Package Exports

reactive-function

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Readme

reactive-function

A library for managing data flows and changing state.

Usage

If you are using NPM, install this package with:

npm install reactive-function

Require it in your code like this:

var ReactiveFunction = require("reactive-function");

This library is designed to work with reactive-property, you'll need that too.

var ReactiveProperty = require("reactive-property");

Let's say you have two reactive properties to represent someone's name.

var firstName = ReactiveProperty("Jane");
var lastName = ReactiveProperty("Smith");

You can define a reactive function that depends on those two properties like this.

var fullName = ReactiveFunction(function (first, last){
  return first + " " + last;
}, firstName, lastName);

This defines a "reactive function" that will be invoked when its dependencies (firstName and lastName) are both defined and whenever either one changes. The function will be invoked on the next tick of the JavaScript event loop after it is defined and after any dependencies change.

To force a synchronous evaluation of all reactive functions whose dependencies have updated, you can call:

ReactiveFunction.digest();

Now you can access the computed value of the reactive function by invoking it.

console.log(fullName()); // Prints "Jane Smith"

Here's some sample code from the tests that demonstrates the features of this library.

it("Should depend on any number of reactive properties.", function () {
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);
  var b = ReactiveProperty(10);
  var c = ReactiveProperty(15);

  var d = ReactiveFunction(function (a){
    return a * 2;
  }, a);

  var e = ReactiveFunction(function (a, b, c){
    return a + b + c;
  }, a, b, c);

  ReactiveFunction.digest();

  assert.equal(d(), 10);
  assert.equal(e(), 30);
});

it("Should depend on a reactive function.", function () {
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);

  var b = ReactiveFunction(function (a){
    return a * 2;
  }, a);

  var c = ReactiveFunction(function (b){
    return b / 2;
  }, b);

  ReactiveFunction.digest();
  assert.equal(c(), 5);
});

it("Should depend on a reactive property and a reactive function.", function () {
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);
  var b = ReactiveProperty(10);

  var c = ReactiveFunction(function (a){
    return a * 2;
  }, a);

  var d = ReactiveFunction(function (b, c){
    return b + c;
  }, b, c);

  ReactiveFunction.digest();
  assert.equal(d(), 20);
});

it("Should handle tricky case.", function () {
  //      a
  //     / \
  //    b   |
  //    |   d
  //    c   |
  //     \ /
  //      e   
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);

  var b = ReactiveFunction(function (a){ return a * 2; }, a);
  var c = ReactiveFunction(function (b){ return b + 5; }, b);
  var d = ReactiveFunction(function (a){ return a * 3; }, a);
  var e = ReactiveFunction(function (c, d){ return c + d; }, c, d);

  ReactiveFunction.digest();

  assert.equal(e(), ((a() * 2) + 5) + (a() * 3));
});

it("Should throw an error if attempting to set the value directly.", function () {
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);

  var b = ReactiveFunction(function (a){
    return a * 2;
  }, a);

  assert.throws(function (){
    b(5);
  });
});

it("Should clear changed nodes on digest.", function () {
  var numInvocations = 0;
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);
  var b = ReactiveFunction(function (a){
    numInvocations++;
    return a * 2;
  }, a);
  ReactiveFunction.digest();
  ReactiveFunction.digest();
  assert.equal(numInvocations, 1);
});

it("Should automatically digest on next tick.", function (done) {
  var a = ReactiveProperty(5);
  var b = ReactiveProperty(10);

  var c = ReactiveFunction(function (a, b){
    return a + b;
  }, a, b);

  setTimeout(function (){
    assert.equal(c(), 15);
    done();
  }, 0);
});

Case Study: Width and Height

Suppose you have some reactive properties that change, such as width and height.

var my = {
  width: ReactiveProperty(),
  height: ReactiveProperty()
};

Suppose also that you have a function that resizes an SVG element that depends on those two properties.

var svg = d3.select("body").append("svg");
function render(){
  svg
    .attr("width", my.width())
    .attr("height", my.height());
}

How can you invoke the render function when my.width and my.height change?

Related work:

ReactiveJS