bixe

Bixe

Bixe is a super lightweight redux implementation, inspired by NGXS that can run anywhere! Asynchronous state management is a first class concept.

• Very simple composition
• Very little boilerplate
• Very easy to use and grasp  

Concepts

• Bixe is basically just an async event bus. Actions are dispatched, which trigger any number of handlers. Handlers are attached via your store definition according to the Action Type they are attached to (No more large switch statements in reducers!!). Handlers given 2 parameters when executed:
  1. Context to interact with the store's current state, which you can use to set/patch state or dispatch further actions.
     • Available methods:
       • getState()
         • returns the store's slice of state at the time it's called.
       • getRootState()
         • returns the root store's state at the time it's called.
       • setState(obj: any)
         • overwrites the store's slice of state
         • sends new values through any state$ and rootState$ subscriptions
       • patchState(obj: Partial<any>)
         • overwrites only the properties on obj on the store's slice of state
         • sends new values through any state$ and rootState$ subscriptions
       • dispatch(action: any)
         • dispatches actions (will trigger any/all handlers listening for the action).
  2. The action that triggered the handler.
     • should define a globally unique type or Type property.
     • may also have add'l properties attached.

Some Demo/Example Apps

• React Todo Example

• Angular Todo Example

Getting Started

1. Run npm install --save @animus-bi/Bixe to install the Bixe library.

2. Define an Action

   • An action can be any object.
     • It should define a unique property type or Type
       • whether it's an instance property or a static/constructor property does not matter.
       • in the absence of a type property, the constructor name is used
   • Here is an example action as a class:

     // store/todo/actions.ts
     
     export const Intent = 'todo';
     
     export class CreateTodo {
         static Type = `[${Intent}] Create A TODO`;
         constructor(public task: string) { }
     }
     

   • Here is an example action as a function:

     // store/todo/actions.ts
     
     export const Intent = 'todo';
     
     export const CreateTodo = (task) => ({
         type: `[${Intent}] Create A TODO`,
         task
     })
     

   • You may have noticed the file name is just actions.ts
     • All actions for this intent will be exported from here.
       • This allows them to be imported more easily as a contained set of actions
   • You may have also noticed we're exporting an Intent for our actions.
     • This allows each handlers to execute in a more idempotent manner.

3. Define a default state for your store

   // store/todo/state.ts
   
   export class TodoState {
       list: any[] = [];
       hash: any = {};
   }
   

4. Define a Store with a StoreConfig

   // store/todo/store.ts
   
   export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>(
       /* StoreConfig */
   )
   

   • StoreConfig is what drives the Store implementation.
     • It establishes the state slice name in root state.
     • It provides an initial state
     • It allows you to attach handlers to specific actions that are dispatched.
   • An example of a StoreConfig using an object literal

     // store/todo/store.ts
     
     import * as TodosActions from './todos.actions'
     
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>({
         name: TodosActions.Intent,
         initialState: new TodoState(),
         handlers: { }
     });
     

   • An example of a StoreConfig using the static StoreConfig.create method

     // store/todo/store.ts
     
     import { Store, StoreConfig } from '@animus-bi/Bixe';
     import * as TodosActions from './actions';
     import { TodoState } from './state';
     const storeConfig = StoreConfig.create(
         TodosActions.Intent,
         new TodoState(),
         { }
     );
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>(storeConfig);
     

   You may have noticed, the Intent for a set of actions has become the name of our store, tying together our set of actions with our slice of application state.

   • A Store instance has the following methods/properties:
     • state$: Observable<any>
       • returns an observable of the current store's slice of state.
       • new values are piped through any time setState() or patchState() are called
     • rootState$: Observable<any>
       • returns an observable of the root store's state.
       • new values are piped through any time setState() or patchState() are called
     • currentState(): any
       • returns an instance of the store's state slice at a given point in time (when called)
     • currentRootState(): any
       • returns an instance of the root store's state at a given point in time (when called).
     • dispatch(action: any|{type: string}): Observable<void>
       • returns an observable of type void
       • triggers any action handlers registered in any other stores, matching the dispatched actions's Type or type.

5. Now we can wire up some handlers in our store so that we can do things when Actions are dispatched.

   • Handlers are not called directly by your code; instead, they are invoked when an Action of a matching Type is dispatched.

   • Each handler is passed 2 arguments:

     1. A StateContext<T>, which provides some operations to interact with state at the time the handler is executed.
     2. The dispatched Action that triggered it.

     // store/todo/store.ts
     
     import { Store, StateContext, StoreConfig } from '@animus-bi/Bixe';
     import * as TodosActions from './actions';
     import { TodoState } from './state';
     
     const createTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo)  => {
         const { list, hash } = ctx.getState();
         list.push(action.payload);
         hash[action.payload.task] = action.payload;
         return ctx.patchState({ list, hash });
     }
     
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>({
         /* ... */
     });
     

   • In order that the createTodo function is called when the Action is dispatched, we must add it to our store's StateConfig so that our Action type is the key name for the handler.  

