React and Redux architecture issues - javascript

Before reading:
This isnt a matter of non working code but a question on architecture. Also i am not currently using the ReactRedux library as im first trying to understand how the parts work on their own in this test app. Its as short as i could cut it but unfortunately still lengthy, please bear with me
Short Intro
I've got an array of Bottle models. Using pseudocode,a bottle is defined like so:
class Bottle{
//members
filledLiters
filledLitersCapacity
otherMember1
otherMember2
//functions
toPostableObject(){
//removes functions by running JSON.
var cloneObj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(this));
//removes all members we dont want to post
delete cloneObj["otherMember1"];
}
//other functions
}
I've also got a React component that displays all Bottle items.The component needs to store the previous state of all Bottle items as well ( its for animating, disregard this ).
Redux usage
There are complex operations i need to perform on some of the Bottle items using a helper class like so:
var updated_bottles = BottleHandler.performOperationsOnBottles(bottleIds)
mainStore.dispatch({type:"UPDATED_BOTTLES",updated_bottles:updated_bottles})
I dont want to update the store for every operation as i would like the store to be updated all together at the end in one go. Therefore my BottleReducer looks something like this :
var nextState = Object.assign({}, currentState);
nextState.bottles = action.updated_bottles
Where action.updated_bottles is the final state of bottles after having performed the operations.
The issue
Even though everything works, im suspicious that this is the "wrong mindset" for approaching my architecture. One of the reasons is that to avoid keeping the reference to the bottle objects and mutating the state as im performing the operations, i have to do this ugly thing:
var bottlesCloneArray = mainStore.getState().
bottleReducer.bottles.map(
a => {
var l = Object.assign({}, a);
Object.setPrototypeOf( l, Character.prototype );
return l
}
);
This is because i need a cloned array of objects that still retain their original functions ( meaning they're actual instance clones of the class )
If you can point out the flaw/flaws in my logic i'd be grateful.
P.S: The reason i need to keep "deep clones" of the class instances is so that i can keep the previous state of bottles in my React component for the reason of animating between the two states when an update in render happens.

