Type safe HTML & SVG DSL to build html for server rendered HTML. Modelled after Rabbita and Luna

html

dsl

svg

moon add kaashyapan/html_dsl@0.5.0

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Author

kaashyapan

Version

0.5.0

License

Apache-2.0

Repository

github.com/kaashyapan/html_dsl

Last updated

16 hours ago

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README

#html_dsl.mbt

A type-safe HTML DSL for MoonBit that renders to a plain HTML string. No external dependencies. Works on all MoonBit targets — JS, Wasm, and native.

#Features

Typed nodes — Html and Attr enums catch mistakes at compile time
Named-argument API — optional id, class, style, attrs labeled args keep call sites clean
XSS-safe rendering — text content is automatically escaped
Void element awareness — <br>, <input>, <meta> etc. never get a closing tag
Escape hatch — node() and Prop() handle any tag or attribute not in the DSL
HTMX friendly — OnRawEvent renders arbitrary data-* and event attributes

#Installation

Add to your moon.pkg:

import {
  "kaashyapan/html_dsl/html",
  "kaashyapan/html_dsl/svg"
}

#Quick start

let page : Html =
  html_el(lang="en", [
    head([
      title("My App"),
      link(rel="stylesheet", href="/styles.css"),
    ]),
    body([
      div(class="container mx-auto p-4", [
        h1([text("Hello, MoonBit!")]),
        p(class="text-gray-600", [
          text("A type-safe HTML DSL that renders to a string."),
        ]),
      ]),
    ]),
  ])

let html_string = render(page)

Output:

<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>My App</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/styles.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="container mx-auto p-4">
      <h1>Hello, MoonBit!</h1>
      <p class="text-gray-600">
        A type-safe HTML DSL that renders to a string.
      </p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

#Core types

#Html

pub(all) enum Html {
  Node(String, Array[Attr], Array[Html])   // element
  Text(String)                             // escaped text
  Unsafe(String)                           // unsafe raw html
  Fragment(Array[Html])                    // no wrapper element
  Nothing                                  // renders to ""
}

#Attr

pub(all) enum Attr {
  Id(String)       | Class(String)     | Href(String)
  Src(String)      | Alt(String)       | Type_(String)
  Value(String)    | Placeholder(String)
  Name(String)     | Rel(String)       | Lang(String)
  Prop(String, String)                 // arbitrary attribute
  Style(Array[(String, String)])       // inline styles
  On(Event)                            // typed event handler
  OnRawEvent(String, String)           // raw attribute name + value
  Disabled(Bool)   | Checked(Bool)    | Required(Bool)
  // … and more
}

#Element builders

All common HTML tags are available as functions. Optional attributes are passed as labeled arguments; children are the final positional argument.

#Structural

html_el(lang="en", [...])
head([...])
body([...])

#Block elements

div(id="app", class="flex", style=[("gap", "1rem")], [...])
p(class="text-sm text-gray-500", [...])
span(class="font-bold", [...])
h1([text("Page title")])
h2([text("Section")])

#Lists

ul([
  li([text("Apples")]),
  li([text("Bananas")]),
  li([text("Cherries")]),
])

ol([
  li([text("First")]),
  li([text("Second")]),
])

#Tables

table([
  thead([
    tr([th([text("Name")]), th([text("Score")])]),
  ]),
  tbody([
    tr([td([text("Alice")]), td([text("98")])]),
    tr([td([text("Bob")]),   td([text("87")])]),
  ]),
])

#Links and images

// href defaults to "#", target defaults to Self_
a(href="https://moonbitlang.com", target=Blank, [text("MoonBit")])

img(src="/logo.png", alt="Logo")

#Forms

form(on_submit="handleSubmit(event)", [
  label(for_="email", [text("Email")]),
  input(
    input_type=Email,
    placeholder="you@example.com",
    attrs=[Attr::Name("email"), Attr::Required(true)],
    nothing(),
  ),
  button(on_click="", [text("Subscribe")]),
])

input takes a dummy nothing() as its last argument to keep the API consistent with other elements that accept children.

