This is a web application written using the Phoenix web framework.
- Use
mix precommitalias when you are done with all changes and fix any pending issues - Use the already included and available
:req(Req) library for HTTP requests, avoid:httpoison,:tesla, and:httpc. Req is included by default and is the preferred HTTP client for Phoenix apps
- Always begin your LiveView templates with
<Layouts.app flash={@flash} ...>which wraps all inner content - The
MyAppWeb.Layoutsmodule is aliased in themy_app_web.exfile, so you can use it without needing to alias it again - Anytime you run into errors with no
current_scopeassign:- You failed to follow the Authenticated Routes guidelines, or you failed to pass
current_scopeto<Layouts.app> - Always fix the
current_scopeerror by moving your routes to the properlive_sessionand ensure you passcurrent_scopeas needed
- You failed to follow the Authenticated Routes guidelines, or you failed to pass
- Phoenix v1.8 moved the
<.flash_group>component to theLayoutsmodule. You are forbidden from calling<.flash_group>outside of thelayouts.exmodule - Out of the box,
core_components.eximports an<.icon name="hero-x-mark" class="w-5 h-5"/>component for for hero icons. Always use the<.icon>component for icons, never useHeroiconsmodules or similar - Always use the imported
<.input>component for form inputs fromcore_components.exwhen available.<.input>is imported and using it will will save steps and prevent errors - If you override the default input classes (
<.input class="myclass px-2 py-1 rounded-lg">)) class with your own values, no default classes are inherited, so your custom classes must fully style the input
-
Elixir lists do not support index based access via the access syntax
Never do this (invalid):
i = 0 mylist = ["blue", "green"] mylist[i]Instead, always use
Enum.at, pattern matching, orListfor index based list access, ie:i = 0 mylist = ["blue", "green"] Enum.at(mylist, i) -
Elixir variables are immutable, but can be rebound, so for block expressions like
if,case,cond, etc you must bind the result of the expression to a variable if you want to use it and you CANNOT rebind the result inside the expression, ie:# INVALID: we are rebinding inside the `if` and the result never gets assigned if connected?(socket) do socket = assign(socket, :val, val) end # VALID: we rebind the result of the `if` to a new variable socket = if connected?(socket) do assign(socket, :val, val) end -
Never nest multiple modules in the same file as it can cause cyclic dependencies and compilation errors
-
Never use map access syntax (
changeset[:field]) on structs as they do not implement the Access behaviour by default. For regular structs, you must access the fields directly, such asmy_struct.fieldor use higher level APIs that are available on the struct if they exist,Ecto.Changeset.get_field/2for changesets -
Elixir's standard library has everything necessary for date and time manipulation. Familiarize yourself with the common
Time,Date,DateTime, andCalendarinterfaces by accessing their documentation as necessary. Never install additional dependencies unless asked or for date/time parsing (which you can use thedate_time_parserpackage) -
Don't use
String.to_atom/1on user input (memory leak risk) -
Predicate function names should not start with
is_and should end in a question mark. Names likeis_thingshould be reserved for guards -
Elixir's builtin OTP primitives like
DynamicSupervisorandRegistry, require names in the child spec, such as{DynamicSupervisor, name: MyApp.MyDynamicSup}, then you can useDynamicSupervisor.start_child(MyApp.MyDynamicSup, child_spec) -
Use
Task.async_stream(collection, callback, options)for concurrent enumeration with back-pressure. The majority of times you will want to passtimeout: :infinityas option
- Read the docs and options before using tasks (by using
mix help task_name) - To debug test failures, run tests in a specific file with
mix test test/my_test.exsor run all previously failed tests withmix test --failed mix deps.clean --allis almost never needed. Avoid using it unless you have good reason
-
Remember Phoenix router
scopeblocks include an optional alias which is prefixed for all routes within the scope. Always be mindful of this when creating routes within a scope to avoid duplicate module prefixes. -
You never need to create your own
aliasfor route definitions! Thescopeprovides the alias, ie:scope "/admin", AppWeb.Admin do pipe_through :browser live "/users", UserLive, :index endthe UserLive route would point to the
AppWeb.Admin.UserLivemodule -
Phoenix.Viewno longer is needed or included with Phoenix, don't use it
- Always preload Ecto associations in queries when they'll be accessed in templates, ie a message that needs to reference the
message.user.email - Remember