When dealing with redux architecture it can be extremely useful to keep serialisation and immutability at the forefront of every decision, this can be difficult at first especially when you are very used to OOP
As the store's state is just a JS object it can be tempting to use it to keep track of JS instances of more complex model classes, but instead should be treated more like a DB, where you can serialise a representation of your model to and from it in an immutable manner.
Storing the data representations of your bottles in its most primitive form makes things like persistance to localStorage and rehydration of the store possible for more advanced applications that can then allow server side rendering and maybe offline use, but more importantly it makes it much more predictable and obvious what is happening and changing in your application.
Most redux apps i've seen (mine included) go down the functional route of doing away with model classes altogether and simply performing operations in the reducers directly upon the data - potentially using helpers along the way. A downside to this is that it makes for large complex reducers that lack some context.
However there is a middle ground that is perfectly reasonable if you prefer to have such helpers encapsulated into a Bottle class, but you need to think in terms of a case class, which can be created from and serialised back to the data form, and acts immutably if operated upon
Lets look at how this might work for your Bottle (typescript annotated to help show whats happening)
Bottle case class
interface IBottle {
name: string,
filledLitres: number
capacity: number
}
class Bottle implements IBottle {
// deserialisable
static fromJSON(json: IBottle): Bottle {
return new Bottle(json.name, json.filledLitres, json.capacity)
}
constructor(public readonly name: string,
public readonly filledLitres: number,
public readonly capacity: number) {}
// can still encapuslate computed properties so that is not needed to be done done manually in the views
get nameAndSize() {
return `${this.name}: ${this.capacity} Litres`
}
// note that operations are immutable, they return a new instance with the new state
fill(litres: number): Bottle {
return new Bottle(this.name, Math.min(this.filledLitres + litres, this.capacity), this.capacity)
}
drink(litres: number): Bottle {
return new Bottle(this.name, Math.max(this.filledLitres - litres, 0), this.capacity)
}
// serialisable
toJSON(): IBottle {
return {
name: this.name,
filledLitres: this.filledLitres,
capacity: this.capacity
}
}
// instances can be considered equal if properties are the same, as all are immutable
equals(bottle: Bottle): boolean {
return bottle.name === this.name &&
bottle.filledLitres === this.filledLitres &&
bottle.capacity === this.capacity
}
// cloning is easy as it is immutable
copy(): Bottle {
return new Bottle(this.name, this.filledLitres, this.capacity)
}
}
Store state
Notice it contains an array of the data representation rather than the class instance
interface IBottleStore {
bottles: Array<IBottle>
}
Bottles selector
Here we use a selector to extract data from the store and perform transformation into class instances that you can pass to your React component as a prop.
If using a lib like reselect this result will be memoized, so your instance references will remain the same until their underlying data in the store has changed.
This is important for optimising React using PureComponent, which only compares props by reference.
const bottlesSelector = (state: IBottleStore): Array<Bottle> => state.bottles.map(v => Bottle.fromJSON(v))
Bottles reducer
In your reducers you can use the Bottle class as a helper to perform operations, rather than doing everything right here in the reducer directly on the data itself
interface IDrinkAction {
type: 'drink'
name: string
litres: number
}
const bottlesReducer = (state: Array<IBottle>, action: IDrinkAction): Array<IBottle> => {
switch(action.type) {
case 'drink':
// immutably create an array of class instances from current state
return state.map(v => Bottle.fromJSON(v))
// find the correct bottle and drink from it (drink returns a new instance of Bottle so is immutable)
.map((b: Bottle): Bottle => b.name === action.name ? b.drink(action.litres) : b)
// serialise back to date form to put back in the store
.map((b: Bottle): IBottle => b.toJSON())
default:
return state
}
}
While this drink/fill example is fairly simplistic, and could be just as easily done in as many lines directly on the data in the reducer, it illustrate's that using case class's to represent the data in more real world terms can still be done, and can make it easier to understand and keep code more organised than having a giant reducer and manually computing properties in views, and as a bonus the Bottle class is also easily testable.
By acting immutably throughout, if designed correctly your React class's previous state will continue to hold a reference to your previous bottles (in their own previous state), so there is no need to somehow track that yourself for doing animations etc

If Bottle class is a react component (or inside a react component) I think you could play with componentWillUpdate(nextProps, nextState) so you can check the previous state (do not unmount your component of course).
https://reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#componentwillupdate
Deep cloning your class doesn't seem a good idea to me.
Edit:
"I've also got a React component that displays all Bottle items."
That's where you should keep and look for your previous state. Keep all your bottle in a bottles store. And get it in your components when you need to display bottles.
Inside componentWillUpdate you can check you this.state (which is your state just before being updated, ie your previous state) and nextState passed as a parameter which is the current state
Edit2:
why would you keep an complete class in your state ? Just keep data in state. I mean just keep an object that will be updated by your reducer. If you need to have some utils functions (parser...) do not keep them in your state, treat your data in reducers before updating your state or keep your utils/parser functions in some utils file
Also your state should stay immutable. So it means you reducer should return a copy of the updated state anyway.