#Void elements

br()
hr()
meta(charset="utf-8")
meta(attrs=[Name("viewport"), Prop("content", "width=device-width, initial-scale=1")])
link(rel="stylesheet", href="/app.css")
script(defer_=true, type_="module", src="/app.js")

#Inline styles

Pass (property, value) pairs to the style labeled argument or the Style constructor:

div(
  style=[("display", "flex"), ("gap", "1rem"), ("padding", "1rem")],
  [
    span(style=[("color", "#0ea5e9"), ("font-weight", "bold")], [text("Blue")]),
    span(style=[("color", "#f97316")], [text("Orange")]),
  ],
)

#Event handlers

Typed events compile to the correct on* attribute:

button(on_click="doSomething()", [text("Click me")])

// For other events, use attrs=
div(attrs=[
  on_mouseenter("showTooltip()"),
  on_mouseleave("hideTooltip()"),
], [...])

#Arbitrary attributes with Prop and Data and Aria

Use Prop(key, value) for any attribute not covered by the DSL, and Data(name, value) and Aria(name, value) for data attributes or framework-specific bindings:

// HTMX
div(attrs=[
  Prop("hx-get", "/partial"),
  Prop("hx-target", "#result"),
  Prop("hx-trigger", "click"),
], [text("Load more")])

// Datastar signals
main_(attrs = [
  Data("signal-locale", "window.navigator.language"),
  Data("signal-theme",  "localStorage.getItem('theme')"),
], [...])

#Custom elements and escape hatch

Node(tag, attrs, children) renders any tag not in the DSL:

// Web components
Node("my-modal", [Prop("open", ""), Class("z-50")], [
  Node("my-modal-header", [], [text("Confirm?")]),
  Node("my-modal-footer", [], [
    button(on_click="modal.close()", [text("Cancel")]),
    button(on_click="modal.confirm()", [text("OK")]),
  ]),
])

// Custom elements with no children
Node("dataspa-inspector", [], [])
Node("subtitle", [], [])

#Conditional rendering

Use Nothing to conditionally include nodes:

fn alert_banner(show : Bool, message : String) -> Html {
  if show {
    div(class="bg-red-100 border border-red-400 text-red-700 px-4 py-3 rounded", [
      text(message),
    ])
  } else {
    Nothing
  }
}

Or filter a list with fragment:

let items = ["Alice", "Bob", ""]

Fragment(
  items
  .filter(fn(s) { s != "" })
  .map(fn(name) { li([text(name)]) }),
)

#Full page example

pub fn login_page() -> Html {
  html_el(lang="en", [
    head([
      title("Sign in"),
      meta(charset="utf-8"),
      meta(attrs=[
        Name("viewport"),
        Prop("content", "width=device-width, initial-scale=1"),
      ]),
      link(rel="stylesheet", href="/styles.css"),
    ]),
    body([
      div(class="min-h-screen flex items-center justify-center bg-gray-50", [
        div(class="max-w-md w-full space-y-8 p-8 bg-white rounded-xl shadow", [
          h1([text("Sign in to your account")]),
          form(on_submit="handleLogin(event)", [
            div(class="space-y-4 my-4", [
              div(class="flex gap-8", [
                label(class="w-16", for_="email", [text("Email")]),
                input(type_=Email, placeholder="you@example.com", attrs=[
                  Name("email"),
                  Required(true),
                ]),
              ]),
              div([
                label(class="w-16", for_="password", [text("Password")]),
                input(type_=Password, placeholder="••••••••", attrs=[
                  Name("password"),
                  Required(true),
                ]),
              ]),
            ]),
            button(
              type_=Submit,
              class="w-full py-2 px-4 bg-blue-600 text-white rounded-lg",
              [text("Sign in")],
            ),
          ]),
          p(class="text-center text-sm text-gray-500", [
            text("Don't have an account? "),
            a(href="/register", [text("Register")]),
          ]),
        ]),
      ]),
    ]),
  ])
}

// Render to a string ready to send as an HTTP response
let html_string = render(login_page())

#Rendering

// Html -> String
pub fn render(node : Html) -> String

// Escape text manually if needed
pub fn escape(s : String) -> String

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