[whatwg] Proposed updates for the command API's

[Dav Glass]

----- Original Message ----

From: Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch>
> 
> > * ModifiedNodes - I think this would be better as a separate API, maybe 
> >    "queryCommandAffected()" or something, that returns the collection. 
> >    Also, maybe it should return a range rather than a collection. What is 
> >    the use case? (How and why would you actually use this?)
> 
> The use case is outlined here:
> http://blog.davglass.com/files/yui/html5/#examples

> That's not a use case, it's an example of how it would work. By "use 
> case", I mean, _why_ would you ever use this? What problem is it solving?


> The main issue with a range, is overlapping elements, that's why I would 
> opt for a collection :)

> I don't understand, could you elaborate? Presumably which is more useful
> would depend primarily on the reason behind the feature, so maybe I need 
> to have a clearer picture of the use case before I can really figure out 
> whether a collection or a range is a better thing to return.


This would allow the developer the ability to easily add new functionality.

For example:

If I wanted to make a button that took the selection, and opened a more info window for extra data (just a simple example).

Using
this method, I could add a class to the selection. Then open a more
info window, which would force the selection to be removed (that I
could cache).

But I have access to all the items that it
modified, not just the range that it changed. Since I have access to
all of the nodes that changed, I can manipulate them after the
selection has been removed and focus has been lost.

Then when I am finished, I can use my cached data from the selection to create the selection again.

AFAIK,
a selection object gives you the data about some of the elements, but
not all of the containing elements (especially in the situation I have
as an example on the site).

There is also the use case of
someone selecting part of a node (like in between tags) and executing a
command, some commands will auto select the node others won't.

The modifiedNodes command would allow us to get that data.

Does all that make sense?

Dav