Module: Netzke::Core::Services

Extended by:
ActiveSupport::Concern
Included in:
Base
Defined in:
lib/netzke/core/services.rb

Overview

The client-server communication between the JavaScript and Ruby side of a component is provided by means of “endpoints”.

Defining an endpoint

An endpoint is defined through the endpoint class method on the Ruby class:

endpoint :do_something do
  # ...
end

The first block argument will contain the hash of arguments provided at the moment of calling the endpoint from the JavaScript side (see “Calling an endpoint from JavaScript”). The second block argument is used for “calling” JavaScript methods as a response from the server (see “Envoking JavaScript methods from the server”).

Calling an endpoint from JavaScript

By defining the endpoint on the Ruby class, the client side automatically gets an equally named (in camelCase) function that is used to call the endpoint. In the previous example, that would be doSomething. Its signature goes as follows:

this.server.doSomething(args..., callback, scope);

  • args (optional) is what the endpoint block at the server will receive as parameters

  • callback (optional) will be called after the server successfully processes the request

  • scope (optional) the scope in which callback will be called, defaults to component instance

The callback function can optionally receive an argument set by the endpoint at the server (see “Providing the argument to the callback function”).

Envoking JavaScript methods from the server

An endpoint, after doing some useful job at the server, is able to instruct the client side of the component to call multiple methods (preserving the call order) with provided arguments. It’s done via the client variable:

endpoint :do_something do
  # ... do the thing
  client.set_title("New title")
  client.add_class("some-extra-css")
end

This will result in successive calling the setTitle and addClass methods on the JavaScript instance of the component.

Besides “calling” methods on the current component itself, it’s also possible to address its instantiated children at any level of the hierarchy:

endpoint :do_something do
  # ... do the thing
  client.east_panel_component.set_title("New east panel title")
  client.east_panel_component.deep_nested_component.do_something_very_special("With", "some", "arguments")
end

Providing arguments to the callback function

The callback function provided at the moment of calling an endpoint will receive as its only argument the result of the endpoint block execution:

endpoint :get_the_answer do
  # ... do the thing
  42
end

By calling the endpoint from the client side like this:

this.server.getTheAnswer(function(result){ console.debug(result); });

… the value of result after the endpoint execution will be 42. Using this mechanism can be seen as doing an asyncronous call to a server-side function that returns a value.

Overriding an endpoint

When overriding an endpoint, you can call the original endpoint by using super and explicitely providing the block parameters to it:

endpoint :do_something do |arg1, arg2|
  super(arg1, arg2)
  client.do_more
end

If you want to reuse the original arguments set in super, you can access them from the client object. Provided we are overriding the do_something endpoint from the example in “Envoking JavaScript methods from the server”, we will have:

endpoint :do_something do |params|
  super(params)
  original_arguments_for_set_title = client.set_title # => ["New title"]
  original_arguments_for_add_class = client.add_class # => ["some-extra-css"]
end

Defined Under Namespace

Modules: ClassMethods

Instance Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Details

#component_missing(missing_component, *params) ⇒ Object

Called when the method_missing tries to processes a non-existing component. Override when needed. Note: this should actually never happen unless you mess up with Netzke component loading mechanisms.



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# File 'lib/netzke/core/services.rb', line 142

def component_missing(missing_component, *params)
  client.netzke_notify "Unknown component '#{missing_component}' in '#{name}'"
end

#has_endpoint?(endpoint) ⇒ Boolean

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'lib/netzke/core/services.rb', line 136

def has_endpoint?(endpoint)
  !!self.class.endpoints[endpoint.to_sym]
end

#invoke_endpoint(endpoint, params, configs = []) ⇒ Object

Invokes an endpoint

endpoint may contain the path to the endpoint in a component down the hierarchy, e.g.: params contains an Array of parameters to pass to the endpoint

invoke_endpoint(:users__center__get_data, params)

Returns instance of EndpointResponse



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# File 'lib/netzke/core/services.rb', line 114

def invoke_endpoint(endpoint, params, configs = [])
  self.client = Netzke::Core::EndpointResponse.new

  if has_endpoint?(endpoint)
    client.netzke_set_result(send("#{endpoint}_endpoint", *params))
    client
  else
    # Let's try to find it in a component down the tree
    child_component, *action = endpoint.to_s.split('__')

    action = !action.empty? && action.join("__").to_sym
    return unknown_exception(:endpoint, endpoint) if !action

    client_config = configs.shift || {}
    child_config = component_config(child_component.to_sym, client_config: client_config)

    return unknown_exception(:component, child_component) if child_config.nil?

    component_instance(child_config).invoke_endpoint(action, params, configs)
  end
end