famo.us: Modify content in GridLayout - css

Question

is it possible to modify the content of a surface (used within GridLayout) without using CSS? For example to center the text?
Basic example:
function createGrid( section, dimensions, menuData ) {
var grid = new GridLayout({
dimensions: dimensions
});
var surfaces = [];
grid.sequenceFrom(surfaces);
for(var i = 0; i < dimensions[1]; i++) {
surfaces.push(new Surface({
content: menuData[i].title,
size: [undefined, undefined],
properties: {
backgroundColor: "#ff0000",
color: "white",
textAlign: 'center',
}
}));
}
return grid;
}
I added the center property, but I also want to have the content in the middle of my surface. Do I have to use CSS or is there another way?
I tried adding another View/Surface within this Surface and added the align/origin modifier. Didn't work: I still had to adjust the origin/align values for the specific (browser) layout ...

Answer 1

I'm not so sure about you first question, but I can answer the second one.
text-alignhelps you horizontally center your content. So the problem is how to do it vertically.
The cleanest way to do it is to set the line-height the same as the containing div's height. In your case, there are two ways to do it:
1) calculate the height of the grid. For example, if you have a 9*9 GridLayout for the whole screen, then we will have gridHeight = window.innerHeight/9. Then you just need to add lineHeight: gridHeight to your properties object.
check http://jsfiddle.net/mrwiredancer/veLpbmmo/2/ for full exmaple
2) if you are not able to calculate the height of the grid beforehand, you can center a fixed-height(smaller than the grid's height) surface in the middle of the grid. For example, your GridLayout is contained in a dynamic view, but you're sure that your grid is no less than 20px high. Then you can do this:
var container, surface, __height = 20;
for(var i = 0; i < dimensions[1]; i++) {
container = new Container({ //View works as well
properties: {
backgroundColor: '#FF0000'
}
})
surface = new Surface({
content: menuData[i].title,
size: [undefined, __height],
properties: {
lineHeight: __height+'px', //same as surface's height
color: "white",
textAlign: 'center',
}
});
container.add(new Modifier({origin: [.5, .5]})).add(surface);
surfaces.push(container);
}
check http://jsfiddle.net/mrwiredancer/uxq30yp9/1/ for full example