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Yoram Kornatzky
Yoram Kornatzky

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at yoramkornatzky.com

A Document Revisions System in JavaScript

Quill is a rich text editor that supplies deltas of change. So you can build quite a sophisticated system of document revisions within the browser.

Let's first go over how you use Quill.

Quill in JavaScript

Quill Editor

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>

    <!-- Include stylesheet -->
    <link href="https://cdn.quilljs.com/1.3.6/quill.snow.css" rel="stylesheet">

  </head>

  <body>

    <!-- Create the editor container -->
    <div id="editor" style="height: 375px;">
      <p>Hello World!</p>
      <p>Some initial <strong>bold</strong> text</p>
      <p><br></p>
    </div>

    <!-- Include the Quill library -->
    <script src="https://cdn.quilljs.com/1.3.6/quill.js"></script>

    <!-- Initialize Quill editor -->
    <script>
      var quill = new Quill('#editor', {
        theme: 'snow'
      });
  </script>

  <body>
</html>
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Lots of customizations of the toolbar are possible.

How to Get The Content

Plain Text

quill.getText()
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HTML

quill.root.innerHTML
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Delta

Yielding the change as Quill Delta,

quill.getContents()
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Events

One can listen to events, and what you usually want is the HTML,

Text Change

  quill.on('text-change', function(delta, oldDelta, source) {     
        if (source == 'api') {
          console.log("An API call triggered this change.");
        } else if (source == 'user') {
          console.log("A user action triggered this change.");
        }
  });
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Selection Change

  quill.on('selection-change', function(range, oldRange, source) {
        if (range) {
          if (range.length == 0) {
            console.log('User cursor is on', range.index);
          } else {
            var text = quill.getText(range.index, range.length);
            console.log('User has highlighted', text);
          }
        } else {
          console.log('Cursor not in the editor');
        }
  });
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Editor Change

  quill.on('editor-change', function(eventName, ...args) {
    if (eventName === 'text-change') {
      // args[0] will be delta
    } else if (eventName === 'selection-change') {
      // args[0] will be old range
    }
  });
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Comparing Document Revisions

If you have stored the content of different document revisions as a delta,

quill.getContents()
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Then you can compare the revisions using:

  var diff = oldContent.diff(newContent);
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Thereby obtaining a delta again.

To color the difference, use:

  for (var i = 0; i < diff.ops.length; i++) {
    var op = diff.ops[i];
    // if the change was an insertion
    if (op.hasOwnProperty('insert')) {
      // color it green
      op.attributes = {
        background: "#cce8cc",
        color: "#003700"
      };
    }
    // if the change was a deletion 
    if (op.hasOwnProperty('delete')) {
      // keep the text
      op.retain = op.delete;
      delete op.delete;
      // but color it red and struckthrough
      op.attributes = {
        background: "#e8cccc",
        color: "#370000",
        strike: true
      };
    }
  }
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Compose the old content with the colored difference

  var adjusted = oldContent.compose(diff);
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And display the tracked changes in the editor,

quill_diff.setContents(adjusted);
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Quill Document Revisions

This code is adapted from a Codepen by Joe Pietruch.

The superstate State Library

superstate is a tiny efficient state library that distinguishes a state and a draft.

First, you define the initial state,

const text = superstate('
    <p>Hello World!</p>
    <p>Some initial <strong>bold</strong> text </p><p><br></p>
')
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Then you create a draft with sketch

text.sketch('
    <p>Hello World!</p>
    <p>Some initial <strong>bold</strong> text </p>
    <p>And an <em>italic</em> scene</p><p><br></p>
') 
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And you publish it to the state, with publish

text.publish()
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Using superstate, together with the above code for comparing document revisions, we can revise a document, track changes, and then save the new revision to the state.

Persistence

When you work in the browser, you must auto-save your work if it is more than a few minutes worth of work.

You can do this with superstate using the localStorage adapter,

import { superstate } from '@superstate/core'
import { ls } from '@superstate/adapters'

const text = superstate(').use([
  ls('doc'), // 'doc' is the localStorage key
]) 
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And now, every change to the state is saved to local storage. This does not apply to drafts unless you create the state with:

const count = superstate(0).use([ls('count', { draft: true })]) 
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What is Missing for a Full System of Revisions?

We must add a component to accept/reject a highlighted change within the editor.

This design will be part of a whole document management system, with workflows of writing and revision.

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