How to create a web-based JavaScript code editor?
13/03/2024
•
5
min
Creating a web-based JavaScript code editor involves using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Below is a simple way of creating a web-based JavaScript code editor using the ace.js library.
Step 1: Download & Include Ace.js library
You can download the library from the official GitHub repository: https://github.com/ajaxorg/ace. After downloading the library, extract it and include it in your project directory.
Step 2: Create your HTML structure
The HTML is straightforward. We will only require a div element where the editor will be displayed.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>JavaScript Code Editor</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="editor">function foo(items) {
var i;
for (i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
alert("Ace Rocks " + items[i]);
}
}</div>
</body>
</html>
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In the above example, we have a simple div with id="editor.
Step 3: Load Ace & Initialize Your Editor
After setting up the div, it’s time to create our editor. We do this by including the ace.js file and then initializing the editor in our script.
<head>
<title>JS Code Editor</title>
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
#editor {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="editor">function foo(items) {
var i;
for (i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
alert("Ace Rocks " + items[i]);
}
}</div>
<script src="path_of_your_ace_lib/ace.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script>
var editor = ace.edit("editor");
editor.setTheme("ace/theme/monokai");
editor.session.setMode("ace/mode/javascript");
</script>
</body>
</html>
Here we're referring to ace.js file from local library which we have already downloaded. Then, theme and mode of the code editor are being set using editor.setTheme and editor.session.setMode.
This example should give you a functional JavaScript code editor. The Ace.js library which we are using has a lot of options that you can use to customize and add functionality to your editor. You can find out more about these features from the Ace.js official GitHub page.
Remember, to test this, you cannot simply open the HTML file with the browser. The file needs to come from a server, so use any live server package if you're using Visual Studio Code or any web server to serve the file. This is due to the fact that Ace.js fetches the necessary scripts for themes, modes, etc., using Ajax which is prohibited by the Same Origin Policy restriction in your browser. So files should come from a web server.
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