SproutCore Glossary

Action – A String that names a method. If SC.app.sendAction( 'myAction', myTarget ); is called, the myAction method of myTarget will be called. By passing null instead of myTarget, the Responder Chain is used to find the target of the action first.

Application – A client in your SproutCore workspace’s clients directory.

Array-like Object – Any object implementing the SC.Array mixin.

NOTE: Normal JavaScript arrays are “array-like”.

Attribute – A kind of property. Attributes are simple values (Strings, Numbers, Booleans, etc.) that are accessed via key-value coding. Attributes can be provided from actual values, or can be computed on the fly (see Computed Property).

Binding – A Binding is like a wire that connects a property on one object to a property on another. Whenever the value of one property changes, the other one will be updated automatically. For more information, see Bindings, Properties, and Observers and the SproutCore Hello World tutorial .

Computed Property – A function that has had property() called on it and returns a simple value (String, Number, Boolean, etc.), and will be accessed using the default key-value coding lookup rules.

Controller – A Controller is a JavaScript object that controls your view and your model data. For more information, see SproutCore Hello World tutorial .

Key-Value Coding – A means of getting and setting an object’s properties indirectly by String keys, instead of directly using JavaScript object.property notation or object['property'] access. In SproutCore, this is done through the get(), getPath(), set(), and setPath() methods defined on SC.Object.

Key-Value Observing – The technology enabling Bindings. Key-value observing allows a function to be notified when another key changes, automatically. You’re using key-value observing when you use the property() and observes() methods. To observe a specific property, pass a property path to the property, like this: property('otherProperty').

Model – A descendant of SC.Record meant primarily to store data (usually persistent data), computed properties, relationships to other objects, as well as the various transformations that are valid on the object. Model objects can be found in the Store.

Object – Any object that is created from SC.Object or an object that extends it (e.g. SC.Record) and nearly all of the objects in SproutCore.

Observer – An Observer provides an automated way of watching for changes of a property and performing an action when it changes. For more information, see the SproutCore Hello World tutorial .

Property – Anything that can be accessed via key-value coding, including attributes and relationships.

Property Path – A string that is used to reference some property in SproutCore. See About SproutCore Property Paths.

Relationship – A kind of property. Relationships are SproutCore objects or array-like objects (of SproutCore objects) that are accessed via key-value coding.

NOTE: Relationships are nearly always computed on the fly, but this is an implementation detail.

Responder – Any object that extends SC.Responder. See Responder Chain for more info.

Responder Chain – A runtime tree of objects, with SC.app at the root, that is consulted when an event occurs. Usually, the firstResponder is given the opportunity to handle an event, and if it doesn’t, the event is passed up the tree until a responder handles the event.

NOTE: The actual lookup process is more complex. Consult the source code for more info.

Store – SC.Store contains all of the model objects that exist in your application (at least, conceptually). You can fetch objects directly from the store, or using the convenience methods defined in SC.Record.

View – A JavaScript object responsible for (a subtree of) the DOM tree. View’s determine the actual HTML in their subtree of the DOM, and can respond to events that occur within that subtree. As descendants of SC.Responder, View’s participate in the Responder Chain for event handling.

Outlet – Special attributes of SC.page and views you can use to find views at runtime.

View Helper – View Helpers are small snippets of Ruby markup designed to easily generate nice-looking user interface controls with minimal work. For more information, see About View Helpers.

Workspace – A Workspace is roughly analogous to a project. A workspace may contain multiple SproutCore applications that share resources between them. You create a new workspace (and default client) with the sproutcore command.

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