List

Overview

List Objects model data as single-level list items in a Scene. It utilizes a model/view architecture whereby data added to an Incari Model File is presented as a List in the Scene.

Like any other Scene Object, we can manipulate its Transformation Attributes and adjust its Rotation Pivot.

List

Title

This is the optional text that you wish to appear as a header for your list. It works like an <h1> tag in HTML.

Font Family

Font Family allows you to select a generic font family (monospace, serif, sans-serif) or add your custom font.

List Entry File

This takes a local .html file, which defines a template for how each list item is displayed. You can create one by right-clicking in the Asset Manager and selecting Create asset > List Entry. This method will create a new .html file, containing some example HTML text.

The way that we populate our list with content from our Model file is by creating placeholders, with the name of the corresponding Field, surrounded by double curly braces.

For example, let's say that we have a list of audio-books, with two fields: title and author.

In our List Entry File, we would have the following:

<h2><i>{{ title }}</i> by {{ author }}</h2>

This would make our list items look something like this:

To read more about basic HTML, take a look at HTML basics by Mozilla.

Incari Model File

A Model File is where you define all the data for your list. Physically, a book has many different properties. It has weight, size, number of pages etc., but when thinking in terms of a Model, we are thinking of what properties we need to represent in our data. Going back to the audio-book example above, if we want to display two properties; the author and title of each audio-book, we create Fields for title and author.

Fields define a single aspect of each Record in a table and are displayed in columns. By double-clicking on the Field's header / label we can define the name that will be used as a placeholder in the List Entry File.

Records are entries in the table and contain the data itself. By adding Records, we add more rows to the Model, and therefore, the List.

Style File

Style File references a .css file, which contains style data for our List. The best way to create this file is by right-clicking in the Asset Manager and selecting Create asset > List Style. This creates a file, with all of the relevant IDs and classes already inside and ready to edit.

How to write CSS won't be discussed here, but there is an abundance of information online, such as Learn to style HTML using CSS by Mozilla.

Here are the pre-defined classes and IDs, to be used for styling Lists in Incari. As with all CSS, style attributes follow the "box model" principle, meaning that each element can be thought of as a box, in a box, in a box, etc.

body - The tag which encompasses all of the elements.
#list - The ID for the container that contains the list elements, excluding the title.
.list-title - The class for the list's title.
.list-not-active - Like #list, except that it adjusts the styling if the List is set to inactive.
.entry - Individual rows generated from each of the Model's Records.
- .entry-current - Adds or overwrites attributes of the standard .entry class if it is the current list item.
- .entry-selected - Adds or overwrites attributes of the standard .entry class if it is the selected list item.

By adding a few CSS attributes, we can easily customize the appearance of the audio-book example.

body {
    color: white;    
    text-align: center;
}

.entry {
    opacity: 0.8;
}

.entry-selected, .entry-current {
    color: black;
    opacity: 1;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25), -1px -1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
}

.entry-current {
    background-color: rgb(189, 7, 7); 
}

.entry-selected {
    background-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); 
}

* {
    transition-property: none !important;
}

Js File

The Js File Attribute is a JavaScript programming language file that allows us to add complex features and create dynamic experiences for List Objects.

The Js File can be created by right-clicking in the Asset Manager and selecting Create asset > JavaScript File. For more information about JavaScript, please visit the following website: JavaScript programming language.

In the illustration below, we replace a book in our audio-book List example using the Js File Attribute.

function replaceBook(index){
    const item = document.getElementById('list').children[index];
    const newItem = "<h2> The Gods Are Not to Blame by Ola Rotimi </h2>";

    if (item) {
      item.innerHTML = newItem;
      item.style.color = "#FF0000";
    }
} 

replaceBook(3);

In the JavaScript code above, the replaceBook function allows us to replace any book in the audio-book List example by using its index. Furthermore, the color of the new audio-book entry is changed to red.

Generate List

Generate List button automatically creates all internal .html, .css, .js needed to render a List in a Scene. The rendered List can then be updated with a List Entry File, Model File, Style File and JavaScript File in the Attribute Editor.

Also, clicking the Generate List button renders any update made to the Attribute files to the Scene.

Simulation

Prev highlights the previous item in the List.

Next highlights the next item in the List.

Select

Select selects an item highlighted in the List.

Style

Background color

The Background color can be set by manually adjusting the HSB / RGBA values or input a Hex Code, using their corresponding Color Attribute.

Effects

Tint

The Tint Attribute applies a color overlay to the List Object, thereby changing its appearance. The color overlay can be set by manually adjusting the HSB / RGBA values or inserting a Hex Code, using their corresponding Color Attribute.