import Ecto.Queryand other supporting modules when you writeseeds.exs Ecto.Schemafields always use the:stringtype, even for:text, columns, ie:field :name, :stringEcto.Changeset.validate_number/2DOES NOT SUPPORT the:allow_niloption. By default, Ecto validations only run if a change for the given field exists and the change value is not nil, so such as option is never needed- You must use
Ecto.Changeset.get_field(changeset, :field)to access changeset fields - Fields which are set programatically, such as
user_id, must not be listed incastcalls or similar for security purposes. Instead they must be explicitly set when creating the struct
-
Phoenix templates always use
~Hor .html.heex files (known as HEEx), never use~E -
Always use the imported
Phoenix.Component.form/1andPhoenix.Component.inputs_for/1function to build forms. Never usePhoenix.HTML.form_fororPhoenix.HTML.inputs_foras they are outdated -
When building forms always use the already imported
Phoenix.Component.to_form/2(assign(socket, form: to_form(...))and<.form for={@form} id="msg-form">), then access those forms in the template via@form[:field] -
Always add unique DOM IDs to key elements (like forms, buttons, etc) when writing templates, these IDs can later be used in tests (
<.form for={@form} id="product-form">) -
For "app wide" template imports, you can import/alias into the
my_app_web.ex'shtml_helpersblock, so they will be available to all LiveViews, LiveComponent's, and all modules that douse MyAppWeb, :html(replace "my_app" by the actual app name) -
Elixir supports
if/elsebut **does NOT supportif/else iforif/elsif. Never useelse iforelseifin Elixir, always usecondorcasefor multiple conditionals.Never do this (invalid):
<%= if condition do %> ... <% else if other_condition %> ... <% end %>Instead always do this:
<%= cond do %> <% condition -> %> ... <% condition2 -> %> ... <% true -> %> ... <% end %> -
HEEx require special tag annotation if you want to insert literal curly's like
{or}. If you want to show a textual code snippet on the page in a<pre>or<code>block you must annotate the parent tag withphx-no-curly-interpolation:<code phx-no-curly-interpolation> let obj = {key: "val"} </code>Within
phx-no-curly-interpolationannotated tags, you can use{and}without escaping them, and dynamic Elixir expressions can still be used with<%= ... %>syntax -
HEEx class attrs support lists, but you must always use list
[...]syntax. You can use the class list syntax to conditionally add classes, always do this for multiple class values:<a class={[ "px-2 text-white", @some_flag && "py-5", if(@other_condition, do: "border-red-500", else: "border-blue-100"), ... ]}>Text</a>and always wrap
if's inside{...}expressions with parens, like done above (if(@other_condition, do: "...", else: "..."))and never do this, since it's invalid (note the missing
[and]):<a class={ "px-2 text-white", @some_flag && "py-5" }> ... => Raises compile syntax error on invalid HEEx attr syntax -
Never use
<% Enum.each %>or non-for comprehensions for generating template content, instead always use<%= for item <- @collection do %> -
HEEx HTML comments use
<%!-- comment --%>. Always use the HEEx HTML comment syntax for template comments (<%!-- comment --%>) -
HEEx allows interpolation via
{...}and<%= ... %>, but the<%= %>only works within tag bodies. Always use the{...}syntax for interpolation within tag attributes, and for interpolation of values within tag bodies. Always interpolate block constructs (if, cond, case, for) within tag bodies using<%= ... %>.Always do this:
<div id={@id}> {@my_assign} <%= if @some_block_condition do %> {@another_assign} <% end %> </div>and Never do this – the program will terminate with a syntax error:
<%!-- THIS IS INVALID NEVER EVER DO THIS --%> <div id="<%= @invalid_interpolation %>"> {if @invalid_block_construct do} {end} </div>
- Never use the deprecated
live_redirectandlive_patchfunctions, instead always use the<.link navigate={href}>and<.link patch={href}>in templates, andpush_navigateandpush_patchfunctions LiveViews - Avoid LiveComponent's unless you have a strong, specific need for them
- LiveViews should be named like
AppWeb.WeatherLive, with aLivesuffix. When you go to add LiveView routes to the router, the default:browserscope is already aliased with theAppWebmodule, so you can just dolive "/weather", WeatherLive - Remember anytime you use
phx-hook="MyHook"and that js hook manages its own DOM, you must also set thephx-update="ignore"attribute - Never write embedded
<script>tags in HEEx. Instead always write your scripts and hooks in theassets/jsdirectory and integrate them with theassets/js/app.jsfile
-
Always use LiveView streams for collections for assigning regular lists to avoid memory ballooning and runtime termination with the following operations:
- basic append of N items -
stream(socket, :messages, [new_msg]) - resetting stream with new items -
stream(socket, :messages, [new_msg], reset: true)(e.g. for filtering items) - prepend to stream -
stream(socket, :messages, [new_msg], at: -1) - deleting items -