I've got an array of Bottle models.
I think It makes more sense to have a model of BottleCollection.
Or maybe you have one Bottle model and multiple usages of it?
class Bottle{
//members
filledLiters
filledLitersCapacity
otherMember1
otherMember2
//functions
toPostableObject(){}
}
Hm, it looks like your model represents multiple things:
a cache of persistent data (retrieved via AJAX?)
data object (dumb fields)
a temporary state for user input (data to be POSTed?)
I wouldn't call it a model. It's 3 things: API wrapper/cache, data and pending changes.
I would call it REST API wrapper, data object and application state.
There are complex operations i need to perform on some of the Bottle items using a helper class like so:
var updated_bottles =
BottleHandler.performOperationsOnBottles(bottleIds)
It looks to be the domain logic. I wouldn't place the core logic of the application under the name "helper class". I would call it "the model" or "business rules".
mainStore.dispatch({type:"UPDATED_BOTTLES", updated_bottles:updated_bottles})
That looks to be a change in application state. But I don't see the reason for it. I.e. who requested this change and why?
I dont want to update the store for every operation as i would like the store to be updated all together at the end in one go.
That's a good reasoning.
So you'll have a single action type:
mainStore.dispatch({type:"UPDATED_DATA", { updated_bottles })
However, in this case you might need to clean up old state like this:
mainStore.dispatch({type:"UPDATED_DATA", { updated_bottles: null })
The reason i need to keep "deep clones" of the class instances is so that i can keep the previous state of bottles
I think the reason is that you keep REST API cache and pending changes in a single object. If you keep cache and pending changes in separate objects you don't need clones.
Another thing to note is that your state should be a plain JavaScript object, not an instance of a class. There's no reason to keep references to functions (instance methods) in a state if you know which type of data your state contains. You can just use temporary class instances:
const newBottlesState = new BottleCollection(state.bottlesCache, state.bottlesUserChanges).performOperationsOnBottles()

Related

Sequential dependent functions in Vuex action

I'm currently building a Vue app that consumes data from the Contentful API. For each entry, I have a thumbnail (image) field from which I'd like to extract the prominent colours as hex values and store them in the state to be used elsewhere in the app.
Using a Vuex action (getAllProjects) to query the API, run Vibrant (node-vibrant) and commit the response to the state.
async getAllProjects({ commit }) {
let {
fields: { order: order }
} = await api.getEntry("entry");
let projects = order;
projects.forEach(p =>
Vibrant.from(`https:${p.fields.thumbnail.fields.file.url}`)
.getPalette()
.then(palette => (p.fields.accent = palette.Vibrant.hex))
);
console.log(projects);
// Commit to state
commit("setAllProjects", projects);
}
When I log the contents of projects right before I call commmit, I can see the hex values I'm after are added under the accent key. However, when I inspect the mutation payload in devtools, the accent key is missing, and so doesn't end up in the state.
How do I structure these tasks so that commit only fires after the API call and Vibrant have run in sequence?
You cannot add a property to an object in Vue and have it be reactive; you must use the Vue.set method.
Please try replacing that forEach block with the following, which adds the new property using Vue.set:
for (i=0; i<projects.length; i++)
Vibrant.from(`https:${projects[i].fields.thumbnail.fields.file.url}`)
.getPalette()
.then(palette => (Vue.set(projects[i].fields, accent, palette.Vibrant.hex)))
);
UPDATE: changing the format from forEach to a conventional for loop may be gratuitous in this case, since the assignment being made is to an object property of projects and not to a primitive.
I'm not spending a lot of time on StackOverflow, and if the above answer works, I am happy for you indeed.
But I expect from that answer you will get console warnings telling you not to mutate state directly.
Now when this happens, it's because while Vue.set(), does in fact help Vue understand reactively a change has been made, potentially deeply nested in an object.
The problem here is that since you are looping the object, changing it all the time, the commit (Mutator call) is not the one changing state - Vue.set() is actually changing it for every iteration.

Is it bad to use complex objects in react state?

