redux-flute

What does it do?

Flute is a front-end-only Object Data-store Mapping (ODM) implementation that lets you interact with RESTful APIs. By defining models on the front end and integrating closely with the popular state container, Redux, Flute offers a Ruby-on-Rails-esque, ActiveRecord-ey syntax. Think ActiveRecord for JavaScript. Flute is agnostic to back-end architecture. It's built for APIs which respond to GET/POST/POST/DELETE requests for resources identified by predefined keys, so Rails, Express, Sinatra, CouchDB UNAMEIT! Flute allows you to write syntax like this:

const userAddress = new Address

userAddress.address1 = "1100 Congress Ave"
userAddress.city = "Austin"
userAddress.state = "TX"

userAddress.save()
/* 
  REQUEST:
    Method: POST 
    URL: /api/addresses
    Data: {
      "address1": "1100 Congress Ave",
      "city": "Austin",
      "state": "TX"
    }
  RESPONSE:
    Status: 201 Created
    Body: {
      "_id": "583132c8edc3b79a853b8d69",
      "createdAt": "2016-11-20T05:21:12.988Z",
      "updatedAt": "2016-11-20T05:21:12.988Z",
      "userId": "580432279153ea2679095acd",
      "address1": "1100 Congress Ave",
      "city": "Austin",
      "state": "TX"
    }
*/
userAddress.id
// Returns 583132c8edc3b79a853b8d69
userAddress.destroy()
// Does what you would expect (A DELETE request to the same resource)

Installation

npm install --save-dev redux-flute

Prerequisites

This library was made to solve problems in my current project stacks (insert buzz words: React/Redux/Webpack/ES6). The only real assumptions are:

• You are using NPM as a package manager
• You are using Redux

The nice-to-haves are:

• React
• React Redux

I'm open to suggestion on making this library more widely supported.

Minimum Setup

In your app

import flute from "redux-flute";
const Story = flute.model("Story"),

const newStory = new Story;
newStory.save().then(savedRecord=>(this.setState({ ...savedRecord }));
// Also works ...
Story.create({ title: "A working title", body: "Once upon a time..."})  // Makes an API request
  .then(savedRecord=>(this.setState({ ...savedRecord }));  // Returns a promise ... as do the following methods
newStory.updateAttribute("title", "A working title") // Makes an API request
newStory.updateAttributes({ title: "A working title", body: "Once upon a time..."})  // Makes an API request

newStory.destroy() // Makes an API request

Story.all() // Makes an API request to the model's index, returns array of records
Story.find("583132c8edc3b79a853b8d69") // Makes an API request to this resource, returns single record

// Passing extra URL query parameters
Story.all({month:"05", year:2017}) // Makes an API request to /stories?month=05&year=2017
Story.all("?month=05&year=2017") // Also works
Story.find("first-post", { include_comments: true }) // Makes an API request to /stories/first-post?include_comments=true
Story.find("first-post", "?include_comments=true") // Also works
// Use cases for extra query params
Search.all({q: "Am I being detained?"}) // Generates /search?q=Am%20I%20being%20detained%3F

Defining Models

// In a file like /models/Story.js
import flute, { Model } from "redux-flute";
class Story extends Model {
  static schema = {
    title: String,
    body: String,
    isActive: Boolean,
    userId: String,
    _timestamps: true
  }
}
export default flute.model(Story);

In your reducers setup

// In a file like /reducers.js
import { combineReducers } from "redux"
import flute, { reducer as models } from "redux-flute"
flute.setAPI({ prefix: "/api" })
import "models"
export default combineReducers({
  models,
  // your other reducers
});

In your store setup

// In a file like /store.js
import { createStore, applyMiddleware, compose } from "redux";
import reducer from "./reducers";
import { middleware as fluteMiddleware } from "redux-flute";
export default createStore(reducer, compose( applyMiddleware(fluteMiddleware /* , ...your other middlewares*/)));

Minification

If you are running your build through something like Uglify, or part of a Webpack build, you'll need to exclude the class names of your models. Uglify supports excluding certain keywords from the minification/mangle process. Below is an example configuration for Webpack, in the plugins section of your webpack config.

new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({
  mangle: {
    except: ["BankAccount", "CreditCard","User"]
  }
})

Coming Soon!

• Model associations syntax a-la userAddress.user with declarations like:

 const User = flute.model("User")
 class Address extends Model {
   static associations = [
     {belongsTo: User}
   ]
 }

• Validations, with the ability to exclude local validation like userAddress.save({validate: false}), with declarations a-la Mongoose like:

 class Address extends Model {
   static schema = {
     address1: {
       type: String,
       required: [true, "A street address is required."]
     }
     zip: {
       type: String,
       length: {
         min: 5,
         message: "ZIP codes must be at least 5 numbers."
       }
     }
    // ... other schema
   }
 }

Also planned is the creation of a flute validations API, with the ability to include local and remote validations.

• Scopes and default scope syntax like orders.completed
• Order and default ordering cards.orderBy("price", "ASC")
• Custom schema types such as automatic conversions to U.S. dollar