Click on the image above to start Visual Formatting :D

The Visual Format Editor allows you to parse and preview Apple's Visual Format Language. It is built using Cassowary.js, AutoLayout.js, famo.us and famous-flex.

Query arguments

The Visual Format Editor can be customized by specifying query-arguments:

Argument	Type	Description
vfl	string	The vfl definition to display.
extended	0 / 1	Enables or disables extended vfl mode (default: enabled).
spacing	array,number	Spacing to use (default: 8).
mode	string	Appearence mode: default, compact, nolog, preview.
settings	0 / 1	Shows or hides the settings pane (default: 1).

Example:

visualformat-editor/.../index.html?spacing=[20,10]&extended=0

Visual format meta info

Additional meta-info can be added in the form of comments. Using this meta-info, you can instruct the viewer to for instance use a specific aspect ratio or a specific color for a sub-view:

//viewport aspect-ratio:3/1 max-height:300
//colors red:#FF0000 green:#00FF00 blue:#0000FF
//shapes red:circle green:circle blue:circle
H:|-[row:[red(green,blue)]-[green]-[blue]]-|
V:|[row]|

View this example online

Meta-info is also processed by renderers. If you want to set the meta-info only for previewing purposes, then prefix it with a -. The following example sets the max-width and max-height for previewing a mobile layout. The actual layout renderer will ignore this meta-info.

//-viewport max-width:320 max-height:500
//heights header:44 footer:44
V:|[col:[header][content][footer]]|
H:|[col]|

Category	Property	Example
viewport	aspect-ratio:{width}/{height}	//viewport aspect-ratio:16/9
	width:[{number}/intrinsic]	//viewport width:10
	height:[{number}/intrinsic]	//viewport height:intrinsic
	min-width:{number}
	max-width:{number}
	min-height:{number}
	max-height:{number}
spacing	[{number}/array]	//spacing:8 or //spacing:[10, 20, 5]
widths	{view-name}:[{number}/intrinsic]	//widths subview1:100
heights	{view-name}:[{number}/intrinsic]	//heights subview1:intrinsic
colors	{view-name}:{color}	//colors redview:#FF0000 blueview:#00FF00
shapes	{view-name}:[circle/square]	//shapes avatar:circle

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© 2015 Hein Rutjes