We have a node-express app with multiple endpoints. We have created 5 different services that does different jobs such as making HTTP calls, process/modify data, cache data, search specific data, etc.
We realized that the services we created are not singleton. The services were being instantiated left right and center. A total of 26 objects were being created.
We changed that and made all our services singleton, and now only 5 objects get created across the entire application. We want to structure the app properly now.
We want each express route to call DataService (which checks if that data is available in the CacheService, if not then make an HTTP call and store the data in cache and return the data to the express route).
But, the current code makes use of CacheService and DataService together to check if the data is available in the cache or fetches fresh data using DataService. Which approach is recommended? Use one service (Dataservice) that internally uses multiple services (CacheService, DataModificationService), or use all the services together in the express route (DataService, CacheService, DataModificationService)
Before making the classes singleton, we were using static classes. Do we even need to make services singleton or continue to use static classes? Which one is more recommended and why?
Here's the code that we've written to create a Singleton Service . Is this the correct way?
class DataService {
private dataModificationService: DataModificationService;
private tokenService: TokenService;
private constructor(tokenService: TokenService, dataModificationService: DataModificationService) {
this.tokenService = tokenService;
this.dataModificationService = dataModificationService;
}
public static getInstance(): DataService {
const dataModificationService: DataModificationService = DataModificationService.getInstance();
const tokenService: TokenService = TokenService.getInstance();
if (!DataService.instance) {
DataService.instance = new DataService(tokenService, dataModificationService);
}
return DataService.instance;
}
}
It's good that you've reduced the number of singletons. Now try and get rid of the rest!
Changing from a static class to a singleton object often makes no difference - they're both just ways of making stuff global.
What you need to be doing is looking at how many places use each singleton, and if the usages are localised, then try to replace the singleton with dependency injection. Nothing fancy, just pass the (non static) instance of the DataService or whatever in as a parameter where needed. If that would create too much code, then what you've done is perfectly fine.
Related
I have declared some functions for a MongoDB collection Model A, now I want to create another collection Model B and most of the functions in Model A can be reused for Model B. Currently, I fall into a situation where I have to repeat myself recreating these functions just for a different model. What's the best practice to reuse these functions on a different model (How to improve my code)? I am using NestJS framework. Example code that I have:
export class Service {
constructor (
#inject('ModelA')
private modelA: Model<IModelA>,
#inject('ModelB')
private modelB: Model<IModelB>,
){}
public async findModelA() {
return await this.modelA.find().exec();
}
// How to avoid repeating creating the same functions here?
public async findModelB() {
return await this.modelB.find().exect();
}
}
The repeated functions which are similar to the above example are all over the place. So I really want to get rid of this pain. Thank you in advance for the help!
I am gradually improving a codebase that originally had some AngularJs in various versions and some code that was not in a framework at all using various versions of a software API. (For some reason this API is available - to pages loaded through the application - on AngularJS's $window.external...go figure.)
In my pre-ES6, AngularJs 1.8 phase, I have three services that interact with the software's API (call them someAPIget, someAPIset, and someAPIforms). Something like this:
// someAPIget.service.js
;(function () {
var APIget = function ($window, helperfunctions) {
function someFunc (param) {
// Do something with $window.external.someExternalFunc
return doSomethingWith(param)
}
return {
someFunc: someFunc
}
}
angular.module('someAPIModule').factory('someAPIget', ['$window', 'helperfunctions', someAPIget])
})()
I then had a service and module a level up from this, with someAPIModule as a dependency, that aggregated these functions and passed them through under one name, like this:
// apiinterface.service.js
;(function () {
// Change these lines to switch which API service all functions will use.
var APIget = 'someAPIget'
var APIset = 'someAPIset'
var APIforms = 'someAPIforms'
var APIInterface = function (APIget, APIset, APIforms) {
return {
someFunc: APIget.someFunc,
someSettingFunc: APIset.someSettingFunc,
someFormLoadingFunc: APIforms.someFormLoadingFunc
}
}
angular.module('APIInterface').factory('APIInterface', [APIget, APIset, APIforms, APIInterface])
})()
I would then call these functions in various other controllers and services by using APIInterface.someFunc(etc). It worked fine, and if we switch to a different software provider, we can use our same pages without rewriting everything, just the interface logic.