I am writing an application with React, it has some data stored in a component's state.
I initially chose to wrap the data in a function, this function would encapsulate all the actions that one could do on the data.
To keep this question generic, I will show my examples as a todo. My real-world use-case is more complex.
function Todo(todo = EmptyTodo) {
// helper function to easily create immutable methods below
function merge(update) {
return Todo(Object.assign({}, todo, update))
}
return {
getComplete() {
return todo.complete
},
getText() {
return todo.text
},
toggleComplete() {
return merge({ complete: !todo.complete })
},
setText(text) {
return merge({ text })
}
}
}
This example falls short a bit. A better example might ideally be more than just getters and setters. It would probably contain something closer to business logic.
Moving on, now I used the Todo in a react component like this:
class TodoRow extends React.Component {
state = {
todo: Todo()
}
handleToggleComplete = () => this.setState(state => ({
todo: state.todo.toggleComplete()
}))
handleTextChange = e => {
const text = e.target.value
this.setState(state => ({
todo: state.todo.setText(text)
}))
}
render() {
return <div>
<input
type="checkbox"
onChange={this.handleToggleComplete}
value={this.state.todo.getComplete()}
/>
<input
type="text"
onChange={this.handleTextChange}
value={this.state.todo.getText()}
/>
{this.state.todo.getText()}
</div>
}
}
Please forgive the contrived and simplistic example. The point is that the state is no longer a simple key-value store. It has a complex object that attempts to hide the primitive data and encapsulate the business logic (I know there is no business logic in the above example, just imagine it with me).
I do not need to serialize this state. No time travel or restoring state in localstorage.
Can anyone help me understand why this could be a bad practice?
Pros I can think of-
If a todo wants to be used elsewhere, the data logic can be reused.
todo object can enforce/implement immutability in one place.
The separation between display and data operations.
Can implement polymorphic behavior with the Todo object now (ReadOnlyTodo that can't be toggled or
edited, CompleteOnly todo that can be completed but text can't be
edited) without modifying the React component.
Cons I can think of-
Cannot serialize the state as JSON (easily fixed with a Todo.toJSON() method).
Doesn't follow normal pattern where setState operates on a key/value pair.
Calling todo.setText() might be confusing since it doesn't update state.
Codepens: Key/Value Store Complex object
It may not be a good idea because your implementation of immutability is simply, recreating a new object completely with your changes. Also, you are making a shallow copy, and in real-life applications you will realize that nested objects are a common practice, especially in JSON.
Libraries such as Immutable.js create internal hash tables for their data structures that only recreate changed nodes instead of recreating the whole object while abstracting this logic to allow efficient immutability.
As an example, let's say you have an immutable object with 200 properties. For every update in every property, a new object with these 200 properties needs to be recreated. Note that depending on your application, a simple type on an input could recreate the complete object.
// ❗️ Merge would need to reassign all 200 properties for every change.
// ❗️ Plus, it won't work for nested properties as it is a shallow copy:
function merge(update) {
return Todo(Object.assign({}, todo, update))
}
Instead, Immutable.js would, as an example, create a Hash Map with 20 nodes, each node containing 10 properties. If you update one property, only one node is dumped and recreated while the other are kept.
Also, consider that if any child components depend on this said state, their renders will probably be triggered as there is no memoization. That is why libraries such as reselect for Redux exist.
Note: immer.js is a newcomer immutability library that many devs are vouching for, but I can't say much about how it works internally as I don't know it that well.

what's the best way to deal with undefined props in react.js?

Let's assume I have an action that gets dispatched on page load, like say, in the index.js file.
example
store.dispatch(loadData());
in my reducer I initialize state to to an object. Something like this
function myReducer(state = {}, action)
now I have some smart component that subscribes to my state and then passes it down to another component to display the data. Another important note for this scenario is the fact that the retrieval of the data is happening asynchronously.
Let's also assume that the key of this object is some array.
So the markup component would have something like this
{this.props.object.key.map(k => do something)}
Now since key is undefined, if I call map on it, I blow up. The way I have been dealing with this, is by using a simple if check. If key is defined then run .map otherwise return null. Then by the time my data gets back from the server, the render will be called again due to a change in state that this component subscribed to. At this point the key is defined and map can be called.
Another approach, Is to define what your state will look like in the reducer. In other words, if I know that my state will be an object with an array property on it, I might do something like this.
const initialState = {
key:[]
}
function myReducer(state = initialState, action)
Doing this will benefit in the fact that now I won't need my if check since key is never undefined.
My questions is; are any of these approaches better than the other? Or perhaps, is there another way entirely to deal with this?
Generally, the approach I like to take is to define default props on the component which have the semantic meaning of "empty." For example, in context of the issue you describe I would typically structure my component like this (ES6 classes style):
class MyComponent extends React.Component {
static defaultProps = {
object: {
key: []
}
};
...
method() {
// this.props.object.key is an empty array, but is overriden
// with a value later after completion of the reducer
// (trigerred asynchronously)
this.props.object.key.map(doSomething);
}
}
This is relatively clean, prevents the code from throwing at run time, and forces you to create well-defined behaviors for semantically null, empty, or undefined input states.

