mostlylucid.pagingtaghelper 0.2.0

mostlylucid paging tag helper and viewcomponent.

This is a preview of this tag helper at present but it works. I'll be adding more documentation and samples as I go.

Installation

You can install the package via nuget:

dotnet add package mostlylucid.pagingtaghelper
  

Usage

I am currently building a sample porject here (I'll host the sample site later).

The sample site can be found here (in progress, some things will be broken!)

https://taghelpersample.mostlylucid.net/

You can view the source for the sample site here: https://github.com/scottgal/mostlylucid.pagingtaghelper

• Basic use without HTMX - this sample shoows the very basic usage of the tag helper. It disables HTMX using the use-htmx property set to false.

<paging model="Model"
        use-htmx="false"
        class="mt-4">
</paging>

It also uses the JavaScript snippet below to handle the form submission:

@Html.PageSizeOnchangeSnippet()

This can be added anywhere.

The most basic model is as follows:

public interface IPagingModel
{
    //    [HtmlAttributeName("page")]
    public int Page { get; set; }
   //     [HtmlAttributeName("total-items")]
    public int TotalItems { get; set; }
    //    [HtmlAttributeName("page-size")]
    public int PageSize { get; set; }
    //    [HtmlAttributeName("link-url")]
    public string LinkUrl { get; set; }
}

These are the required fields and can either be supplied individually to the TagHelper or as a model.

The configuration on the TagHelper is as follows. As you can see it has many options, each of which I'll add to the sample (takes some time!).

    /// <summary>
    /// The paging model containing the pagination details (OPTIONAL).
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("model")]
    public IPagingModel? Model { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Whether to enable HTMX use for the pagesize component. Defaults to true.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("use-htmx")] public bool UseHtmx { get; set; } = true;
    /// <summary>
    /// Optionally pass in an id for the pager component.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("id")]
    public string? PagerId { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// The view model for the pager component (OPTIONAL).
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("pagingmodel")]
    public PagerViewModel? PagerModel { get; set; } = null;

    /// <summary>
    /// Determines whether the page size selection is shown.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("show-pagesize")]
    public bool ShowPageSize { get; set; } = true;
    
    /// <summary>
    /// The search term used in pagination filtering.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("search-term")]
    public string? SearchTerm { get; set; }
    
    /// <summary>
    /// The base URL for pagination links.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("link-url")]
    public string? LinkUrl { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// The current page number.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("page")]
    public int? Page { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// The number of items per page.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("page-size")]
    public int? PageSize { get; set; }
    
    /// <summary>
    /// Sets the view to use the local view or to use the taghelper view.
    /// </summary>

    [HtmlAttributeName("use-local-view")]
    public bool UseLocalView { get; set; } = false;
    
    /// <summary>
    /// The total number of items in the pagination set.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("total-items")]
    public int? TotalItems { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// The number of pages to display in the pager navigation.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("pages-to-display")]
    public int PagesToDisplay { get; set; } = 5;

    /// <summary>
    /// The CSS class applied to the pager container.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("css-class")]
    public string CssClass { get; set; } = "btn-group";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for the first page navigation link.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("first-page-text")]
    public string FirstPageText { get; set; } = "«";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for the previous page navigation link.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("previous-page-text")]
    public string PreviousPageText { get; set; } = "‹ Previous";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for skipping backward in pagination.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("skip-back-text")]
    public string SkipBackText { get; set; } = "..";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for skipping forward in pagination.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("skip-forward-text")]
    public string SkipForwardText { get; set; } = "..";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for the next page navigation link.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("next-page-text")]
    public string NextPageText { get; set; } = "Next ›";

    /// <summary>
    /// ARIA label for the next page navigation link.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("next-page-aria-label")]
    public string NextPageAriaLabel { get; set; } = "go to next page";

    /// <summary>
    /// Text for the last page navigation link.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("last-page-text")]
    public string LastPageText { get; set; } = "»";

    /// <summary>
    /// Indicates whether first and last page navigation links should be displayed.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("first-last-navigation")]
    public bool FirstLastNavigation { get; set; } = true;

    /// <summary>
    /// Indicates whether skip forward/backward navigation should be enabled.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("skip-forward-back-navigation")]
    public bool SkipForwardBackNavigation { get; set; } = true;

    /// <summary>
    /// Specifies the HTMX target for AJAX-based pagination.
    /// </summary>
    [HtmlAttributeName("htmx-target")]
    public string HtmxTarget { get; set; } = "";

This defines all the configuration options for the tag helper.

NOTE: As it stands this site uses DaisyUI with TailwindCSS; later I'll document how to use it with any CSS framework.

For Tailwind & DaisyUI I also add a piece of HTML to the _layout.cshtml file provide a hint to the tailwind processor for required classes.

<span class="hidden btn btn-sm btn-active btn-disabled select select-primary select-sm 
        text-sm text-gray-600 text-neutral-500 border rounded flex items-center 
        justify-center min-w-[80px] pr-4 mr-8 ml-8 pt-0 mt-0">
</span>

• Use with HTMX - this sample shows how to use the tag helper with HTMX. It uses the same PagerViewModel as the basic sample but with the UseHtmx property set to true.

<paging hx-boost="true"
        class="mt-4"
        hx-indicator="#loading-modal"
        hx-target="#list"
        hx-swap="show:none"
        hx-headers='{"pagerequest": "true"}'
        model="@Model">
</paging>

The tag helper is designed to preserve the hx attributes and these cascade into the tag helper. The form submission is then handled using HTMX.

As I designed this to be HTMX by default you only need to specify ust-htmx if you AREN'T using HTMX. In that case you can use the Page Size JS snipept to handle the form submission.

TBC

Additionally I'll write some blog posts over on my site about how to use this tag helper in a real-world scenario as welll as detail the thinking behind it's creation etc.

ViewComponent - one aspect of this is I use a ViewComponent in conjuntion with a tag helper; this pemits me to use the tag helper in a more dynamic way (for instance you can replace the Default view with your own custom view).