The following guide will help you to install Backpex in your Phoenix application. We will guide you through the installation process and show you how to create a simple resource.
In your mix.exs
:
defp deps do
[
...
{:backpex, "~> 0.3.1"}
]
end
See the hex.pm page for the latest version.
Backpex uses Tailwind CSS and daisyUI. Make sure to add the Backpex files to your tailwind content in order to include the Backpex styles.
In your tailwind.config.js
:
..,
content: [
...,
// add this line
'deps/backpex/**/*.*ex'
]
The path to the Backpex files may vary depending on your project setup.
Backpex ships with a formatter configuration. To use it, add Backpex to the list of dependencies in your .formatter.exs
.
# my_app/.formatter.exs
[
import_deps: [:backpex]
]
To make it more practical, we are going to create a simple resource that we will use in all our examples later in the installation guide. You can skip this step if you want to use your own resource or just follow the guide.
The example resource will be a Post
resource with the following fields:
title
(string)views
(integer)
Run the following commands:
mix phx.gen.schema Blog.Post blog_posts title:string views:integer
mix ecto.migrate
These commands will generate a Post
schema and a migration file. The migration file will create a blog_posts
table in your database.
You are now prepared to set up the Backpex layout and a LiveResource for the Post
resource.
Backpex does not ship with a predefined layout by default to give you the freedom to create your own layout. Instead, it provides components that you can use to build your own layout. You can find all Backpex components in the lib/backpex/components
directory. Layout components are placed in the lib/backpex/components/layout
directory. To start quickly, Backpex provides an Backpex.HTML.Layout.app_shell/1
component. You can use this component to add an app shell layout to your application easily.
See the following example that uses the Backpex.HTML.Layout.app_shell/1
component and some other Backpex Layout components to create a simple layout:
<Backpex.HTML.Layout.app_shell fluid={@fluid?}>
<:topbar>
<Backpex.HTML.Layout.topbar_branding />
<Backpex.HTML.Layout.topbar_dropdown>
<:label>
<label tabindex="0" class="btn btn-square btn-ghost">
<.icon name="hero-user" class="h-8 w-8" />
</label>
</:label>
<li>
<.link navigate={~p"/"} class="flex justify-between text-red-600 hover:bg-gray-100">
<p>Logout</p>
<.icon name="hero-arrow-right-on-rectangle" class="h-5 w-5" />
</.link>
</li>
</Backpex.HTML.Layout.topbar_dropdown>
</:topbar>
<:sidebar>
<Backpex.HTML.Layout.sidebar_item current_url={@current_url} navigate={~p"/admin/posts"}>
<.icon name="hero-book-open" class="h-5 w-5" /> Posts
</Backpex.HTML.Layout.sidebar_item>
</:sidebar>
<Backpex.HTML.Layout.flash_messages flash={@flash} />
<%= @inner_content %>
</Backpex.HTML.Layout.app_shell>
Make sure to add the Backpex.HTML.Layout.flash_messages
component to display flash messages in your layout and do not forget to add the @inner_content
variable to render the content of the LiveView.
Place the layout file in your lib/myapp_web/templates/layout
directory. You can name it like you want, but we recommend to use admin.html.heex
. You can also use this layout as the only layout in your application if your application consists of only an admin interface.
We use the icon/1
component to render icons in the layout. This component is part of the core_components
module that ships with new Phoenix projects. See core_components.ex
. Feel free to use your own icon component or library.
The
Backpex.HTML.Layout.app_shell/1
component accepts a booleanfluid
to determine if aLiveResource
should be rendered full width. There is afluid?
option you can configure in aLiveResource
. See the Fluid Layout documentation for more information.
To create a LiveResource for the Post
resource, you need to create LiveResource module.
defmodule MyAppWeb.Live.PostLive do
use Backpex.LiveResource,
layout: {MyAppWeb.Layouts, :admin},
schema: MyApp.Blog.Post,
repo: MyApp.Repo,
update_changeset: &MyApp.Blog.Post.update_changeset/3,
create_changeset: &MyApp.Blog.Post.create_changeset/3,
pubsub: MyApp.PubSub,
topic: "posts",
event_prefix: "post_",
end
Backpex.LiveResource
is the module that will generate the corresponding LiveViews for the resource you configured. We provide a macro you have to use to configure the LiveResource. You are required to set some general options to tell Backpex where to find the resource and what changesets should be used. The above example shows the configuration for a Post
resource.
