How to combine figwheel, Om and Ring in one application

tl;dr

In this article you will find a configuration of figwheel with Om and a Ring server in one application.

The following issues will be addressed:

Om root component will be remounted upon code reload

App-state is lost when code is reloaded

Code changes in other cljs files do not cause a re-render

Let’s get Om with it

For a few weeks I have been using Clojurescript and Om for front end development. Om is a Clojurescript library based on the famous React. Figwheel is a tool that can speed up Clojurescript and Om development by reloading code in the browser without refreshing an entire page.

Figwheel comes in the form of a leiningen plugin that uses lein-cljsbuild to compile Clojurescript and pushes the resulting Javascript to the browser, which is then reloaded. Together with React this is a powerful combination. As you change code in your editor and press save, the changes can be instantly reflected in the page you were viewing… if you configure things properly.

The project I’m currently working on consists of several Clojurescript files. Often an Om component resides in a file of its own. For my workflow it would make sense to be able to edit a component in one file, save the code and see the change in the browser immediately. So here is what I’ve done.

Let’s make a project based on the wrom template.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 $ lein new wrom example $ find . . ./.gitignore ./project.clj ./resources ./resources/public ./resources/public/index.html ./resources/public/style.css ./src ./src/example ./src/example/client.cljs ./src/example/server.clj

The application comprises a server and client part. All sources files reside in one directory src . Let’s add figwheel to our project. Add [figwheel "0.1.4-SNAPSHOT"] to :dependencies and [lein-figwheel "0.1.4-SNAPSHOT"] to plugins . Your project.clj should now look like this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 ( defproject example "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT" :description "FIXME: write this!" :url "http://example.com/FIXME" :dependencies [[ org.clojure/clojure "1.6.0" ] [ org.clojure/clojurescript "0.0-2322" ] [ org.clojure/core.async "0.1.267.0-0d7780-alpha" ] [ org.webjars/react "0.11.1" ] [ om "0.7.1" ] [ cljs-http "0.1.14" ] [ ring/ring-core "1.3.1" ] [ ring/ring-jetty-adapter "1.3.1" ] [ figwheel "0.1.4-SNAPSHOT" ]] :plugins [[ lein-cljsbuild "1.0.4-SNAPSHOT" ] [ lein-figwheel "0.1.4-SNAPSHOT" ] [ lein-ring "0.8.10" ]] :source-paths [ "src" ] :cljsbuild { :builds [{ :id "example" :source-paths [ "src" ] :compiler { :output-to "resources/public/example.js" :output-dir "resources/public/out" :optimizations :none :source-map true }}]} :ring { :handler example.server/app :nrepl { :start? true :port 4500 } :port 8090 } :global-vars { *print-length* 20 })

Let’s edit client.cljs . In the namespace declaration under :require add [figwheel.client :as fw] . Now we’ll hook up figwheel so it can send changes in our project to a browser. Because we use Ring with the Jetty adapter as an external server, we have to tell figwheel explicitly where it’s websocket is, since it can’t just connect to the same origin.

1 2 3 4 5 ( fw/watch-and-reload :websocket-url "ws://localhost:3449/figwheel-ws" :jsload-callback ( fn [] ( println "reloaded" )))

Start Ring and Figwheel independently, both from inside the example directory. In one terminal type lein figwheel (or optionally supply the name of the build: lein figwheel example ). It’s best to wait for the clojurescript compilation to complete before starting Ring.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 $ lein figwheel Compiling ClojureScript. Figwheel : Starting server at http ://localhost:3449 Figwheel : Serving files from ' ( dev-resources | resources ) /public ' Compiling "resources/public/example.js" from [ "src" ] ... Successfully compiled "resources/public/example.js" in 20.297 seconds. notifying browser that file changed : /example.js notifying browser that file changed : /out/goog/deps.js notifying browser that file changed : /out/example/client.js

In another terminal type lein ring server . If you’re lucky a browser will open automatically to localhost:8090/index.html and you will see the text Hello world from server! . This text really came from the Ring handler in server.clj . If you open a developer console, you will see that figwheel has connected to the browser:

Now let’s see if figwheel will pick up a code change in client.cljs. Let’s change the render function to:

1 2 3 4 5 ( render [ _ ] ( dom/div nil ( dom/h1 nil ( :text app )) ( dom/p nil "Hello from Michiel!" )))

If everything worked, in the browser you will almost immediately see that your change is reloaded and re-rendered by Om.

Om root component will be remounted upon code reload

One problem of making changes in the file where the call to om/root resides is that the entire component tree will be unmounted and replaced by a new instance. To verify my claim, let’s add line 6 and 19-21 from the snippet below:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ( om/root ( fn [ app owner ] ( reify om/IWillMount ( will-mount [ _ ] ( println "I will mount" ) ( go ( let [ response ( <! ( http/get ( str "/welcome-message" )))] ( if ( = ( :status response ) 200 ) ( om/update! app :text ( :body response )) ( om/update! app :text "Server error" ))))) om/IRender ( render [ _ ] ( dom/div nil ( dom/h1 nil ( :text app )) ( dom/p nil "Hello from Michiel!" ))) om/IWillUnmount ( will-unmount [ _ ] ( println "I will unmount" )))) app-state { :target ( . js/document ( getElementById "app" ))})

Now make a change anywhere in the source code and save the file. In the browser’s console you will see that Om mounted the component. Now change the source again and press save. You’ll see that Om unmounted the component and mounted a new instance of the component. You really have to pay attention to this, because if you created resources or go loops in will-mount and you didn’t clean them up in will-unmount , things can get really messy when you have lots of code reloads. The go loops from unmounted instances will just keep running and your program can get unpredictable. So, the solution to this problem is to keep track of your resources and take the appropriate actions in the will-unmount .

