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Class

Conversion (engine/conversion)

@ckeditor/ckeditor5-engine/src/conversion/conversion

class

A utility class that helps add converters to upcast and downcast dispatchers.

We recommend reading the Editing engine architecture guide first to understand the core concepts of the conversion mechanisms.

The instance of the conversion manager is available in the editor.conversion property and by default has the following groups of dispatchers (i.e. directions of conversion):

  • downcast (editing and data downcasts)
  • editingDowncast
  • dataDowncast
  • upcast

To add a converter to a specific group, use the for() method:

// Add a converter to editing downcast and data downcast.
editor.conversion.for( 'downcast' ).add( downcastElementToElement( config ) );

// Add a converter to the data pipepline only:
editor.conversion.for( 'dataDowncast' ).add( downcastElementToElement( dataConversionConfig ) );
// And a slightly different one for the editing pipeline:
editor.conversion.for( 'editingDowncast' ).add( downcastElementToElement( editingConversionConfig ) );

The functions used in add() calls are one-way converters (i.e. you need to remember yourself to add a converter in the other direction, if your feature requires that). They are also called "conversion helpers". You can find a set of them in the downcast-converters and upcast-converters modules.

Besides allowing to register converters to specific dispatchers, you can also use methods available in this class to add two-way converters (upcast and downcast):

Filtering

Properties

  • _dispatchersGroups : Map

    private

Methods

  • constructor()

    Creates a new conversion instance.

  • attributeToAttribute( definition = { definition.model, definition.view, [definition.upcastAlso] } )

    Sets up converters between the model and the view that convert a model attribute to a view attribute (and vice versa). For example, <image src='foo.jpg'></image> is converted to <img src='foo.jpg'></img> (the same attribute key and value). This type of converters is intended to be used with model element nodes. To convert text attributes attributeToElement converter should be set up.

    // A simple conversion from the `source` model attribute to the `src` view attribute (and vice versa).
    conversion.attributeToAttribute( { model: 'source', view: 'src' } );
    
    // Attribute values are strictly specified.
    conversion.attributeToAttribute( {
        model: {
            name: 'image',
            key: 'aside',
            values: [ 'aside' ]
        },
        view: {
            aside: {
                name: 'img',
                key: 'class',
                value: [ 'aside', 'half-size' ]
            }
        }
    } );
    
    // Set the style attribute.
    conversion.attributeToAttribute( {
        model: {
            name: 'image',
            key: 'aside',
            values: [ 'aside' ]
        },
        view: {
            aside: {
                name: 'img',
                key: 'style',
                value: {
                    float: 'right',
                    width: '50%',
                    margin: '5px'
                }
            }
        }
    } );
    
    // Conversion from and to a model attribute key whose value is an enum (`align=right|center`).
    // Use `upcastAlso` to define other view elements that should also be converted to the `align=right` attribute.
    conversion.attributeToAttribute( {
        model: {
            key: 'align',
            values: [ 'right', 'center' ]
        },
        view: {
            right: {
                key: 'class',
                value: 'align-right'
            },
            center: {
                key: 'class',
                value: 'align-center'
            }
        },
        upcastAlso: {
            right: {
                styles: {
                    'text-align': 'right'
                }
            },
            center: {
                styles: {
                    'text-align': 'center'
                }
            }
        }
    } );

    The definition.model parameter specifies which model attribute should be converted from and to. It can be a { key, [ values ], [ name ] } object or a String, which will be treated like { key: definition.model }. The key property is the model attribute key to convert from and to. The values are the possible model attribute values. If values is not set, the model attribute value will be the same as the view attribute value. If name is set, the conversion will be set up only for model elements with the given name.

    The definition.view parameter specifies which view attribute should be converted from and to. It can be a { key, value, [ name ] } object or a String, which will be treated like { key: definition.view }. The key property is the view attribute key to convert from and to. The value is the view attribute value to convert from and to. If definition.value is not set, the view attribute value will be the same as the model attribute value. If key is 'class', value can be a String or an array of Strings. If key is 'style', value is an object with key-value pairs. In other cases, value is a String. If name is set, the conversion will be set up only for model elements with the given name. If definition.model.values is set, definition.view is an object that assigns values from definition.model.values to { key, value, [ name ] } objects.

    definition.upcastAlso specifies which other matching view elements should also be upcast to the given model configuration. If definition.model.values is set, definition.upcastAlso should be an object assigning values from definition.model.values to MatcherPatterns or arrays of MatcherPatterns.

    Note: definition.model and definition.view form should be mirrored, so the same types of parameters should be given in both parameters.

    Parameters

    definition : Object

    The converter definition.