How to use class model with Redux (with a Mobx option)

EDIT: I finally choosed Mobx.js, refer to #mweststrate answer for details.
All learning ressources about redux show how to use it with plain object models.
But I can't figure out how to use it when you use some es6 Class models.
For example, let's take this state shape:
{
players:{
000:{
life:56,
lvl:4,
//...
},
023:{
life:5,
lvl:49,
//...
},
033:{
life:679,
lvl:38,
//...
},
067:{
life:560,
lvl:22,
//...
},
//...
}
And this class (not tested)
class Player{
id; //int
life; //int
lvl; //int
buffs; //[objects]
debuffs; //[objects]
inventory; //[objects]
_worldCollection; //this class know about the world they belongs to.
constructor({WorldCollection}){
this._worldCollection = WorldCollection;
}
healPlayer(targetId, hp){
this._worldCollection.getPlayer(targetId).setHealth(hp);
}
// setter
setHealth(hp){
this.life += hp;
}
}
Imagine I have a collection of 100 players in WorldCollection. What is the best way?
Take 1: copying all properties from instance to the state tree
{
players:{
001:{
life: 45,
lvl: 4,
buffs: [objects]
debuffs:[objects]
inventory:[objects]
},
034:{
life: 324,
lvl: 22,
buffs: [objects]
debuffs:[objects]
inventory:[objects]
},
065:{
life: 455,
lvl: 45,
buffs: [objects]
debuffs:[objects]
inventory:[objects]
},
//...
}
This could be done by injecting dispatch in the constructor
//...
constructor({WorldCollection, dispatch})
//...
Dispatch an action in each setter.
// setter
setHealth(hp){
this.life += hp;
dispatch({type:"HEAL_PLAYER", data:{id:this.id})
}
And put all the logic in reducers (setter logic being deterministic and atomic).
...
case "HEAL_PLAYER":
return {
...state,
life: state.life + action.hp
};
...
Pro:
IMHO It seems to me more redux way to have only one place where all the state is.
Cons:
All logic is decentralized from the model in another place. I don't like to multiply files. But maybe it is not a real problem?
Redux says the logic has to be put in actions, not in reducers.
The state takes twice more memory. I saw that immutables.js could optimize this but I am not sure.
Take 2: Storing only ids in the redux state tree
{
players:[
001,
002
//...
]
}
This could be done by also using dispatch in each setter and dispatch an action after each setter
// setter
setHealth(hp){
this.life += hp;
dispatch({type:"PLAYER_UPDATED", data:{id:this.id})
}
When the new tree state is changed. I call mapStateToProps and WorldCollection.getPlayer() to retrieve the right instance and map its properties to the view.
Pros:
Redux way is respected by not putting logic in reducers
Not "duplicated state" (if Immutables.js can't optimise this)
Logic is in the model (makes more sense for me)
Cons:
Redux state does not represent the whole state
I hope I have not simplified the case too much. My point is to clarify if/how redux could be use with some class models.
Take 3: Use Mobx.js instead/with Redux
--- very pre-experimental here ---
I discovered Mobx.js a week ago and its simplicity/perf had me.
I think we could observe each class members (which together form the app state)
#observable life; //int
#observable lvl; //int
#observable buffs; //[objects]
#observable debuffs; //[objects]
#observable inventory; //[objects]
and somewhere else have a class which builds the state tree, maybe Redux could make sense here? (Note I have no clue how to do this part. Have to dig more deeply in Mobx)
This is pros/cons in a pure redux/mobx comparaison for my case.
Pros:
Less verbose
No Model to inherited from (like in redux-orm)
Performance has been evaluated (So I barely know where I would be going to)
Don't write "opiniated" reducers in the class model (just mutators)
Cons:
No idea how to implement a redo/undo (or a jitter buffer in game dev)
It does not seem to be a "tree" like in redux to have the whole state in a blink (for me it is the killer feature of redux)
I would like to add that if you were to go with Redux you would not store state in classes at all. In Redux, this logic would be described in reducers which would operate on plain objects rather than class instances. You would keep the data normalized so each entity is kept in an object map by its ID, and any reference to child entities would be an array of IDs rather than a real reference. You would then write selectors to reconstruct the parts of the data you care about for rendering.
You might find this discussion helpful, as well as these two examples:
shopping-cart
tree-view
(MobX author). For a short answer on the questions about MobX:
Redo / undo can be implemented in two ways:
Use the action / dispatcher model from flux: dispatch serializable actions, and interpret them to update the state model. This way you can build an append only action log and base undo / redo on that.
Automatically serialize your state model into a state history (which uses structural sharing). The reactive-2015 demo demonstrates this nicely: https://github.com/mobxjs/mobx-reactive2015-demo/blob/master/src/stores/time.js. During this serialization you could also generate delta patches instead of a complete state tree if that is easier to process.
Single state tree:
In MobX there should also be a single source of truth. The main difference with Redux is that it doesn't prescribe you were to store it. Nor does it enforce you to have a tree. A graph would do fine as well. Getting a snapshot of that graph can simple be done by leveraging mobx.toJson or by using solution previous point 2. of redo / undo.
To make sure everything is in one connected graph (which you like), just create a root state objects that points to the player and world collection (for example). But unlike Redux, you don't have to normalize from there on. World can just have direct references to players and vice versa. A single state root object is created in the reactive-2015 demo as well: https://github.com/mobxjs/mobx-reactive2015-demo/blob/master/src/stores/domain-state.js
You might want to look at redux-orm, which pretty much does this already. It provides a nice Model-like facade over the actual plain object data in your Redux state, and handles relational data very nicely.