App-state is lost when code is reloaded

Let’s change our app state to

1 ( def app-state ( atom { :text "" :button "unclicked" }))

and the render function to

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ( render [ _ ] ( dom/div nil ( dom/p nil ( pr-str app )) ( dom/button # js { :onClick # ( om/update! app :button "clicked" )} "Click to change state" )))

In the render function we show a printed version of the cursor. Now let’s click the button. The app-state updated and the component is reflecting this. Now let’s change the code of client.cljs and save. What do we see? Our app-state is back to the initial state. This is because app-state is being redefined by the code reload. To avoid this, change def to defonce :

1 ( defonce app-state ( atom { :text "" :button "unclicked" }))

Now the app-state will survive a code reload. Sometimes it’s that easy to write re-loadable code.

Code changes in other cljs files do not cause a re-render

Let’s make a second file called child.cljs like this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ( ns example.child ( :require-macros [ cljs.core.async.macros :refer ( go )]) ( :require [ om.core :as om :include-macros true ] [ om.dom :as dom :include-macros true ])) ( defn child [ cursor owner ] ( om/component ( dom/div nil ( dom/p nil "I'm a child." ) ( dom/p nil ( str "I have local state: " ( pr-str ( om/get-state owner )))) ( dom/button # js { :onClick # ( om/update-state! owner :clicks inc )} "Click me to update my local state" ))))

Let’s require and om/build this child component in our root component, so it will appear on the page. I omitted irrelevant parts.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ( ns example.client ... ( :require [ om.core :as om :include-macros true ] ... [ example.child :refer ( child )])) ... ( om/root ( fn [ app owner ] ( reify ... om/IRender ( render [ _ ] ( om/build child app )) ... ))) app-state { :target ( . js/document ( getElementById "app" ))}) ...

I’m not entirely sure if figwheel handles changes in namespace declarations well, so just refresh the page. You will see the button from the child component on the screen. Click a few times:

Now let’s change some code of the child component. For example, change the text in the button to “Click me to update me!”. When saved, you won’t see the change reflected in your browser. figwheel has reloaded child.cljs but the problem is that Om doesn’t ‘know’ about this. Let’s tell Om. Let’s summon the power of core.async .

Change the :require entry for core.async to [cljs.core.async :refer [<! chan put!]] so we can create channels and put something in them.

In client.cljs add a channel. Place it below the definition of app-state :

1 ( defonce re-render-ch ( chan ))

In will-mount we’ll now spawn a go loop that keeps reading from re-render-ch :

1 2 3 4 5 6 ( will-mount [ _ ] ( println "I will mount" ) ( go ( loop [] ( when ( <! re-render-ch ) ( om/refresh! owner ) ( recur ))))

All we have to do now is put a (truthy) message into the channel and the root component will re-render itself. This can be done in the callback provided to fw/watch-and-reload :

1 2 3 4 5 6 ( fw/watch-and-reload :websocket-url "ws://localhost:3449/figwheel-ws" :jsload-callback ( fn [] ( println "reloaded" ) ( put! re-render-ch true )))

Refresh the page so everything is in place. Now change the text of the button again in child.cljs and you’ll see the component being instantly re-rendered in the browser. Observe however that all local state in the child component is lost. Because the code of the child component changed, Om has to remount the component. Again, be conscious of resources and go loops hat are creating during the mount phase and clean them up if necessary.

Let’s change to child to show and update the cursor instead of local state.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ( defn child [ cursor owner ] ( om/component ( dom/div nil ( dom/p nil "I'm a child." ) ( dom/p nil ( str "My cursor:" ( pr-str cursor ))) ( dom/button # js { :onClick # ( om/transact! cursor :clicks inc )} "Click me!" ))))

Click a few times and you’ll see something like this:

Now change the text of the button in child.cljs again and save. You’ll see that the state of the cursor is preserved, as expected.

Update October 11th 2014

The use of a channel to refresh a component was a little invasive and to be honest, I didn’t like it much. Arne Brasseur pointed out in the comments that refreshing of Om components can be implemented simpler, because om/root is idempotent. This means it may be called multiple times and all will be well.

I changed the code in main.cljs according to the suggestion of Arne:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 ( ns example.client ( :require-macros [ cljs.core.async.macros :refer ( go )]) ( :require [ om.core :as om :include-macros true ] [ om.dom :as dom :include-macros true ] [ cljs.core.async :refer [ <! chan put! ]] [ cljs-http.client :as http ] [ figwheel.client :as fw ] [ example.child :refer ( child )])) ( enable-console-print! ) ( defonce app-state ( atom { :text "" })) ( defn main [] ( om/root ( fn [ app owner ] ( reify om/IRender ( render [ _ ] ( dom/div nil ( om/build child app ))) om/IWillUnmount ( will-unmount [ _ ] ( println "I will unmount" )))) app-state { :target ( . js/document ( getElementById "app" ))})) ( fw/watch-and-reload :websocket-url "ws://localhost:3449/figwheel-ws" :jsload-callback ( fn [] ( println "reloaded" ) ( main ))) ( defonce initial-call-to-main ( main ))

The differences:

no invasive channel and call to om/refresh!

the call to om/root is now wrapped inside a function main

is now wrapped inside a function main is called on initial page load and will be called by figwheel upon code reload (no matter which ClojureScript file, which the point of putting the call to main here)

Arne Brasseur is the author of the excellent Chestnut template, that embeds Figwheel as one of its dev tools. I suggest you try it out if you haven’t. David Nolen, the author of Om, just published a demo video of Chestnut.

The completed (and updated) code of this blog post can be viewed here.

If you liked my post or want to suggest an improvement, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!