    Properties
    definition.model : String | Object

    The model attribute to convert from and to.

    definition.view : String | Object

    The view attribute to convert from and to.

    [ definition.upcastAlso ] : MatcherPattern | Array.<MatcherPattern>

    Any view element matching definition.upcastAlso will also be converted to the given model attribute. definition.upcastAlso is used only if config.model.values is specified.

  • attributeToElement( definition )

    Sets up converters between the model and the view that convert a model attribute to a view element (and vice versa). For example, a model text node with "Foo" as data and the bold attribute is <strong>Foo</strong> in the view.

    // A simple conversion from the `bold=true` attribute to the `<strong>` view element (and vice versa).
    conversion.attributeToElement( { model: 'bold', view: 'strong' } );
    
    // Override other converters by specifying a converter definition with a higher priority.
    conversion.attributeToElement( { model: 'bold', view: 'b', converterPriority: 'high' } );
    
    // View specified as an object instead of a string.
    conversion.attributeToElement( {
        model: 'bold',
        view: {
            name: 'span',
            classes: 'bold'
        }
    } );
    
    // Use `config.model.name` to define the conversion only from a given node type, `$text` in this case.
    // The same attribute on different elements may then be handled by a different converter.
    conversion.attributeToElement( {
        model: {
            key: 'textDecoration',
            values: [ 'underline', 'lineThrough' ],
            name: '$text'
        },
        view: {
            underline: {
                name: 'span',
                styles: {
                    'text-decoration': 'underline'
                }
            },
            lineThrough: {
                name: 'span',
                styles: {
                    'text-decoration': 'line-through'
                }
            }
        }
    } );
    
    // Use `upcastAlso` to define other view elements that should also be converted to the `bold` attribute.
    conversion.attributeToElement( {
        model: 'bold',
        view: 'strong',
        upcastAlso: [
            'b',
            {
                name: 'span',
                classes: 'bold'
            },
            {
                name: 'span',
                styles: {
                    'font-weight': 'bold'
                }
            },
            viewElement => {
                const fontWeight = viewElement.getStyle( 'font-weight' );
    
                if ( viewElement.is( 'span' ) && fontWeight && /\d+/.test() && Number( fontWeight ) > 500 ) {
                    // Returned value can be an object with the matched properties.
                    // These properties will be "consumed" during the conversion.
                    // See `engine.view.Matcher~MatcherPattern` and `engine.view.Matcher#match` for more details.
    
                    return {
                        name: true,
                        styles: [ 'font-weight' ]
                    };
                }
            }
        ]
    } );
    
    // Conversion from and to a model attribute key whose value is an enum (`fontSize=big|small`).
    // `upcastAlso` set as callback enables a conversion of a wide range of different view elements.
    conversion.attributeToElement( {
        model: {
            key: 'fontSize',
            values: [ 'big', 'small' ]
        },
        view: {
            big: {
                name: 'span',
                styles: {
                    'font-size': '1.2em'
                }
            },
            small: {
                name: 'span',
                styles: {
                    'font-size': '0.8em'
                }
            }
        },
        upcastAlso: {
            big: viewElement => {
                const fontSize = viewElement.getStyle( 'font-size' );
    
                if ( !fontSize ) {
                    return null;
                }
    
                const match = fontSize.match( /(\d+)\s*px/ );
    
                if ( !match ) {
                    return null;
                }
    
                const size = Number( match[ 1 ] );
    
                if ( viewElement.is( 'span' ) && size > 10 ) {
                    // Returned value can be an object with the matched properties.
                    // These properties will be "consumed" during the conversion.
                    // See `engine.view.Matcher~MatcherPattern` and `engine.view.Matcher#match` for more details.
    
                    return { name: true, styles: [ 'font-size' ] };
                }
    
                return null;
            },
            small: viewElement => {
                const fontSize = viewElement.getStyle( 'font-size' );
    
                if ( !fontSize ) {
                    return null;
                }
    
                const match = fontSize.match( /(\d+)\s*px/ );
    
                if ( !match ) {
                    return null;
                }
    
                const size = Number( match[ 1 ] );
    
                if ( viewElement.is( 'span' ) && size < 10 ) {
                    // Returned value can be an object with the matched properties.
                    // These properties will be "consumed" during the conversion.
                    // See `engine.view.Matcher~MatcherPattern` and `engine.view.Matcher#match` for more details.
    
                    return { name: true, styles: [ 'font-size' ] };
                }
    
                return null;
            }
        }
    } );

    The definition.model parameter specifies which model attribute should be converted from or to. It can be a { key, value } object describing the attribute key and value to convert or a String specifying just the attribute key (then value is set to true). See ConverterDefinition to learn about other parameters.

