Playground

The @evanion/react-widget playground allows you to experiment with component maps and item arrays in real-time. You can see exactly how the Widgets component transforms your data into a rendered UI without needing to set up a full project.

Interactive Region: Baize’s Staff Page

The demo below renders a single react-widget region representing a staff dashboard. It uses a combination of layout and data widgets:

• Columns: A layout widget that positions its children side-by-side.
• Metrics: Single-figure displays with labels and change indicators.
• Boards: Titled panels containing data tables.

export const counterItems = defineItems([
  {
    id: 'week',
    type: 'columns',
    props: {},
    children: [
      {
        id: 'intake',
        type: 'metric',
        props: { figure: '38', label: 'Games in', delta: '+6' },
      },
      {
        id: 'sold',
        type: 'metric',
        props: { figure: '31', label: 'Sold', delta: '+2' },
      },
      {
        id: 'turnaround',
        type: 'metric',
        props: { figure: '2.4 d', label: 'Turnaround', delta: '−0.3' },
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    id: 'counter',
    type: 'columns',
    props: {},
    children: [
      {
        id: 'tables',
        type: 'tables',
        props: { title: 'Tonight at the tables' },
        meta: { span: 2 },
      },
      {
        id: 'reprints',
        type: 'reprints',
        props: { title: 'Reprints on order' },
      },
    ],
  },
]);

The interactive example this release showed here runs against the current source, so it is on the same page under /next/ and not on this one.

You can interactively rearrange the region using the controls beside each item.

• Swap Rows: Move the counter row above the week row to see the entire section move.
• Reorder Widgets: Move the tables board past the reprints board. Because meta.span is tied to the item, the two-column layout follows the widget as it moves.

Live Code Editor

The playground includes a live editor where you can write snippets using the actual @evanion/react-widget build. Every snippet follows a simple pattern:

1. Build a component map with createWidgets.
2. Define an item array.
3. Call render(<Widgets items={items} />) to display the result.

The interactive example this release showed here runs against the current source, so it is on the same page under /next/ and not on this one.

Editor Scope

The snippets run in a restricted environment. The following are available in scope:

• createWidgets: The package’s primary export.
• React and standard hooks (useState, useEffect, etc.) for adding client-side state to your widgets.
• render: The function that hands the resulting element to the preview pane.

Note: DefaultWrapper and DefaultItem are not in scope, so you should define your chrome using plain JSX elements.

Limitations of the Playground

Since the playground runs entirely in the browser, it cannot demonstrate certain server-side behaviors:

• Server Components: You cannot use async components or Server Component-specific features.
• Streaming: The streaming behavior of chrome.suspense (where the shell is sent first) cannot be shown.
• Type Checking: The snippets are strings. They are not type-checked, so unknown types or mistyped props will not be flagged by the compiler.
• Production Silence: This site is a production build, so Widgets will not print warnings to the console for unknown types.

Experiments to Try

To understand how the renderer works, try making these changes in a snippet:

1. Break a Type: Change a type to something not in your component map. The item will simply disappear from the page.
2. Mistype a Prop: Change a prop key (e.g., title $\rightarrow$ headline). The widget will receive undefined for that prop, demonstrating why compile-time validation is so important.
3. Change the Shell: Modify the chrome.wrapper. You’ll see the container for the entire region change while the widgets inside remain unchanged.
4. Reorder the List: Swap the position of two items in the array to see the render order change instantly.

API Reference

For a full list of exports, signatures, and types, visit the API reference.