position: fix not working? Check transform

In CSS, many position/layout properties are context-aware. For example, position: absolute; only works if the desired parent has position: related/absolute/fixed;. However, position: fixed; is very simple. It is always related to window, barely affected by parent container. But, I stuck in this small issue:

This is strange, I have position: fixed; but why it doesn't work?

So I checked its parent elements one by one and found the modal library left a transform: scale(1);. It doesn't make any visual difference and seems a side effect of animation. In browsers' implementation, even if scale(1) and translateX(0) don't make any sense, the transform property will recreate a coordinate system. As result, position:fixed of inner elements will not be related to window, but the transform element.

The solution is simple, change transform: scale(1) to transform: unset. In practice, avoid using transform in large containers, like a sidebar or modal. If you need it, make sure here is no position: fixed inside, such as some popups.

09/06/2020 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Integrate Crowdin To RetroArch

RetroArch project uses *.h files to store translation strings. Here aren't any tools to make the translation process easier. When source strings changed, you have to manually review the changes, locate and update translation strings. It is a hard work. As a big fan of RetroArch, I was thinking if it can be improved with modern i18n platforms.

28/03/2020 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

HTML vs. JavaScript Input Validation

If you want to validate a form input and so it only accepts integers, here is an easy way in HTML5:

<input type="number" pattern="[0-9]*" />

However, users can still type something invalid:

1. In Firefox, you can basically type anything, like "fsielfs".
2. In Chrome, you can type numbers with dots, like "1..2.2.2".

13/01/2020 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Create React WebExtension for Firefox and Chrome

We will create a React app and turn it into a Firefox/Chrome extension.

05/10/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Code Journey #11

Highlights for the last month: HiDPI bug fixes and emulator packaging.

KDE:

• Kompare HiDPI [patch]
• Filelight HiDPI [patch]
• KSysGuard HiDPI, except the sensor graphy [patch]
• Font manager HiDPI [patch]
• enablefont and disablefont icon for font manager [patch]
• KWallet HiDPI [patch]
• KWin HiDPI [patch]
• Krita splash screen HiDPI [patch]
• Kate/KonsolePart dual screen rendering issue [bug] [patch]
• Spectale Dual Screen issue [bug] [patch]

openSUSE:

• Update python-PyMuPDF package and fix linking issue
• Update arcanist package and submit to Factory [request]
• Submit PCSX2 package to Factory [request]
• Update retroarch package to work out-of-box [request 1] [request 2]
• Create retroarch-assets package [request]
• Create retroarch-joypad-autoconfig package [request]
• Create libretro-core-info package [request]
• Create libretro-database package [request]
• Create libretro-mame2000 core package [request]
• Create libretro-genesis-plus-gx core package [request]
• Create libretro-flycast core package [request]
• Create libretro-yabause core package [request]

02/10/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Code Journey #10

KDE:

• Fixed JuK folder dialog always open on start
• Translate tech base
• POTD doesn't change daily
• Bluetooth headset not detected when auto connect. Identify it as Linux kernel bug. Report to upstream

openSUSE:

• Update Wiki FAQ page, still in progress
• Chameleon theme: new navbar and footer design
• Chameleon theme: dark mode
• Apply theme to doc.opensuse.org
• Update wiki theme

11/09/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Code Journey #9

KDE

• Simplified Chinese translation update
• Unsplash Picture of The Day provider
• JuK slider's HiDPI support
• JuK single instance start up
• HiDPI development document
• Kimpanel system tray mode

openSUSE

• Update python-PyMuPDF package

20/07/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Code Journey #8

openSUSE

Wiki

• Update FAQ pages

Plasma theme

• Update openSUSE color scheme
• Improve panel transparency

opi

• Fix system version number space issue in Leap 15.1

Geeko Store

• OBS/PMBS search API integration
• RPM package listing

Packaging

• Update php-composer
• Create npm2rpm
• Packaging npmjs-gulp-cli
• Packaging npmjs-create-react-app
• Packaging npmjs-webpack-cli
• Update patterns-base, remove dejavu-fonts recommendation，to improve emoji support

