Introduction: make-it-hookable

Create hookable methods in classes in TypeScript using this static HookableComponent class. There are four types of generic hookables:

• Argumentable
• ArgumentableAll
• Returnable
• ReturnableAll

One should notice that the hookables is separated into: Argumentable vs Returnable and All appended to their name or nothing appended to their name.

The types of hookables

The aforementioned appendence are further described here. For the All type it is possible to add three types of hooks: pre, actor and post. When nothing is added, only the actor are.

Type	Definition
pre	Manipulate the input parameters to the actors
actor	Actors carrying out the intended functionality of a hookable method
post	Manipulate the output of the actors

Notice that multiple pre and post hooks can be added for Returnable. Multiple pre, actor and post hooks can be added for Argumentable.

Usage

To use this in your project and save it in the package.json file do: npm install make-it-hookable --save

Please be aware that we use semantic versioning. This means that you should be able to safely subscribe to updates on this module for versions 1.x.x or 2.x.x etc. Major versions for example from 1.x.x to 2.x.x is not safe as the module API might change.

The component

In order to create hookable method the static methods from the HookableComponent should be used. These methods are described in the table below. Please notice something about the naming. Method returnable returns a Returnable model, argumentableAll returns a ArgumentableAll mode and so on.

Method	Returned model
returnable<T, U>	Returnable<T,U>
returnableAll<T, U>	ReturnableAll<T,U>
argumentable<T, U>	Argumentable<T,U>
argumentableAll<T, U>	ArgumentableAll<T,U>

Notice this about the generics, T and U:

• T: Type of input prams to hookable method
• U: Type of output from hookable method

All models in this project is exposed in HookableModels in this module use as needed.

The returnable hookable model

The returnable model will return a es6-promise Promise that is resolved once all hooks has been fired or rejected if anything goes wrong.

Models involved in returnable hooks

Here the models are described involving hookables that are returnable. Returnable hooks a asynchronous, so they should call a next function with some parameters when they are done and they want the next hook to be fired. The parameters for the hooks are here described and then the the parameters that should be given to the next functions are described.

Hook Model	Type	Called with	Returns
Returnable<T,U>	actor	arg1 : T, next: ReturnableActorParams	Promise
ReturnableAll<T,U>	pre	arg1 : T, next: ReturnablePreParams	Promise
	actor	arg1 : T, next: ReturnableActorParams
	post	arg1 : T, arg2: U, next: ReturnablePostParams

The contents of the next functions are as follows:

Next function	Called with
ReturnableActorParams	arg1: T
ReturnablePreParams	arg1: T
ReturnableActorParams<T, U>	arg1: T, arg2: U

Example of returnable hooks

import {HookableComponent, HookableModels}  from    'make-it-hookable';

/**
* Some class that has a hookable method
*/
class SomeHookableClass {
    /**
    * Create a hookable method that returns the number of a given animal
    * Output should here be a number and input should be a string
    */
    public hm: HookableModels.ReturnableAll<String, Number> = HookableComponent.returnableAll();
}

// create instance of class
let instance = new SomeHookableClass();

// create a pre hook
instance.hm.push((input: String, next: ReturnablePreParams<String>) => {
    
    // change value of input to allways be goat
    next('goat');
});

// create an actor
instance.hm.actor = (input: String, next: ReturnablePostParams<String, Number>) => {
    
    // change value of input to allways be goat
    next(input, 10);
};

// create an post hook
instance.hm.post.push((input: String, next: ReturnablePostParams<String, Number>) => {
    
    // increase the number to 20
    next(input, 20);
});

// run the method (async)
instance.hm('Cow').then((result: Number) => {

    // the content is returned here. (20 goats)
    console.log('There are: ' + result);
});

The argumentable hookable model

The reason for this model to exists is to support the ability of creating hooks that can used with express. The basic idea here is that the type of the input and output are either some kind of objects or arrays.

Models involved in argumentable hooks

When an argumentable hookable is used an initial array or object like variable is created and passed along the call to the hookable along with a callback ArgumentableCb that is called once the all hooks are done.

Hook Model	Type	Called with
Argumentable<T,U>	actor	input : T, output: U, next: ArgumentableCb
ArugmentableAll<T,U>	pre	input : T, output: U, next: ArgumentableCb
	actor	input : T, output: U, next: ArgumentableCb
	post	input : T, output: U, next: ArgumentableCb

The callback do not need any parameters as both the input and output are passed along the hooks as references (therefore object like or array like data types of these). It does however accept one input argument. This is to be understand as an error by the [express] framework and therefore also in this component.

Example of argumentable hooks

import {HookableComponent, HookableModels}  from    'make-it-hookable';
import * as express                         from    'express';

/**
* Some class that has a hookable method
*/
class SomeHookableClass {
    /**
    * Create a hookable method for express
    * Params should be objects or arrays
    */
    public hm: HookableModels.Argumentable<express.Request, express.Response> = HookableComponent.argumentable();
}

// create instance of class
let instance = new SomeHookableClass();

// create an actor
instance.hm.actor.push((req: express.Request, res: express.Response, cb: HookableModels.ArgumentableCb) => {
    
    // set some prop of response
    res.params.goat = true;

    // no errors is made
    cb();
});

// this would in express normally be invoked by an express router
let req: express.Request = {};
let res: express.Response = {};

instance.hm(req, res, (err: any) => {

    // do something about err if any?

    // otherwise perform action
    console.log('There are goats?: ' + res.params.goat);
});

License

The MIT License (MIT)