Formatters

Formatters are functions that return a single CSS declaration value. They can receive arguments, process them and return the value.

note

Currently, any argument passed through to a formatter is of type string. We are in the process of adding support for more complex types.

For example a calc-font-size formatter can return a different value for the font size depending on the provided argument.

tip

If you need to return multiple declaration values, we recommend using Stylable mixins.

/* ./calc-font-size.js */
module.exports = function(baseSize, modifier) {
    switch (modifier) {
        case 'header':
            return `${Number(baseSize) * 2}px`;
        case 'aside':
            return `${Number(baseSize) * 0.75}px`; 
        default: 
            return baseSize + 'px';
    }
};

@st-import calcFontSize from "./calc-font-size";

.header {
    font-size: calcFontSize(16, header);
}

.form {
    font-size: calcFontSize(16, body);
}

    /* CSS output */
    .header {
        font-size: 32px;
    }

    .form {
        font-size: 16px;
    }

/* CSS output */
.header {
    font-size: 32px;
}

.form {
    font-size: 16px;
}

note

Currently you cannot use formatters inside a native URL function. As a suggested workaround, you can return a URL function from a formattter.

Formatters with variables

When the formatter is imported into the CSS, it can also be used with a variable.

In this example the CSS imports the same formatter as the previous example, calc-font-size, but the variable baseFontSize is added to the calculation.

@st-import calcFontSize from "./calc-font-size";

:vars {
    baseFontSize: 12;
}

.header {
    font-size: calcFontSize(value(baseFontSize), header);
}

.form {
    font-size: calcFontSize(value(baseFontSize), body);
}

/* CSS output */
.header {
    font-size: 24px;
}
.form {
    font-size: 12px;
}

Nested formatters

You can also nest formatters to provide functions that are modular, composable and reusable.

In this example the formatter divBy2 is nested in the round formatter. Both are imported into the CSS file and the output value is calculated from both. The formatters expose to the CSS mathematical calculations that are used in the JavaScript functions.

/* ./math.js */
module.export = {
    divBy2: function(num) {
        return Number(Number(num) / 2);
    },
    round: function(num) {
        return Math.round(Number(num));
    }
}

@st-import [divBy2, round] from "./math";

:vars {
    baseSize: 17px;
}

.header {
    font-size: round(divBy2(value(baseSize)))px;
}

/* CSS output */
.header {
    font-size: 9px;
}