KDE

Translation

• KDE Connect

26/06/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Code Journey #7

openSUSE

opi

• Fixed hard-coded credential issue. Use a proxy server to send API requests
• Support Packman package search
• Resolved dependency not found issue

chameleon

• Added theme document web page
• Support hot reload during development
• Added dark mode buttons and form controls
• Improve theme style

Packaging

• Update python-PyMuPDF

Other

Rabbit Lyrics

• Support multiple lyrics blocks

05/06/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments

Fix React issues with Google Translate

Note: we are only talking about Google Translate function in Chrome or Chromium based browsers. Other translate plugins or software don't necessarily work with this solution. And this solution doesn't solve all issues, just a part of them.

When does it happen

You have a component:

const Button = ({children, icon, isLoading, ...rest}) => (
  <button {...rest}>
    {icon}
    {children}
    {isLoading && <Loader/>}
  </button>
)

const Test = () => <Button icon="+">Hello World</Button>

Which is rendered to:

<button>+Hello World</button>

If an element (<button> in this case) contains multiple rendered string variables, they become text nodes in React's VDOM and HTML DOM. However, Google Translate doesn't care about text nodes and wrap them inside a <font> element:

<button><font>+你好世界</font><button>

Since they are not text nodes anymore, synchronization between React and DOM was broken. The button content will not be updated anymore.

How to fix it

Simply avoid this situation. Write every {variable} inside an element, as the only child.

const Button = ({children, icon, isLoading, ...rest}) => (
  <button {...rest}>
    <span className="button__icon">{icon}</span>
    <span className="button__text">{children}</span>
    {isLoading && <Loader/>}
  </button>
)

const Test = () => <Button icon="+">Hello World</Button>

Now every variable is synchronized with the <span> element, not text nodes. Inserting <font> elements doesn't break the connection.

Another situation is that when you mix text nodes with elements.

<p>
  Copyright 2016-{new Date().getFullYear()}
</p>

Should be converted to:

<p>
  <span>Copyright 2016-</span>
  <span>{new Date().getFullYear()}</span>
</p>

Just make sure: a text node or string variable must be the only child of an element.

Event target

Another issue is that the click event target will change. It might be <font> elements instead of <button>. Carefully check everywhere you use e.target, considering they might not be the button, input or other elements you expected.

A further suggestion is to avoid using any e.target reference. Here is a piece of legacy code:

const {sizes, onChange} = this.props
return (
  <div>
    {sizes.map(size => (
      <button
        key={size}
        name="size"
        value={size}
        onClick={e => this.props.onChange(e.target.value)}>
        {size.toUpperCase()}
      </button>
    ))}
  </div>
)

Can be changed to:

const {sizes, onChange} = this.props
return (
  <div>
    {sizes.map(size => (
      <button
        key={size}
        name="size"
        value={size}
        onClick={e => this.props.onChange(size)}>
        {size.toUpperCase()}
      </button>
    ))}
  </div>
)

If you use third-party components from a library

In this case, you usually cannot modify the component as you want.

You can try to use <span>your string</span> instead of "your string" as component properties.

Report to the library maintainers and make a PR with above methods.

If the element doesn't support child elements

Some components doesn't support inner wrappers, like <option>. If you put <span> inside <option>, React will give you warnings in console, even though the rendering works. So you probably don't want to do it.

For example you have:

<select>
  {fruites.map(f => <option value={f.name}>{f.name} - {f.price}</option>)}
</select>

Change it to:

<select>
  {fruites.map(f => {
    const label = f.name + ' - ' + f.price;
  	return <option value={f.name}>{label}</option>
  })}
</select>

If you want to disable Google Translate

Even if you do all above, something can still go wrong. If you don't have time to waste and just want to disable Google Translate, it is simple:

<body class="notranslate">
  ...
</body>

02/06/2019 | Guo Yunhe | Code | Comments