How to Build a Real-Time GitHub Issue To-Do List with CanJS

This tutorial demonstrates building a real-time to-do list application using CanJS, leveraging GitHub's issue list and Webhook API for dynamic updates. The application showcases CanJS's MVVM architecture and its key packages: can-component, can-connect, can-define, and can-stache. jQuery UI enhances interactivity with drag-and-drop reordering.

Key Features & Learning Outcomes:

• Real-time GitHub Integration: The app dynamically updates as GitHub issues change, thanks to the Webhook API.
• MVVM Architecture: Understand how CanJS's core packages facilitate Model-View-ViewModel development.
• CanJS Components: Build and utilize custom CanJS components for modularity and reusability.
• Data Binding: Implement both one-way and two-way data binding for seamless data flow.
• Drag-and-Drop Reordering: Use jQuery UI to enable interactive issue reordering, with changes persisted via the server.
• Local Server Setup (Node.js): Configure a local server to manage data persistence and webhook event handling.

CanJS and the MVVM Pattern:

CanJS employs the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architecture. Let's examine its components:

• Data Models (can-define): The application models individual issues and lists of issues using can-define/map/map (for objects) and can-define/list/list (for arrays). These are observable, automatically updating the view upon changes. An example Issue model:

import DefineMap from 'can-define/map/map';
const Issue = DefineMap.extend('Issue', {
  id: 'number',
  title: 'string',
  sort_position: 'number',
  body: 'string'
});

• View Templates (can-stache): CanJS uses can-stache, a Handlebars-like templating engine, to render the HTML UI. Example:

<ol>
  {{#each issues}}
    <li>{{title}}</li>
  {{/each}}
</ol>

• View Models: The ViewModel acts as an intermediary, handling logic not directly within the model. In CanJS, can-stache templates are rendered with a ViewModel.

• Components (can-component): Components encapsulate view, ViewModel, and event handling, promoting code reusability.

Project Setup:

1. Create a project directory and files (index.html, app.css, app.js).
2. Include necessary libraries (jQuery, jQuery UI, CanJS, Socket.IO) in index.html.
3. Style the application using app.css (Bootstrap is recommended).
4. Set up a local server using github-issue-server (requires Node.js and npm). This handles GitHub Webhook events and data persistence. Obtain a GitHub Personal Access Token for authentication.

Step-by-Step Development:

1. Basic CanJS Setup: Create a simple "Hello World" CanJS application to familiarize yourself with the framework.
2. GitHub Issues Component: Develop a custom CanJS component (github-issues) to display and manage GitHub issues.
3. GitHub Repository Configuration: Configure a GitHub repository and set up a webhook to send events to your local server.
4. Fetching Issues: Use can-connect to fetch and display issues from the GitHub repository.
5. Creating Issues: Add a form to create new issues and send them to GitHub via the API.
6. Real-time Updates (Socket.IO): Integrate Socket.IO to handle real-time updates from GitHub.
7. Drag-and-Drop Reordering: Implement drag-and-drop functionality using jQuery UI's sortable method.

The complete source code is available on GitHub (link provided in the original article). The tutorial concludes with a FAQ section addressing common questions regarding CanJS and GitHub integration.

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