Use a JS framework for the web application

[kinow]

Hi,

Maybe a framework like VueJS could be used instead of HTML + JS (JQuery + Bootstrap). I think the use case so far is perfect for a small app as Annif is right now.

But for #24 and onward, I think having a framework could be helpful. For example, one line is enough to add Vue.JS to the project (using their CDN distro). And after that we don't need webpack, vue-cli, npm, etc. We can just use their CDN version initially, and adopt the rest of their ecosystem if necessary.

I believe this is a compromise between relying heavily on a framework (which happens when you adopt something like React or Angular) and relying on pure JS with JQuery (which later can get complicated when the app grows).

Besides, this could be a good testbed for later use of similar technique in Skosmos :slightly_smiling_face:

• [x] Add Vue.js and use it for rendering an application #245
• [ ] Use vue-cli/Webpack to build the project (and documentation)
• [ ] Add dependencies for HTTP client, i18n, validation, linting, security, etc (and documentation)
• [ ] Implement administration components and views #24

[osma]

PR #245 provides the first steps for this.

[osma]

Changing the milestone as 0.39 is going to be released soon but all of the developments in this issue are unlikely to be finished by then.

[juhoinkinen]

In PR #646 jQuery was replaced with the Axios library.

[osma]

Is there anything that still needs to be done, or can we close this issue?

The Web UI is already using a static copy of Vue.js (and Axios and Bootstrap, but not jQuery anymore).

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage of using vue-cli or Webpack? Or declaring dependencies? Would that mean that we could get a leaner Vue for our purposes?