However, I'm trying to upgrade to Typescript and ES6 so I can use import and export and build some logic accessible via command line, plus prepare for upgrading to Angular 11 or whatever the latest version is when I'm ready to do it. So I rebuilt someAPIget to a class:
// someAPIget.service.ts
export class someAPIget {
private readonly $window
private readonly helperfunctions
static $inject = ['$window', 'helperfunctions']
constructor ($window, helperfunctions) {
this.$window = $window
this.helperfunctions = helperfunctions
}
someFunc (param) {
// Do something with this.$window.external.someExternalFunc
return doSomethingWith(param)
}
}
}
angular
.module('someAPImodule')
.service('someAPIget', ['$window', 'helperfunctions', someAPIget])
Initially it seemed like it worked (my tests still pass, or at least after a bit of cleanup in the Typescript compilation department they do), but then when I load it into the live app... this.$window is not defined. If, however, I use a direct dependency and call someAPIget.someFunc(param) instead of through APIInterface.someFunc(param) it works fine (but I really don't want to rewrite thousands of lines of code using APIInterface for the calls, plus it will moot the whole point of wrapping it in an interface to begin with). I've tried making APIInterface into a class and assigning getters for every function that return the imported function, but $window still isn't defined. Using console.log statements I can see that this.$window is defined inside someFunc itself, and it's defined inside the getter in APIInterface, but from what I can tell when I try to call it using APIInterface it's calling it without first running the constructor on someAPIget, even if I make sure to use $onInit() for the relevant calls.
I feel like I am missing something simple here. Is there some way to properly aggregate and rename these functions to use throughout my program? How do alias them correctly to a post-constructed version?
Edit to add: I have tried with someAPIget as both a factory and a service, and APIInterface as both a factory and a service, and by calling APIInterface in the .run() of the overall app.module.ts file, none of which works. (The last one just changes the location of the undefined error.)
Edit again: I have also tried using static for such a case, which is somewhat obviously wrong, but then at least I get the helpful error highlight in VSCode of Property 'someProp' is used before its initialization.ts(2729).
How exactly are you supposed to use a property that is assigned in the constructor? How can I force AngularJS to execute the constructor before attempting to access the class's members?
I am not at all convinced that I found an optimal or "correct" solution, but I did find one that works, which I'll share here in case it helps anyone else.
I ended up calling each imported function in a class method of the same name on the APIInterface class, something like this:
// apiinterface.service.ts
// Change these lines to switch which API service all functions will use.
const APIget = 'someAPIget'
const APIset = 'someAPIset'
const APIforms = 'someAPIforms'
export class APIInterface {
private readonly APIget
private readonly APIset
private readonly APIforms
constructor (APIget, APIset, APIforms) {
this.APIget = APIget
this.APIset = APIset
this.APIforms = APIforms
}
someFunc(param: string): string {
return this.APIget.someFunc(param)
}
someSettingFunc(param: string): string {
return this.APIset.someSettingFunc(param)
}
someFormLoadingFunc(param: string): string {
return this.APIforms.someFormLoadingFunc(param)
}
}
angular
.module('APIInterface')
.factory('APIInterface', [APIget, APIset, APIforms, APIInterface])
It feels hacky to me, but it does work.
Later Update:
I am now using Angular12, not AngularJS, so some details may be a bit different. Lately I have been looking at using the public-api.ts file that Angular12 generates to accomplish the same thing (ie, export { someAPIget as APIget } from './filename' but have not yet experimented with this, since it would still require either consolidating my functions somehow or rewriting the code that consumes them to use one of three possible solutions. It would be nice not to have to duplicate function signatures and doc strings however. It's still a question I'm trying to answer more effectively, I will update again if I find something that really works.
