The Total.js code style: names, files, CSS, SQL and components

Total.js projects share one style, and that is a strength: open any of them and you know where things are and how they are written. This page collects the conventions of the Total.js guidelines (reviewed commit recorded in ai-sources.json) in one place. Follow the style of the project you are working in first; these are the defaults for new code. For the framework side, read Total.js 5 conventions for coding assistants.

JavaScript

• Files: lowercase names, with dashes instead of underscores (user-profile.js).
• Layout: tabs (width 4), no extra whitespace, and a semicolon at the end of every statement.
• Strings: single quotes for short strings.
• Variables: use var or let inside methods, and keep const for the top of a module.
• Loops: a classic for loop is preferred over forEach() where it fits.
• Dependencies: keep them to a minimum and follow the code that is already there.

Names that travel between projects

Use the same name for the same thing everywhere, so that code can be moved between projects and read at a glance:

Name	Use
id, name, value, email	the usual identifier, name, value and e-mail
items or arr, item	a list and one of its elements
tmp	a temporary value
dtcreated, dtupdated	dates of creation and update

Schemas use a plural name that starts with an uppercase letter (Contacts), and identifiers are created with UID().

Using require()

At the top of a module use const, and start the name of the variable with an uppercase letter: const Fs = require('fs');.

CSS

• Lowercase file names with dashes.
• Write each style rule on a single line.
• Do not write vendor prefixes by hand: add the /*auto*/ comment and Total.js prefixes the rules for you.
• Single quotes, and plain CSS instead of LESS or SASS.

Plugins and components (jComponent)

• Lowercase names for plugins, components and the entries of FUNC., MAIN. and REPO., and lowercase variables.
• Avoid underscores where you can, and keep the nesting to two or three levels.
• A plugin is written with exports.; a component uses self, config and cls.
• Design for reuse.

SQL scripts

• Lowercase names of tables and fields, tabs for indentation and a semicolon at the end of each statement.
• Remove casts that are not needed, format the script, and keep tables, views, procedures or functions and indexes in separate scripts.

Prefix	For
tbl_	tables, with the name in the singular
cl_	code lists
view_	views
sp_	stored procedures
fn_	functions

In the fields, dt starts a date, is starts a boolean, keys follow the pattern id or userid, and text is used instead of varchar. Use id, name and dtcreated where they fit, and order the columns as identifiers, main fields, numbers, booleans and dates, with the foreign key constraints at the end.

Folders

Put images in /img/, scripts in /js/, styles in /css/, fonts in /fonts/ and videos in /videos/, and name the files with dashes.

Why it helps

A shared style makes a project easy to hand over, review and extend, and it gives an AI assistant a clear pattern to follow. Give your assistant this page together with the conventions for coding assistants and its code will match the rest of your application.