Notes

This section collects miscellaneous information that may be of use to anyone developing Bokeh. Help organizing and improving this material is welcome.

CSS class names

The CSS for controlling Bokeh presentation are located in a bokeh.css file that is compiled from several separate .less files in the BokehJS source tree. All CSS classes specifically for Bokeh DOM elements are prefixed with the string bk-. For instance some examples are: .bk-sidebar, .bk-toolbar-button, etc.

Furthermore, BokehJS ships with its own version of Bootstrap. To prevent name collisions, the version of Bootstrap CSS that Bokeh uses has been entirely prefixed with the prefix bk-bs-.

Browser caching

During development, depending on the type of configured resources, aggressive browser caching can sometimes cause new BokehJS code changes to not be picked up. It is recommended that during normal development, browser caching be disabled. Instructions for different browsers can be found here:

Additionally some browsers also provide a “private mode” that may disable caching automatically.

Even with caching disabled, on some browsers, it may still be required to sometimes force a page reload. Keyboard shortcuts for forcing page refreshes can be found here:

If it appears that new changes are not being executed when they should be, it is recommended to try this first.

BokehJS AMD module template for a model

Supposed you want to add a model for a Button widget. This must be accompanied by a collection and (most often) a view. Follow this steps:

  1. There is one model per source file policy. The file name is the snakified version of the model name. In this case button.coffee.

  2. Choose location of the source file under bokehjs/src/coffee. This depends on the role of your model. Button is a widget, so it goes into widget. If you create a group of related models, then you may consider adding a subdirectory that will contain those models. Do not add top-level directories unless you add a completely new kind of functionality to bokeh.

  3. Update bokehjs/src/coffee/common/base.coffee. This is required for model loader to be able to resolve your new model. Two additions are necessary. First, add module path to define [...]. Then update locations: ... mapping with model name and module path entry. Module path is source file path relative to bokehjs/src/coffee directory and without extension. In this case it’s widget/button, so you add widget/button to define [...] and Button: `widget/button to locations: .... Make sure to add them under appropriate sections, preferably in lexicographic order or group by functionality.

  4. Create the source file using the following template:

    define [
      "underscore"
      "backbone"
      "common/continuum_view"
      "common/has_parent"
      "common/logging"
      "./button_template"
    ], (_, Backbone, continuum_view, HasParent, Logging, template) ->
    
      logger = Logging.logger
    
      class ButtonView extends continuum_view.View
        tagName: "div"
        template: template
        events:
          "click": "on_click"
    
        on_click: () ->
          logger.info("click!")
    
        initialize: (options) ->
          super(options)
          @render()
          @listenTo(@model, 'change', @render)
    
        render: () ->
          @$el.empty()
          html = @template(@model.attributes)
          @$el.html(html)
          return this
    
      class Button extends HasParent
        type: "Button"
        default_view: ButtonView
    
        defaults: () ->
          _.extend({}, super(), {
            text: 'Button'
          }
    
      class Buttons extends Backbone.Collection
        model: Button
    
      return {
        Model: Button
        Collection: new Buttons()
        View: ButtonView
      }
    

    Note that this is just a template, so make sure you change it accordingly to your application. However, most implementation will have to have three classes defined: a model, a collection and a view, which must directly or indirectly inherit from HasProperties, Backbone.Collection and continuum_view.View respectively. In this case you can see that the model inherits from HasParent which in turn inherits from HasProperties. If a view is defined, the model must have default_view defined. You are not forced to use ECO templates for rendering of a view, but it’s encouraged, because it takes care of variable encoding, so it’s less likely to introduce XSS vulnerabilities this way. Otherwise, take advantage of jQuery’s APIs, like $(...).text(“foobar”). Do not use plain string concatenation or interpolation, because you will quickly compromise security this way.

  5. Test your new module in development and production modes (i.e. with require() and r.js). Your module can work perfectly in one mode and not load at all in the other, so keep that in mind.