I have a service and I have 2 solutions from this kind of problem and I want to know what is best and when to use the Subject solution above the Service solution.
I have a UserModel that all my components see with my service, the approach that I want is when I change the UserModel from service, changes it for all my application
1 FIRST SERVICE
export class UserService {
private userModel: UserModel = new UserModel();
public userSubject$ = new Subject<any>();
private timeOut = 20000;
private mainConfig: MainConfig;
constructor(private http: HttpClient) {
this.mainConfig = new MainConfig();
}
getUserModel() {
return this.userModel;
}
setUserModel(user) {
this.userModel = user
}
}
And is just to make this call in my HTML from all my components and will work
this.userService.getUserModel().name
The second approach
2 SECOND SERVICE
#Injectable()
export class UserService {
private userModel: UserModel = new UserModel();
public userSubject$ = new Subject<any>();
private timeOut = 20000;
private mainConfig: MainConfig;
constructor(private http: HttpClient) {
this.mainConfig = new MainConfig();
}
getUserModel() {
return this.userModel;
}
setUserModel(user) {
this.userSubject$.next(this.userModel = user);
}
}
And in my HTML file, I just use
{{ userModel.name }}
And I must make this new line on my example-component.ts
ngOnInit
this.subTemp = this.userService.userSubject$.subscribe(
user => this.userModel = user
);
ngOnDestroy
this.subTemp.unsubscribed();
What is the advantage to make the Subject from direct from Service? Because I need to make much more work
If I could paraphrase your question(s), I'm guessing it'd go something like:
Why should I use Angular Services instead of just making async/http calls directly from the component?/Why should I write Service logic in a separate file as a dependency?
and
Why should I use lifecycle methods like ngOnInit and ngOnDestroy in conjunction with Services or async/http calls?
When it comes to questions like these, the Angular framework is more opinionated than other SPA technologies like React, Vue, etc. So while you're not technically forced to follow either of the approaches you listed, you should know of the downsides and problems that emerge if you follow the first approach rather than the traditional injectable Service approach(number 2).
Generally speaking, the Angular team recommends following a unidirectional data flow pattern in your app implemented with Services. This means that data flow should generally come from Services which distribute the data to components and then to view templates.
Within this pattern, there's also an implication of separation of concerns which is a good practice to follow within any app. Services should handle fetching and handling data, components should handle view logic, and templates should be as clean and declarative as possible. Components and their templates should consume data that's been processed already. Relatedly, you should try to keep your components as pure as possible - meaning they produce as few side effects as possible. This is because components are dynamically mounted and unmounted in the course of a user session. Have a look at this article for more information on pure components.
Aside from the above architectural discussion of Services there are some other, more concrete consequences to be aware of:
Failure to unsubscribe from observables can lead to memory leaks in your application. With the first scenario you've outlined above, a component may be loaded 10-20 times in a user session and each time you're setting up a new subscription without tearing it down again. This can have a very real performance impact on your app.
The Angular compiler is optimized to add and remove dependencies dynamically, resulting in better app performance. If you keep all your Service code right in your component, they'll be larger and slower. From a UX perspective, components should be as light and nimble as possible so they can load quickly for the user.
If you register a service as a provider, the Angular compiler will treat it as a singleton meaning there can be only one instance of it. This is as opposed to the many instances of a Service class generated with each component if you were to use the first approach you listed. This is another performance benefit of using injectable Services.
The Angular compiler is optimized to work with the DI framework so your next step may be to learn more about it and the implications of going with one approach or the other. There's a long talk about creating your own Angular Compiler that's a couple years old now that might be helpful.
What you wish to know is the difference between pull based method vs push based method of retrieving data.