Setting a field directly on the class definition in ReactJS

Is it a good practice to do this in ReactJS?
var Component = React.createClass({
render: function () {
return (<div></div>);
},
field: 'value', // is this safe?
method: function () {
// do something with field
}
})
Before starting to suggest that I should use this.props or this.state, for me it's not the case, because those are fields that do not affect rendering in any way directly, they just work together to control the rendering.
I would like to use the React class as I do with regular javascript 'classes'.
My main concern here is how those fields and methods are handled inside React, and if the fields are set on the instance itself or directly on the prototype, which would not be suitable at all for what I need.
I ran a quick test and it seems that the fields are set on the instance, and the methods on the prototype, which is ideal. But is this the expected and documented behavior? And is this safe for future versions?
I think it can work the way you are doing and that it's safe. However if I understand well you are proceeding data calculation/transformation directly in the view.
So I would advise that you remove this logic from the view and treat it in the model part of a mvc or mv*, in your backbone models, or in your flux store for example.
This way you won't be mixing data transformation logic and pure rendering.
I would say so, I have been using things like this for a while and have not seen any issues. For example, let's say you want a handler of some sort that you want to pass to nested components, you would create the function in this component and pass it as a prop to a child. I believe they have examples that use similar concept in the ReactJS Facebook site.
Under the hood React is just looping through the properties of the object you pass to createClass and copying them to the prototype of the Component. Primitive values like strings or numbers obviously cannot be copied by reference, so don't get shared across all instances, whereas objects, functions, arrays and so on will.
If you want to work with values that are just local to the component instance you need to use the state API. I'm not sure what you mean by "[state and props] do not affect rendering in any way directly, they just work together to control the rendering". The whole point of props and state is that they work together to generate values to be used when (re)rendering.
https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/component-api.html
A React component should only render in response to either changing props or changing state. You cannot/shouldn't trigger a re-render by mutating other fields directly.
You need to think of your component as something closer to a pure function. State and props go in at the top, and static VDOM/HTML comes out.
I would re-write your example as,
var Component = React.createClass({
getInitialState: function () {
return {field: 'value'};
},
render: function () {
var field = this.state.field;
return (<div>{field}</div>);
},
method: function () {
var field = this.state.field;
// do something with field
this.setState({field: 'anotherValue'});
}
})

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