Show HN: Alpine Ajax – If Htmx and Alpine.js Had a Baby
alpine-ajax.js.org
An Alpine.js plugin that includes the core functionality of HTMX in a streamlined (3KB) API.
alpine-ajax.js.org
1) X-Alpine-Target
``` <form method="post" action="/comments" x-target="comments comments_count" ```
generates an ajax request with this header by default:
``` X-Alpine-Target: comments comments_count ```
This is very very cool! In most usecases, one the serverside I can return a full html document and alpine-ajax will only look for #comments and #comments_count in the response. BUT, if I want the serverside to be faster (ie: do less), then the client is able to tell the server which parts of the html it wants via the `X-Alpine-Target` header -- instead of the server having to know which parts need updating via the url alone. It's like graphql for the htmx/hotwire architecture.
2) `ajax:missing`. If the client expects dom ids to be in the response and they aren't there, you can create a sentry error to expose the broken "contract" between the initial page's request and the action's response.
3) x-merge="append"
In hotwire, the html markup is dumb and the turbo-stream response is smart (`turbo-stream action="append"`). But in alpine-ajax, the response is dumb and the html markup is smart (`x-merge="append">`). This difference is subtle, but it allows for the serverside responses (for actions) be more general purpose/discrete components, while the ux which might change from page-to-page or section-to-section is decoupled to that page's/section's container html.
4) x-sync
"Elements with the x-sync attribute are updated whenever the server sends a matching element, even if the element isn't targeted with x-target."
Wow - amazing developer ux for cross cutting concerns like notifications, flash messages, etc. So practical.
5) Creating demos with an alpine-ajax mock server.... wow, an out of the box way to make standalone component test pages.
Looks very interesting!
Also loved the comparisons, especially with rails/turbo and the downsides of custom elements wrt tables.
I’ve tried to iron out any footguns or server requirements I’ve bumped into while using HTMX & Hotwire in my projects.
I always am unsure of whether to go with unpoly, livewire and htmx lol. Maybe this will push towards htmx
Anyone else remember Dojo fondly? Am I way off base here?
Quick question about redirect with `nofollow`. Does it do a full page reload or just refresh a page like Turbo (swaps body and merges head)?
I also love the 50s styling and theme. Awesome job!