Method 1: pull based
As the name suggests the pull based method is traditional method where you for eg. call a function and it returns the value once. If you need the value again, the function should be called again. And you exactly when the data will arrive.
export class UserService {
private userModel: UserModel = new UserModel();
getUserModel() {
return this.userModel;
}
setUserModel(user) {
this.userModel = user
}
}
some.component.ts
export class SomeComponent implements OnInit {
userModel: UserModel;
constructor(private _userService: UserService) { }
ngOnInit() {
// It's a one time call and you control when you get (or `pull`) the data
this.userModel = this._userService.getUserModel();
}
}
Method 2: push based
Here the observable decides when you receive the data. This is the basic of reactive/asynchronous data flow. You subscribe to the data source and wait till it pushes the data. You have no knowledge when the result might arrive.
#Injectable()
export class UserService {
public userSubject$ = new Subject<any>();
getUserModel() {
return this.userSubject$.asObservable();
}
setUserModel(user) {
this.userSubject$.next(this.userModel = user);
}
}
some.component.ts
export class SomeComponent implements OnInit, OnDestroy {
userModel: UserModel;
closed$ = new Subject<any>();
constructor(private _userService: UserService) { }
ngOnInit() {
// The stream is open until closed and the service/observable decide when it sends (or `pushes`) the data
this._userService.getUserModel().pipe(
takeUntil(this.closed$) // <-- close the `getUserModel()` subscription when `this.closed$` is complete
).subscribe(
userModel => { this.userModel = userModel }
);
}
ngOnDestroy() {
this.closed$.next();
this.closed$.complete();
}
}
Angular uses observables extensively due to the nature of data flow in a typical web-application and the flexibility it provides.
For eg. the HTTP client returns an observable that you can latch on to and wait till the server returns any information. And the RxJS provides numerous operators and functions to refine and adjust the data flow.
I was reading an article of Max NgWizard K, about how Angular updates the DOM. I came across the following:
For each component that is used in the application Angular compiler generates a factory. When Angular creates a component from a factory Angular uses this factory to instantiate View Definition which in turn is used to create component View. Under the hood Angular represents an application as a tree of views.
In another article from Max NgWizard K I found the definition of a factory:
Factories describe the structure of a component view and are used when instantiating the component.
I'm not really sure what is meant with this.
Questions:
What exactly are factories in Angular(2+)?
Are there scenarios that a developer benefits form knowing how they work?
What exactly are factories in Angular(2+)?
Factory is one of the design patterns mentioned by Gang of Four (Basically they wrote a book on the design patterns they discovered).
Design Patterns help programmers solve common development tasks in a specific way.
And in this case, the Factory pattern helps in instantiation and creation of Objects.
It is also known as the Virtual Constructor.
Think of it, like this:
Say you are making a 2D shooter game, and you have to shoot bullets out of barrels.
Instead of instantiating bullets like new Bullet(), every time trigger is pulled, you can use a factory to create bullets, i.e. WeaponsFactory.createInstance(BulletTypes.AK47_BULLET).
It becomes highly scalable, since all you have to do is change the enum and the factory will make it for you.
You won't have to manually instantiate it.
That is what angular does, it automatically creates factory of all the components. Which makes its job easier.
Are there scenarios that a developer benefits form knowing how they work?
You don't have to know the inner workings of a Factory to use Angular, but it's useful for creating components dynamically!
e.g. A lot of *ngIf, or *ngSwitchCase can be replaced by a simple dynamic generation of components
Components can be created dynamically like this:
createComponent(type) {
this.container.clear();
const factory: ComponentFactory = this.resolver.resolveComponentFactory(AlertComponent);
this.componentRef: ComponentRef = this.container.createComponent(factory);
}
Reference for understanding the above code: Dynamically Creating Components
'A factory' in this case is an instance of ComponentFactory, a class that has create method that implements Factory method pattern.
When componentFactory.create is called (either directly or via ComponentFactoryResolver - which is essential for dynamic components, as linked article explains), new component instance is created.
In general factory is a creational design pattern. It is an object for creating other objects – formally a factory is a function or method that returns objects of a varying prototype or class from some method call.