   • Note: you are not calling the handler in the config, but rather, you're passing a reference to the handler. To avoid any lexical problems, use .bind(this)

     // store/todo.ts
     
     import { Store, StateContext, StoreConfig } from '@animus-bi/Bixe';
     import * as TodosActions from './actions';
     import { TodoState } from './state';
     
     const createTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo) => {
         const { list, hash } = ctx.getState();
         list.push(action.payload);
         hash[action.payload.task] = action.payload;
         return ctx.patchState({ list, hash });
     }
     
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>({
         name: TodosActions.Intent,
         initialState: new TodoState(),
         handlers: {
             [TodosActions.CreateTodo.Type]: createTodo.bind(this)
         }
     });
     
     

   • You may also attach multiple handlers to a single dispatched action:

     // store/todo.ts
     
     import { Store, StateContext, StoreConfig } from '@animus-bi/Bixe';
     import * as TodosActions from './actions';
     import { TodoState } from './state';
     
     const preCreateTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo) => {
         console.log('intend to create a todo');
     }
     
     const createTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo) => {
         const { list, hash } = ctx.getState();
         list.push(action.payload);
         hash[action.payload.task] = action.payload;
         return ctx.patchState({ list, hash });
     }
     
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>({
         name: TodosActions.Intent,
         initialState: new TodoState(),
         handlers: {
             //
             // Good/Ok
             //
             [TodosActions.CreateTodo.Type]: [
                 preCreateTodo.bind(this) 
                 createTodo.bind(this)
             ]
         }
     });
     
     

   • You should NOT list the same key twice in a store's action handler config (this is standard js stuff).

     • You could do this, but the last one will probably win, and the other may not fire at all. Just use the one key with an array of handlers

     // store/todo.ts
     
     import { Store, StateContext, StoreConfig } from '@animus-bi/Bixe';
     import * as TodosActions from './actions';
     import { TodoState } from './state';
     
     const preCreateTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo) => {
         console.log('intend to create a todo');
     }
     
     const createTodo = (ctx: StateContext<TodoState>, action: TodosActions.CreateTodo) => {
         const { list, hash } = ctx.getState();
         list.push(action.payload);
         hash[action.payload.task] = action.payload;
         return ctx.patchState({ list, hash });
     }
     
     export TodoStore = Store.Create<TodoState>({
         name: TodosActions.Intent,
         initialState: new TodoState(),
         handlers: {
             //
             // !!!!!!BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
             //
             [TodosActions.CreateTodo.Type]: preCreateTodo.bind(this),
             [TodosActions.CreateTodo.Type]: createTodo.bind(this)
         }
     });
     
     

6. To access state in anything, simply subscribe to your store's state$ property wherever you want to receive state updates.

   
   import { TodoStore } from '../store/todo';
   
   export class SomeComponent {
   
       constructor() {
           this.subscription = TodoStore.state$.subscribe((todoState) => {
               this.todoState = todoState;
           })
       }
   }
   

   • It is often useful to set a default state value in your component.
     • To do that, call your store's currentState() method, which will return the current state of your slice (NOT NECESSARILY INITIAL STATE).
       • This ensures resilience through re-render, initial loading, and late/lazy loading alike.
     • JavaScript

     import { TodoStore } from '../store/todo';
     
     export class SomeComponent {
     
         constructor() {
             this.todoState = TodoStore.currentState();
             this.subscription = TodoStore.state$.subscribe((todoState) => {
                 this.todoState = todoState;
             })
         }
     }
     

     • TypeScript

     import { TodoStore } from '../store/todo';
     
     export class SomeComponent {
         todoState = TodoStore.currentState();
         constructor() {
             this.subscription = TodoStore.state$.subscribe((todoState) => {
                 this.todoState = todoState;
             });
         }
     }
     

7. Dispatch Actions from anywhere

   • React example

   import { TodoStore } from '../store/todo';
   import * as TodosActions from './store/todo/actions';
   
   export class SomeComponent {
       addTodo(_e) {
           const text = document.getElementById('todo-input').value
           store.dispatch(new TodosActions.CreateTodo(text));
       }
       render() {
           return <div>
               <input type="text" id="todo-input" value="" />
               <button onClick={this.addTodo}>add todo</button>
           </div>
       }
   }
   

   • Angular example

   import { Component } from '@angular/core';
   import { TodoStore } from '../store/todo';
   import * as TodosActions from './store/todo/actions';
   
   @Component({
       selector: "some-component",
       template: `
       <div>
           <input type="text" id="todo-input" value="" />
           <button (click)="addTodo()">add todo</button>
       </div>
   `})
   export class SomeComponent {
       addTodo() {
           const text = document.getElementById('todo-input').value
           store.dispatch(new TodosActions.CreateTodo(text));
       }
   }
   

8. Combine dispatching and subscribing as needed for an overall async pub/sub model. See examples above for more info.