2

As an Actionscript programmer shifting to JS/jQuery I often have to author multipage apps targeted mainly to iOS and I'd like to know what is the best way to structure such apps.

Most of the time my apps are presentations, where each page has a different behavior (i.e., some popups on page1, a group of sliders on page2, some drag and drop action on page3... you get the picture), and more often than not I have to keep track of several variables across different pages.

Right now I handle it like this: I have a group of common functions in a script named my_app.js, while each page has its dedicated pageX.js script to account for its specific duties. I store persistent values through the storage.js library and somehow manage to stick it all together and make it work.

However I recognize that there may be a vast area for improvement to this approach, so I'd like to know how more seasoned developers deal with this situation.

Thanks a lot,

Goblin

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

What you've done seems OK for a smallish app, but as another answerer said, I'd look at an MVC architecture. I can heartily recommend backbone.js, it's pretty lightweight, and simple to use.

You could easily make a controller for each type of view that you need (e.g. sliderController, dragDropController, etc) and then if you needed to, subclass ('extend') these controllers to be platform specific (e.g. iPhoneSliderController, iPadSliderController, desktopSliderController, etc).

If I had more info about this app - like the data behind it, what the user is achieving by dragging/sliding - then I might be able to give a more specific layout for the models, views, and controllers you might want. But hopefully this is a good starting point, and if you take a look at the backbone.js documentation, it should give you a good idea if it's appropriate for your app.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Thanks to everybody for the quick answers. Good to know that I'm not completely off-path with my current approach. The Backbone.js solution seems a very interesting one, since I was already familiar with the MVC pattern in Actionscript.
0

The structure you have sounds sensible enough (common JS file complemented by page-specific JS files). It also sounds like you're onto the right lines with storage.

What I would do in your situation is focus on how your code is structured in terms of architecture. Chapter 6 of Stoyan Stefanov's Javascript Patterns (O'Reilly) would probably be quite enlightening.

I would also probably explore JS MVC implementations given your situation would lend itself well to this methodology (lots of views).

I realise this is only scattered thoughts, but hopefully it might give you some ideas.

Improve this answer

Comments

0

Here is how I organize stuff

 in /    
 modFOO.php  
 modBAR.php
 in /js/
 main.js
 resourceloader.php //this is a resource loader, so I can load multiple JS in a single request
 in /js/pages
 modFOO.js
 modBAR.js //javascript that for page modBAR
 in /css/
 main.css
 resourceloadercss.php //this a resource loader, so I can load multiple CSS in a single request
 in /css/pages/
 modFOO.css
 modBAR.css

With this setup I know exactly where to find stuff, and where to put stuff. And based on the filename, modepic.css, I know exactly where to put the file, and what is (the CSS file for modepic).

Improve this answer

Comments

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.