    Parameters

    definition : ConverterDefinition

    The converter definition.

  • elementToElement( definition )

    Sets up converters between the model and the view that convert a model element to a view element (and vice versa). For example, the model <paragraph>Foo</paragraph> is <p>Foo</p> in the view.

    // A simple conversion from the `paragraph` model element to the `<p>` view element (and vice versa).
    conversion.elementToElement( { model: 'paragraph', view: 'p' } );
    
    // Override other converters by specifying a converter definition with a higher priority.
    conversion.elementToElement( { model: 'paragraph', view: 'div', converterPriority: 'high' } );
    
    // View specified as an object instead of a string.
    conversion.elementToElement( {
        model: 'fancyParagraph',
        view: {
            name: 'p',
            classes: 'fancy'
        }
    } );
    
    // Use `upcastAlso` to define other view elements that should also be converted to a `paragraph` element.
    conversion.elementToElement( {
        model: 'paragraph',
        view: 'p',
        upcastAlso: [
            'div',
            {
                // Any element with the `display: block` style.
                styles: {
                    display: 'block'
                }
            }
        ]
    } );
    
    // `upcastAlso` set as callback enables a conversion of a wide range of different view elements.
    conversion.elementToElement( {
        model: 'heading',
        view: 'h2',
        // Convert "headling-like" paragraphs to headings.
        upcastAlso: viewElement => {
            const fontSize = viewElement.getStyle( 'font-size' );
    
            if ( !fontSize ) {
                return null;
            }
    
            const match = fontSize.match( /(\d+)\s*px/ );
    
            if ( !match ) {
                return null;
            }
    
            const size = Number( match[ 1 ] );
    
            if ( size > 26 ) {
                // Returned value can be an object with the matched properties.
                // These properties will be "consumed" during the conversion.
                // See `engine.view.Matcher~MatcherPattern` and `engine.view.Matcher#match` for more details.
    
                return { name: true, styles: [ 'font-size' ] };
            }
    
            return null;
        }
    } );

    definition.model is a String with a model element name to convert from or to. See ConverterDefinition to learn about other parameters.

    Parameters

    definition : ConverterDefinition

    The converter definition.

  • for( groupName ) → Object

    Provides chainable API to assign converters to dispatchers registered under a given group name. Converters are added by calling the .add() method of an object returned by this function.

    conversion.for( 'downcast' )
        .add( conversionHelperA )
        .add( conversionHelperB );

    In this example conversionHelperA and conversionHelperB will be called for all dispatchers from the 'model' group.

    The .add() method takes exactly one parameter, which is a function. This function should accept one parameter that is a dispatcher instance. The function should add an actual converter to the passed dispatcher instance.

    Conversion helpers for most common cases are already provided. They are flexible enough to cover most use cases. See the documentation to learn how they can be configured.

    For downcast (model-to-view conversion), these are:

    For upcast (view-to-model conversion), these are:

    An example of using conversion helpers to convert the paragraph model element to the p view element (and back):

    // Define conversion configuration - model element 'paragraph' should be converted to view element 'p'.
    const config = { model: 'paragraph', view: 'p' };
    
    // Add converters to proper dispatchers using conversion helpers.
    conversion.for( 'downcast' ).add( downcastElementToElement( config ) );
    conversion.for( 'upcast' ).add( upcastElementToElement( config ) );

    An example of providing a custom conversion helper that uses a custom converter function:

    // Adding a custom `myConverter` converter for 'paragraph' element insertion, with the default priority ('normal').
    conversion.for( 'downcast' ).add( conversion.customConverter( 'insert:paragraph', myConverter ) );

    Parameters

    groupName : String

    The name of dispatchers group to add the converters to.

    Returns

    Object

    An object with the .add() method, providing a way to add converters.

  • register( groupName, dispatchers )

    Registers one or more converters under a given group name. The group name can then be used to assign a converter to multiple dispatchers at once.

    If a given group name is used for the second time, the conversion-register-group-exists error is thrown.

    Parameters

    groupName : String

    The name for dispatchers group.

    dispatchers : Array.<(DowncastDispatcher | UpcastDispatcher)>

    Dispatchers to register under the given name.

  • _getDispatchers( groupName ) → Array.<(DowncastDispatcher | UpcastDispatcher)>

    private

    Returns dispatchers registered under a given group name.

    If the given group name has not been registered, the conversion-for-unknown-group error is thrown.

    Parameters

    groupName : String

    Returns

    Array.<(DowncastDispatcher | UpcastDispatcher)>