TW5: (JS) macros vs widgets

[Sebastian Ovide]

Hi All,

I'm pretty new to TiddlyWiki as a plugin dev (I've used it a while as a simpler user). 

I'm a bit confused about when to build (JS) macros vs widgets. Is there any rule of thumb ? 

thanks

[PMario]

Hi,

TW macros are relatively simple. eg:

\define test(parm1) this is param1 $param1$

Where param1 is a "text substitution".  Javascript macros have a more low level access to $tw. functions, but they are just "text substitutions".

widgets have much more possibilities in their livecycle. eg. init(), execute(), render(), refresh() and a lot more.

Macros have to be parsed every time they are executed, widgets only refresh elements / children that really changed.

This is not 100% correct, but it should give you a hint.

-m

[Sebastian Ovide]

Hi Mario

thanks for that.

For example, I'm doing a simple macro that will create a graph (just a simple SVG text) based on existing tiddlers. I can render the SVG and also retrieve the tiddlers using  $tw.wiki.forEachTiddler. The problem is that the macro is called only when the page is loaded and when the tiddler that contains the macro changes, but not when any other tiddler change. That means that the SVG doesn't get updated unless that I close and open the tiddler containing it..

In this case, would you write a widget instead ?

thanks again

[PMario]

Hi,

That's exactly the point. Widgets do get the refresh event, if any tiddler changes. Macros are refreshed, when rendered.

-m