Resticle

REST resources made easy.

Usage

Define a resource.

import { Resource, Post, Put, Get, Delete, ResourceParams } from 'resticle';

@Resource({
  path: '/user/:id',
  params: {
    id: '@id'
  }
})
export class UserResource {
  @Post()
  create: (data: UserModel, params?: RequestParams, options?: RequestOptions) => Promise<UserModel>;

  @Put()
  update: (data: UserModel, params?: RequestParams) => Promise<UserModel>;

  @Get()
  get: (params?: RequestParams) => Promise<UserModel>;

  @Get({
    isArray: true
  })
  list: (params?: RequestParams) => Promise<UserModel>;

  @Delete()
  delete: (params?: RequestParams) => Promise<void>;
}

Create a ResourceFactory with the desired client. Resticle is agnostic of the implementation used to make the requests. This allows it to be adpated to any framework or client. We'll use the already created fetch-client.

import { FetchResourceClient } from 'resticle-fetch-client';
import { ResourceFactory } from 'resticle';

import { UserResource } from './UserResource';

const client = new FetchResourceClient();

// The resource factory only needs to be created once per client.
// This will usally happen during an apps bootstrap phase.
const resourceFactory = new ResourceFactory(client);

// Get an instance of our resource. The resource factory will cache
// instances of resources so the resource will only get created the first
// time and all other times will receive the first instance.
const userResource = resourceFactory.get(UserResource);

// We can use all the actions we defined on our resource here.
// This call will use our fetch client under the hood.
userResource.get({ id: 123 }).then(user => {
  console.log(user);
});

Params

Resticle path params was inspired by ng-resource used by Angular 1. So the params matching is extremely similiar. Params are key/value pairs that map to path params or query params.

• @id: This will grab the id key off of the payload if it exists and populate a path param.
• @account.id.value: This will grab the id path off of the payload if it exists and populate a path param.
• 123: This will populate a path param or if the path param is not defined in the url template then it will be added as a query param.

Configuring a Resource Action

When defining a resource action you can configure it.

@Resource({
  path: '/user'
})
export class UserResource {
  @Get({
    path: '/:id/charge/:amount',
    params: {
      id: '@id'
    }
  })
  charge: (params?: RequestParams, options? :RequestOptions) => Promise<void>;
}

// We can then do this:
userResource.charge({ id: 123, amount: 59.99 }).then(() => {
  console.log('CHARGED!!!');
});

// This will request '/user/123/charge/59.99'

Action Arguments

Action methods that are of method 'GET' and 'DELETE' have a method signature of

(params?: RequestParams, options?: RequestOptions) => any

Action methods that are of method 'POST' and 'PUT' have a method signature of

(model: T, params?: RequestParams, options?: RequestOptions) => any

Post and Put methods have a data model that it takes as the first argument.

Transforms

A resource can contain a transform method used for transforming the response. This is meant for the purpose of creating model instances from the return data. If the action is flagged as an array each value in the array will be transformed.

@Resource({
  path: '/user/:id'
})
export class UserResource implements ResourceTransform<UserModel> {
  @Get()
  // The 'ActionMethod' interface is a shorthand type for writing the
  // method signature used in the above examples.
  get: ActionMethod<Promise<UserModel>>;
  
  @Get({
    isArray: true
  })
  list: ActionMethod<Promise<UserModel[]>>;

  @Get({
    // This will skip the transform method for this action.
    transform: false
  })
  getOther: ActionMethod<Promise<UserModel[]>>;
  
  transform(data: any): UserModel {
    return new UserModel(data);
  }
}

Dynamic Action Creation

You can create actions dynamically by using the resources provided factory and client.

@Resource({
  path: '/user/:id'
})
export class UserResource implements ResourceTransform<UserModel> {
  constructor(
    private client: ResourceFetchClient, 
    private factory: DynamicResourceFactory<UserResource>
  ) {
    factory.createAction(this, 'list', {
      method: RequestMethod.GET,
      isArray: true
    });    
  }
  
  @Get()
  get: ActionMethod<Promise<UserModel>>;

  // You can also do custom behavior using the provided client.
  async doSomething(): Promise<UserModel> {
    const req = {
      path: 'http://myspace.com/rest/user',
      method: RequestMethod.POST,
      body: new UserModel()
    };
    
    return await this.client.post(req);
  }
}

Async Container

It's up to the client on what async container it uses (Promise). Most of the time you will use promises, but you may want to use Observables. Since the client decides this our resources can only be used with clients that use the same async container. You can easily extend a client and wrap all responses in either promises or observables.

export class FetchResourceObservableClient {
  private fetchClient = new FetchResourceClient();
  
  get(req: ResourceRequest): Observable<any> {
    return this.toObservable(this.fetchClient.get(req));
  }

  post(req: ResourceRequest): Observable<any> {
    return this.toObservable(this.fetchClient.post(req));
  }

  put(req: ResourceRequest): Observable<any> {
    return this.toObservable(this.fetchClient.put(req));
  }

  delete(req: ResourceRequest): Observable<any> {
    return this.toObservable(this.fetchClient.delete(req));
  }

  // The subscribe method is used to tell the ResourceFactory
  // how to subscribe to the async container that the client is using.
  // This method would look different if this client was using promises
  // vs Observables.
  subscribe(res: Observable<any>, callback: Function): Observable<any> {
    return res.map(val => callback(val));
  }

  protected toObservable(promise: Promise<any>): Observable<any> {
    return new Observable(subscriber => {
      promise.then(val => {
        subscriber.next(val);
        subscriber.complete();
      });
    });
  }
}