From the Angular docs
#Component({
selector: 'app-typical',
template: '<div>A typical component for {{data.name}}</div>'
)}
export class TypicalComponent {
#Input() data: TypicalData;
constructor(private someService: SomeService) { ... }
}
The Angular compiler extracts the metadata once and generates a
factory for TypicalComponent. When it needs to create a
TypicalComponent instance, Angular calls the factory, which produces a
new visual element, bound to a new instance of the component class
with its injected dependency.
This is something which happens behind the scenes. But you create dynamic components using ComponentFactoryResolver as well (Dynamic component loader)
//Only dynamic component creation logic is shown below
loadComponent() {
this.currentAdIndex = (this.currentAdIndex + 1) % this.ads.length;
const adItem = this.ads[this.currentAdIndex];
const componentFactory = this.componentFactoryResolver.resolveComponentFactory(adItem.component);
const viewContainerRef = this.adHost.viewContainerRef;
viewContainerRef.clear();
const componentRef = viewContainerRef.createComponent<AdComponent>(componentFactory);
componentRef.instance.data = adItem.data;
}
Also read this article about how the component factories work in Ivy.
So I'm writing a whole bunch of vendor-specific files in node which all have a similar controller pattern, so it makes sense for me to cut them out and put into a common file.
You can see my common controller file here: https://gist.github.com/081a04073656bf28f46b
Now when I use them in my multiple modules, each consecutively loaded module is overwriting the first. This is because the file is only required once and passed dynamically through to each module on load (this allows me to add extra modules and these modules are able to add their own routes, for example). You can see an example module here: https://gist.github.com/2382bf93298e0fc58599
You can see here on line 53 I've realised that we need to create a seperate instance every time, so I've tried to create a new instance by copying the standardControllers object into a new object, then initialising the new object. This has zero impact on the code, and the code behaves in exactly the same way.
Any ideas guys? I'm in a bit of a jam with this one!
First thing I'd do is try to make things simpler and reduce coupling by invoking the single responsibility principle, et al.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/03/curlys-law-do-one-thing.html
Put those Schemas into their own files, eg
models/client.js
models/assistant.js
models/contact.js
I've also found that embedded docs + mongoose is generally a PITA. I'd probably promote all those to top level docs.
You don't need to enclose your object's keys in quotes.
routes = {
list: function() {} // no quotes is aok
}
Also 'list' in typical REST apps is called 'index'. Anyway.
Ok, I'd break this up differently. Since you're requiring stuff from the index.js file in the middleware, they become tightly coupled, which is bad. in fact, I think I'd rewrite this whole thing so it was tidier. Sorry.
I'd probably replace your 'middleware' file with an express-resource controller
https://github.com/visionmedia/express-resource (built by author of express). This is a good framework for restful controllers, such as what you're building. The auto-loader is really sweet.
You may also want to look at: http://mcavage.github.com/node-restify/ It's new, I haven't tried it out, but I've heard good things.
Since what you're building is basically an automated mongoose-crud system, with optional overriding, I'd create an express-resource controller as your base
/controllers/base_controller.js
and it might look like
var BaseController = function() {} // BaseController constructor
BaseController.prototype.index = function() {
// copy from your middleware
}
BaseController.prototype.show = function() {
// copy from your middleware
}
BaseController.prototype.create = function() {
// copy from your middleware
}
// etc
module.exports = BaseController
Then I'd do something like:
/controllers/some_resource_controller.js
which might look something like:
var BaseController = require('./base_controller')
var NewResourceController = function() {
// Apply BaseController constructor (i.e. call super())
BaseController.apply(this, arguments)
}
NewResourceController.prototype = new Base()
NewResourceController.prototype.create = function() {
// custom create method goes here
}
module.exports = NewResourceController
Then to use it, you can do:
var user = app.resource(myResourceName, new ResourceController());
…inside some loop which sets myResourceName to be whatever crud you're trying to set up.
Here's some links for you to read:
http://tobyho.com/2011/11/11/js-object-inheritance/
http://yehudakatz.com/2011/08/12/understanding-prototypes-in-javascript/
Also, it sounds like you're not writing tests. Write tests.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/07/i-pity-the-fool-who-doesnt-write-unit-tests.html