Super Simple Flux

making Flux look as pretty as React

- !! - check out this cool new implementation - Cartiv - !! -

if your'e here for reflux's mixin - scroll down

So - what's this all about?

React is cool - you can use this magic Component class and jsx, and suddenly all of your views are controlled and changed automatically. But Flux, on the other hand - isn't very useful, there is no real code, no api, only good architecture. So then good people started thinking about many cool libraries for Flux, and suddenly: Redux, Reflux, Alt, Fluxxor etc.

But, If we already have such a great API for React, why can't we do the same with Flux - Stores will control components, the same way Component controls DOM. You just say the magic word - setState - and everything just happens immediately!

When you make it that simple, it's easy to have all your Components controlled, and then suddenly your Components are purified (functionally speaking), they don't have any "real" state of their own - and as a bonus, you don't care about their hierarchy any more - you can move them around - regardless of their parents and props.

So, the requirements for an API like this are straight forward:

1. Stores should control all of the app's state (This could be done with one main store -redux style, or from multiple stores).
2. Easy method called setState should change state of Store - no explicit changes (like reducers).
3. Complementary methods could be added - getInitialState() ,shouldStoreUpdate(), storeDidUpdate() - you know the drill.
4. Every state change should notify all Components and force them to re-render (by altering their "controlled" state) - quite similar to what render method does.
5. There's an easy way to declare subscriptions of Components to Store's state (or to a specific property of state in Store). Something like Component.connectTo(Store.someState), think about <input value={this.state.text}/> for Components.
6. Flux Actions should only notify a Store - do something - and should be blind to what the Store is actually doing - exactly the same as onChange from DOM to Component

That's all.

implementations

Now the implementation could be done any way you want. With Redux, as a new flux library or any other way.

Here I present a mixin for Reflux that works really well (so well in fact, that according to npm stats, every other reflux user is downloading this), but feel free to add other implementations. I really hope someone will implement this in Redux!

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reflux-state-mixin

Mixins for reflux, to enable SSF (super simple flux) API

Installation

$ npm install reflux-state-mixin --save

in store:

// myStore.js
var Reflux = require('reflux');
var StateMixin = require('reflux-state-mixin');
var Actions = require('./../actions/AnimalsActions'); 

var AnimalStore = module.exports = Reflux.createStore({
  mixins: [StateMixin.store],
  listenables: Actions, //or any other way of listening... 

  getInitialState: function(){      //that's a must!
    return{
      dogs:5,
      cats:3
    }
  },

  onNewDogBorn: function() {
        this.setState({dogs: this.state.dogs + 1})  
        //just like in a Component.
        //this will `trigger()` this state, similar to `render()` in a Component 
  },
        
  //you can use storeDidUpdate lifecycle in the store, which will get called with every change to the state
  storeDidUpdate: function(prevState) {
      if(this.state.dogs !== prevState.dogs){
        console.log('number of dogs has changed!');
      }
  }
  

});

in component:

1. the easy way - connect, with mixin or decorator:

// PetsComponent.js
var AnimalStore = require('./AnimalStore.js');
var StateMixin = require('reflux-state-mixin');

var PetsComponent = React.createClass({
    mixins:[
        StateMixin.connect(AnimalStore, 'dogs')
        StateMixin.connect(AnimalStore, 'cats')
        //OR
        StateMixin.connect(AnimalStore) //now PetsComponent.state includes AnimalStore.state
        ],

    render: function () {
        return (<div><p>We have {this.state.dogs + this.state.cats} pets</p></div>);
    }
})

and if you use React's es6 classes, use the es7 connector decorator:

import {connector} from 'reflux-state-mixin';
import {AnimalStore} from './AnimalStore';

//@viewPortDecorator // make sure other decorators that returns a Component (usually those who provide props) are above `connector` (since it controls state).
@connector(AnimalStore, 'cats')
@connector(AnimalStore, 'dogs')
//or the entire store
@connector(AnimalStore)
//@autobind //other decorators could be anywhere
class PetsComponent extends React.Component {
    render(){
        let {dogs, cats} = this.state;
        return (<div>We have {dogs + cats} pets</div>);
        }
}

or if you want to take the long way:

listening to a specific property of Store's state

var AnimalStore = require('./AnimalStore.js');

var DogsComponent = React.createClass({
    mixins:[Reflux.ListenerMixin],
    getInitialState: function (){
      return({
          dogs:AnimalStore.state.dogs 
          //Treat store.state as immutable data - same as you treat component.state - 
          //you could use it inside a component, but never change it's value - only with setState()    
      })
    },
    componentDidMount: function(){
        this.listenTo(AnimalStore.dogs,this.updateDogs); 
        //this Component has no interest in `cats` or any other animal, so it listens to `dogs` changes only
    },
    updateDogs: function(dogs){
        this.setState({dogs:dogs});
        //now we have auto-synchronization with `dogs`, with no need for specific logic for that
    },
    render: function () {
        return (<div><p>We have {this.state.dogs} dogs</p></div>);
    }
});

listen to an entire store:

var AnimalStore = require('./AnimalStore.js');

var PetsComponent = React.createClass({
    mixins:[Reflux.ListenerMixin],
    getInitialState: function (){
      return({
          dogs: AnimalStore.state.dogs,
          cats: AnimalStore.state.cats
      })
    },
    componentDidMount: function(){
         this.listenTo(
            AnimalStore,
            (state)=>{
                this.setState({
                    dogs:state.dogs,
                    cats:state.cats
                })
            });
         //this way the component can easily decide what parts of the store-state are interesting
    },

    render: function () {
        return (<div><p>We have {this.state.dogs + this.state.cats} pets</p></div>);
    }
})

some details

GetInitialState() in store should have all of the states from the beginning. Store should not have any method that are declared in state, since you can listen to MyStore.dogs setState() is checking to see if there is a difference between new state.key from current state.key. If not, this specific state.key it's not triggering. For any setState() the entire store is triggering (regardless of changes), allowing any Component or other Store to listen to the entire Store's state.

acknowledgments

This mixin was inspired by (a.k.a shamelessly stole from) - triggerables-mixin. Also see this for details. reflux-provides-store And state-mixin.

I thank @jehoshua02 @brigand and @jesstelford for their valuable code.