stream_delete(socket, :messages, msg)
- basic append of N items -
-
When using the
stream/3interfaces in the LiveView, the LiveView template must 1) always setphx-update="stream"on the parent element, with a DOM id on the parent element likeid="messages"and 2) consume the@streams.stream_namecollection and use the id as the DOM id for each child. For a call likestream(socket, :messages, [new_msg])in the LiveView, the template would be:<div id="messages" phx-update="stream"> <div :for={{id, msg} <- @streams.messages} id={id}> {msg.text} </div> </div> -
LiveView streams are not enumerable, so you cannot use
Enum.filter/2orEnum.reject/2on them. Instead, if you want to filter, prune, or refresh a list of items on the UI, you must refetch the data and re-stream the entire stream collection, passing reset: true:def handle_event("filter", %{"filter" => filter}, socket) do # re-fetch the messages based on the filter messages = list_messages(filter) {:noreply, socket |> assign(:messages_empty?, messages == []) # reset the stream with the new messages |> stream(:messages, messages, reset: true)} end -
LiveView streams do not support counting or empty states. If you need to display a count, you must track it using a separate assign. For empty states, you can use Tailwind classes:
<div id="tasks" phx-update="stream"> <div class="hidden only:block">No tasks yet</div> <div :for={{id, task} <- @stream.tasks} id={id}> {task.name} </div> </div>The above only works if the empty state is the only HTML block alongside the stream for-comprehension.
-
Never use the deprecated
phx-update="append"orphx-update="prepend"for collections
-
Phoenix.LiveViewTestmodule andLazyHTML(included) for making your assertions -
Form tests are driven by
Phoenix.LiveViewTest'srender_submit/2andrender_change/2functions -
Come up with a step-by-step test plan that splits major test cases into small, isolated files. You may start with simpler tests that verify content exists, gradually add interaction tests
-
Always reference the key element IDs you added in the LiveView templates in your tests for
Phoenix.LiveViewTestfunctions likeelement/2,has_element/2, selectors, etc -
Never tests again raw HTML, always use
element/2,has_element/2, and similar:assert has_element?(view, "#my-form") -
Instead of relying on testing text content, which can change, favor testing for the presence of key elements
-
Focus on testing outcomes rather than implementation details
-
Be aware that
Phoenix.Componentfunctions like<.form>might produce different HTML than expected. Test against the output HTML structure, not your mental model of what you expect it to be -
When facing test failures with element selectors, add debug statements to print the actual HTML, but use
LazyHTMLselectors to limit the output, ie:html = render(view) document = LazyHTML.from_fragment(html) matches = LazyHTML.filter(document, "your-complex-selector") IO.inspect(matches, label: "Matches")
If you want to create a form based on handle_event params:
def handle_event("submitted", params, socket) do
{:noreply, assign(socket, form: to_form(params))}
end
When you pass a map to to_form/1, it assumes said map contains the form params, which are expected to have string keys.
You can also specify a name to nest the params:
def handle_event("submitted", %{"user" => user_params}, socket) do
{:noreply, assign(socket, form: to_form(user_params, as: :user))}
end
When using changesets, the underlying data, form params, and errors are retrieved from it. The :as option is automatically computed too. E.g. if you have a user schema:
defmodule MyApp.Users.User do
use Ecto.Schema
...
end
And then you create a changeset that you pass to to_form:
%MyApp.Users.User{}
|> Ecto.Changeset.change()
|> to_form()
Once the form is submitted, the params will be available under %{"user" => user_params}.
In the template, the form form assign can be passed to the <.form> function component:
<.form for={@form} id="todo-form" phx-change="validate" phx-submit="save">
<.input field={@form[:field]} type="text" />
</.form>
Always give the form an explicit, unique DOM ID, like id="todo-form".
Always use a form assigned via to_form/2 in the LiveView, and the <.input> component in the template. In the template always access forms this:
<%!-- ALWAYS do this (valid) --%>
<.form for={@form} id="my-form">
<.input field={@form[:field]} type="text" />
</.form>
And never do this:
<%!-- NEVER do this (invalid) --%>
<.form for={@changeset} id="my-form">
<.input field={@changeset[:field]} type="text" />
</.form>
- You are FORBIDDEN from accessing the changeset in the template as it will cause errors
- Never use
<.form let={f} ...>in the template, instead always use<.form for={@form} ...>, then drive all form references from the form assign as in@form[:field]. The UI should always be driven by ato_form/2assigned in the LiveView module that is derived from a changeset