Simpler definition for types of binding operations

[g105b]

For the purposes of the description here, the term BindableValue will act as a union type of either:

• a primitive, like a string, int or float.
• an object with a __toString function.

The term BindableData will act as a union type of either:

• an associative array of key-values, where the values are of type BindableValue.
• an object with public properties, acting as key-values.
• an object that implements the BindDataGetter or BindDataMapper interfaces.

The bind function will make a call to the following bind functions, depending on the parameters passed into it:

• bindValue(BindableValue $value) - binds any element(s) in the tree that has a data-bind:X attribute without a key name.
• bindKeyValue(string $key, BindableValue $value) - binds any element(s) in the tree that has a data-bind:X=Y attribute, where Y matches $key.
• bindData(BindableData $data) - calls bindKeyValue for every key-value-pair of $data.
• bindList(iterable $list) - creates a template element for each iteration, and calls bindData on the template element, passing the value of the iterator. This functionality is broken down below.

Breaking down bindList

The iterable $list is bindList's only parameter, but its contents can determine the function's behaviour (sometimes recursive).

For every iteration of the iterable, a new template element is cloned. The first extracted template element that matches the current context element's nodePath is used as the template element.

Once a template element has been cloned, bind functions will be applied to it. If the $list is an associative array (or anything other than an indexed array/iterator), the key is passed to bindValue on the current template element.

If the value is a BindableValue, the value is passed to bindValue. Therefore, an associative array of strings would not be a valid $list, and an exception must be thrown.

If the value is a BindableData, the value is passed to bindData.

If the value is iterable, the value is passed to bindList again (recursively), but the context node shifts to the newly cloned template.