[Kino] Is it possible to update input elements programatically?

[clayscode]

Perhaps not a good idea per se, but is it possible to update input elements programmatically?

For instance, in the above screenshot, when I make change to the textarea on an instance of the variable j, all other references to j are updated. Can I, in another cell, send messages to j to update it?

[jonatanklosko]

Hey @clayscode, do you have a specific use case?

There are several reasons why I would rather not cross that bridge:

• this could introduce a weird cyclic dependency in change tracking. Specifically, if a later cell changes the input, this would in turn make some subsequent cells stale. If this happens async, then it's even more weird and messes with reproducability

• depending on whether the input is inside form or standalone it is per-user or shared. So we would need a way to handle both cases, but that input struct itself doesn't even know which one it is

• for some inputs the values are specific enough that they would be hard to reproduce for the user, without introducing more APIs. I'm thinking specifically about file/audio inputs which have references to a file

[clayscode]

My intent originally was to dynamically update a select field, but ended up just creating a Phoenix app for my use case

[josevalim]

@clayscode you should be able to do this for select if the select comes first. You can use regular selects with Kino.interrupt and generate the next one programatically based on the result of the previous. They would be outside of a form though!