Storecle - a neat app state management for React and Solid

Storecle is a neat uni-directional app state management for React and Solid (❤️).

Features

Storecle uses a simple mental model which lets you access app-wide actions and their results by using Context API.
It consists of 4 main building blocks i.e. Store, User Actions (actions triggered by a user), Data Suppliers (actions executed prior to rendering) and Reload Types (action re-trigger groups).
The actions are just functions which are implicitly bound to the Store and write their results by returning/resolving.
Then, their results are accessible by their own names.

To improve the code re-usability, Data Suppliers use a middleware pattern. They are executed in the order you specify and pass a snapshot of Store from one to another, letting you split the logic into small, specified functions.

• It works with both React and Solid (it's framework agnostic to certain degree).
• It uses Context API and useEffect / createEffect to provide action re-triggers based on specified Store changes.
• It facilitates splitting the business logic into granual, re-usable functions by applying a middleware pattern.
• It simplifies naming and reduces noise by letting you access action results by their own names.
• It provides an elegant approach to actions feeding UI with incoming data (e.g. from Web Sockets).
• It is made to work with your IDE's code auto-completion.

Motivation

I ❤️ Redux, but it leaves plenty of room to be misused. Hence, Storecle is my proposal to let developers rely less on self-discipline and more on tooling and self-restrictive design.

1. To provide an easy way of separating app-wide logic from views i.e.:
   • No inline: data fetches, transformers, conditionals.
   • No nested action dispatchers upon other action completion.
2. To facilitate the action re-usability and modularization.
3. To provide a gradual path for React developers willing to use Solid.

Installation

React:

yarn add @gluecodes/storecle-react

or

npm i @gluecodes/storecle-react

Solid:

yarn add @gluecodes/storecle-solid

or

npm i @gluecodes/storecle-solid

It works along with either React or Solid that also needs to be installed in your app. For details, see their own documentations.

Usage

This module exports 3 constructs that can be imported for a particular framework in different parts of your app.

import { 
  builtInActions, 
  PageProvider, 
  useAppContext 
} from '@gluecodes/storecle-react'

or

import { 
  builtInActions, 
  PageProvider, 
  useAppContext 
} from '@gluecodes/storecle-solid'

For the purpose of the example I used a Solid version.

Soon the official starter templates will be released. Using this library means following certain patterns which are explained below using a simple counter example.

Mental Model

See: Code Sandbox example for React.

See: Code Sandbox example for Solid.

File tree:

.
├── actions
│   ├── dataSuppliers (#2)
│   │   └── index.js
│   ├── reloadTypes.js (#4)
│   └── userActions (#3)
│       └── index.js
├── index.jsx (#1)
├── Layout.jsx (#5)
└── partials (#6)
    └── Counter
        └── index.jsx

1. Page Container

Page provider wraps a given Layout around a single app context.

• dataSupplierPipeline - an array providing the order in which Data Suppliers are executed.
• dataSuppliers - an object containing Data Suppliers.
• getLayout - a function which returns the page Layout.
• reloadTypes - an object containing Reload Types.
• userActions - an object containing User Actions.
• onError - a function triggered when an error is thrown either in Data Suppliers or User Actions.

./index.jsx

import { PageProvider } from '@gluecodes/storecle-solid'

import * as dataSuppliers from './actions/dataSuppliers/index'
import * as userActions from './actions/userActions/index'
import * as reloadTypes from './actions/reloadTypes'

import Layout from './Layout.jsx'



export default () => (
  <PageProvider
    dataSupplierPipeline={[
      dataSuppliers.getTexts,
      dataSuppliers.getCounter
    ]}
    dataSuppliers={dataSuppliers}
    getLayout={() => Layout}
    reloadTypes={reloadTypes}
    userActions={userActions}
    onError={(err) => {
      console.error(err)
    }}
  />
)

2. Data Suppliers

Data suppliers provide data prior to rendering. Note the early returns which demonstrate how to resolve cached data based on Reload Type.

• buildInActions - an object containing the following built-in User Actions:
  • onStoreChanged - a function which receives a callback to be triggered when Store changes.
  • runUserActions - a function which allows for executing multiple User Actions at once.
  • runDataSuppliers - a function which receives a Reload Type name. Note that it's exposed to ease the integration with legacy apps. Don't call it manually as Data Suppliers are implicitly reloaded based on the provided Reload Types.
• Each Data Supplier passes two arguments: resultOf and nameOf.
  • resultOf - a function providing a result of a given Data Supplier or User Action.
  • nameOf - a function providing a name of either Data Supplier, User Action or Reload Type.
• Data Suppliers can be either sync or async and write to a central Store by returning/resolving.

./actions/dataSuppliers/index.js

import { builtInActions } from '@gluecodes/storecle-solid'
import { reFetchCounter } from '../reloadTypes'



export function getCounter (resultOf, nameOf) {
  const reloadType = resultOf(builtInActions.runDataSuppliers)
  const shouldFetch =
    reloadType === 'full' || reloadType === nameOf(reFetchCounter)

  if (!shouldFetch) {
    return resultOf(getCounter)
  }

  return global.sessionStorage.getItem('appWideCounter') || 0
}



export function getTexts (resultOf) {
  if (resultOf(builtInActions.runDataSuppliers) !== 'full') {
    return resultOf(getTexts)
  }

  return {
    Click: 'Click'
  }
}

3. User Actions

Actions triggered by a user.

./actions/userActions/index.js

export function incrementCounter (counter) {
  const incrementedCounter = Number(counter) + 1

  global.sessionStorage.setItem('appWideCounter', incrementedCounter)
}

4. Reload Types

A way to tell the app to re-run Data Suppliers based on executed User Actions.

• A Reload Type groups User Actions together to tell the app to reload all Data Suppliers as a consequence of their execution.
• When any of its User Actions is triggered, the app sets the Reload Type name under built-in runDataSuppliers and reloads all Data Suppliers.
• Data Suppliers can benefit from caching by early returning their results based on Reload Type name.
• Each Reload Type is a function which passes nameOf and returns an array of User Action names.
  • nameOf - a function providing a name of User Action.

./actions/reloadTypes.js

import { incrementCounter } from './userActions/index'

export const reFetchCounter = (nameOf) => [
  nameOf(incrementCounter)
]

5. Layout

Nothing else than the page layout.

./Layout.jsx

import Counter from './partials/Counter/index.jsx'

export default () => (
  <div className='container'>
    <Counter />
  </div>
)

6. Partials

Partials are self-contained pieces of UI which have access to app state via the app context.

• useAppContext - a function which returns an array of 3 items: resultOf, action, nameOf.
  • resultOf - a function providing a result of a given Data Supplier or User Action.
  • action - a function which triggers User Action.
  • nameOf - a function providing a name of either Data Supplier or User Action.

./partials/Counter/index.jsx

import { useAppContext } from '@gluecodes/storecle-solid'

import { getCounter, getTexts } from '../../actions/dataSuppliers/index'
import { incrementCounter } from '../../actions/userActions/index'



export default () => {
  const [resultOf, action] = useAppContext()

  return (
    <button
      onClick={() => {
        action(incrementCounter)(
          resultOf(getCounter)
        )
      }}
    >{resultOf(getTexts)?.Click}: {resultOf(getCounter)}</button>
  )
}

Here is the open source Github repo. Feel free to suggest your ideas either in comments or in the repo issues. If you like it, a star would be appreciated 😉