Q server

Rendering Info

We use the term rendering info to describe the HTTP response from a request to q-server/rendering-info/{id}/{target}. This request is typically sent by a so called Q loader. Examples of Q loaders are the preview in Q editor or the browser based loader used in the demo. The source for this browser based loader can be found on Github: nzzdev/Q-loader-browser.

Q rendering-info request

Format

The Q loader browser is our reference implementation for Q loaders. Currently the only type of rendering info supported by the Q editor preview is a JSON like this:

{
  "loaderConfig": {
    "polyfills": ["Promise", "Object.assign"],
    "loadSystemJs": "full"
  },
  "markup": "<p>markup applied using element.innerHTML</p>",
  "scripts": [
    {
      "url": "url to a javascript file"
    },
    {
      "name": "the name of a javascript file, see below 'on name and path' for more information about this"
    },
    {
      "url":  "url to a javascript file that should get loaded only once per page",
      "loadOnce": true
    }
  ],
  "stylesheets": [
    {
      "url": "url to a css file"
    },
    {
      "name": "the name of a stylesheet file, see below 'on name and path' for more information about this"
    }
  ]
}

on name and path

In the example above you have seen the property name used in scripts and stylesheets. This is not quite what will be delivered by the Q server but what gets produced by the tool service. The Q server will translate the name to a path like this:

stylesheet.path = `/tools/${toolName}/stylesheet/${stylesheet.name}`;

This is because the tool service itself does not know about its name as the mapping of a tool name to a tool service is configured in config/tools.js in your Q server implementation. See https://github.com/nzzdev/Q-server-demo/blob/master/config/tools.js as an example for this configuration.

So if your tool service provides an endpoint /stylesheet/{name*} you can use name property in the rendering info returned from your tool service and Q server will translate it to a path. The loader knows where the Q server is running and can build a full URL using this information to request the file.

other types of rendering info

What exactly you are returning from a rendering-info endpoint varies by your needs. To get a preview in Q Editor you need to implement at least one rendering-info that is capable to be displayed in a browser. The only format that is supported in Q Editor at the moment is the above example.