
}In JavaScript, these are equivalent:
foo = {'bar': 42};
foo = {bar: 42};and so are these:
b = foo['bar'];
b = foo.bar;If your usage of an object is like an object, then you're defining "member
variables." For member variables, use the no-quotes no-brackets syntax:
{bar: 42} foo.bar.
If your usage of an object is like a hash table (and thus conceptually the keys
can have special chars in them), don't use quotes, but use brackets:
{bar: 42}, foo['bar'].
Most objects that are animated are actors, and most properties used in animations are animatable, which means they can use implicit animations:
moveActor(actor, x, y) {
actor.ease({
x,
y,
duration: 500, // ms
mode: Clutter.AnimationMode.EASE_OUT_QUAD,
});
}The above is a convenience wrapper around the actual Clutter API, and should generally be preferred over the more verbose:
moveActor(actor, x, y) {
actor.save_easing_state();
actor.set_easing_duration(500);
actor.set_easing_mode(Clutter.AnimationMode.EASE_OUT_QUAD);
actor.set({
x,
y,
});
actor.restore_easing_state();
}There is a similar convenience API around Clutter.PropertyTransition to animate actor (or actor meta) properties that cannot use implicit animations:
desaturateActor(actor, desaturate) {
let factor = desaturate ? 1.0 : 0.0;
actor.ease_property('@effects.desaturate.factor', factor, {
duration: 500, // ms
mode: Clutter.AnimationMode.EASE_OUT_QUAD,
});
}