Smart Counter
An interesting element on interfaces which involve dynamically updating numbers is a smart counter, or odometer effect. Instead of jumping a number up and down, quickly counting to the desired number can achieve a cool effect. An example of a popular library that accomplishes this is odometer by Hubspot. Let's see how we can accomplish something similar with just a few lines of RxJS.
Vanilla JS
// utility functions
const takeUntilFunc = (endRange, currentNumber) => {
return endRange > currentNumber
? val => val <= endRange
: val => val >= endRange;
};
const positiveOrNegative = (endRange, currentNumber) => {
return endRange > currentNumber ? 1 : -1;
};
const updateHTML = id => val => (document.getElementById(id).innerHTML = val);
// display
const input = document.getElementById('range');
const updateButton = document.getElementById('update');
const subscription = (function(currentNumber) {
return fromEvent(updateButton, 'click').pipe(
map(_ => parseInt(input.value)),
switchMap(endRange => {
return timer(0, 20).pipe(
mapTo(positiveOrNegative(endRange, currentNumber)),
startWith(currentNumber),
scan((acc, curr) => acc + curr),
takeWhile(takeUntilFunc(endRange, currentNumber));
)
}),
tap(v => (currentNumber = v)),
startWith(currentNumber)
)
.subscribe(updateHTML('display'));
})(0);
HTML
<input id="range" type="number">
<button id="update">Update</button>
<h3 id="display">0</h3>
We can easily take our vanilla smart counter and wrap it in any popular
component based UI library. Below is an example of an Angular smart counter
component which takes an Input
of the updated end ranges and performs the
appropriate transition.
Angular Version
( StackBlitz )
import { Component, Input, OnDestroy } from '@angular/core';
import { Subject } from 'rxjs/Subject';
import { timer } from 'rxjs/observable/timer';
import { switchMap, startWith, scan, takeWhile, takeUntil, mapTo } from 'rxjs/operators';
@Component({
selector: 'number-tracker',
template: `
<h3> {{ currentNumber }}</h3>
`
})
export class NumberTrackerComponent implements OnDestroy {
@Input()
set end(endRange: number) {
this._counterSub$.next(endRange);
}
@Input() countInterval = 20;
public currentNumber = 0;
private _counterSub$ = new Subject();
private _onDestroy$ = new Subject();
constructor() {
this._counterSub$
.pipe(
switchMap(endRange => {
return timer(0, this.countInterval).pipe(
mapTo(this.positiveOrNegative(endRange, this.currentNumber)),
startWith(this.currentNumber),
scan((acc: number, curr: number) => acc + curr),
takeWhile(this.isApproachingRange(endRange, this.currentNumber))
)
}),
takeUntil(this._onDestroy$)
)
.subscribe((val: number) => this.currentNumber = val);
}
private positiveOrNegative(endRange, currentNumber) {
return endRange > currentNumber ? 1 : -1;
}
private isApproachingRange(endRange, currentNumber) {
return endRange > currentNumber
? val => val <= endRange
: val => val >= endRange;
}
ngOnDestroy() {
this._onDestroy$.next();
this._onDestroy$.complete();
}
}
HTML
<p>
<input type="number"
(keyup.enter)="counterNumber = vanillaInput.value"
#vanillaInput>
<button
(click)="counterNumber = vanillaInput.value">
Update number
</button>
</p>
<number-tracker [end]="counterNumber"></number-tracker>