All options you can see in the above example are required:
- The
layout
option tells Backpex which layout to use for the LiveResource. In this case, we use the:admin
(admin.html.heex
) layout created in the previous step. - The
schema
option tells Backpex which schema to use for the resource. - The
repo
option tells Backpex which repo to use for the resource. - The
update_changeset
andcreate_changeset
options tell Backpex which changesets to use for updating and creating the resource. - The
pubsub
option tells Backpex which pubsub to use for the resource (see the Listen to PubSub Events guide for more information). - The
topic
option tells Backpex which topic to use for the resource when broadcasting events. - The
event_prefix
option tells Backpex which event prefix to use for the resource when broadcasting events.
In addition to the required options, you pass to the Backpex.LiveResource
macro, you are required to implement the following callback functions in the module:
singular_name/0
- This function should return the singular name of the resource.plural_name/0
- This function should return the plural name of the resource.fields/0
- This function should return a list of fields to display in the LiveResource.
After implementing the required callback functions, our PostLive
module looks like this:
defmodule MyAppWeb.Live.PostLive do
use Backpex.LiveResource,
layout: {MyAppWeb.Layouts, :admin},
schema: MyApp.Blog.Post,
repo: MyApp.Repo,
update_changeset: &MyApp.Blog.Post.update_changeset/3,
create_changeset: &MyApp.Blog.Post.create_changeset/3,
pubsub: MyApp.PubSub,
topic: "posts",
event_prefix: "post_",
@impl Backpex.LiveResource
def singular_name, do: "Post"
@impl Backpex.LiveResource
def plural_name, do: "Posts"
@impl Backpex.LiveResource
def fields do
[
title: %{
module: Backpex.Fields.Text,
label: "Title"
},
views: %{
module: Backpex.Fields.Number,
label: "Views"
}
]
end
The fields/0
function returns a list of fields to display in the LiveResource. See What is a Field? for more information.
We recommend placing the LiveResource in the
lib/myapp_web/live
directory. You can name the module like you want, but in this case, we recommend usingpost_live.ex
.
To make the LiveResource accessible in your application, you first need to configure your router (router.ex
).
Backpex needs to add a backpex_cookies
route to your router. This route is used to set the cookies needed for the Backpex LiveResource.
Backpex provides a macro you can use to add the required routes to your router. Make sure to import Backpex.Router
at the top of your router file or prefix the function calls.#
You have to do this step only once in your router file, so if you already added the backpex_routes/0
macro, you can skip this step.
# router.ex
import Backpex.Router
scope "/admin", DemoWeb do
pipe_through :browser
# add this line
backpex_routes()
end
It does not matter where you place the backpex_routes/0
macro in your router file. You can insert it in every scope you want to, but we recommend placing it in the scope you want to use backpex in, e.g. /admin
.
Backpex provides a Backpex.InitAssigns
module. This will attach the current_url
to the LiveView. Backpex needs it to highlight the current sidebar item in the layout. You can also use your own init assigns module if you want to attach more assigns to the LiveView, but make sure to add the current_url
to the assigns.
We use a live session to add the init assigns to all LiveViews in the /admin
scope.
# router.ex
import Backpex.Router
scope "/admin", DemoWeb do
pipe_through :browser
backpex_routes()
# add this line
live_session :default, on_mount: Backpex.InitAssigns do
end
end
To make the LiveResource accessible in your application, you need to add routes for it. Backpex makes it easy to add the required routes to your router by providing the live_resources/3
macro.
# router.ex
import Backpex.Router
scope "/admin", DemoWeb do
pipe_through :browser
backpex_routes()
live_session :default, on_mount: Backpex.InitAssigns do
# add this line
live_resources "/posts", PostLive
end
end
This macro will add the required routes for the PostLive
module. You can now access the PostLive
LiveResource at /admin/posts
.