MoobX(-Wing), part II: Tie Fighters

Welcome to the second part of my MoobX stream of codesciousness. In the first installment, we saw how to implement MobX-like reactive behaviors to Moose attributes. In this one, we’ll ratchet up the insanity to the next level, and muck up any variable we want.

No, Mister Bond, I expect you to tie

In our previous implementation, we had a relatively easy time because of all the nice meta-tricks Moose give us. How can we do the same thing with regular scalars, arrays and hashes?

How about using ties? It’s not something that one uses very often but (or rather, because) it’s incredibly powerful. Basically, tieing a variable binds it to a given object that implements its underlying storage/access.

First, the end-goal

Before diving in the mechanics, let’s see what we are aiming for. How about something like:

use 5.20.0;

use Data::Printer;

use MoobX;

observable my $first_name;
observable my $last_name;
observable my $title;

my $address = observer {
    join ' ', $title || $first_name, $last_name;
};

observable my @things;

say $address;  # nothing

$first_name = "Yanick";
$last_name = "Champoux";

say $address;  # Yanick Champoux

$title = 'Dread Lord';

say $address;  # Dread Lord Champoux

Making something new with the old

While we are doing to act with new objects, the central part of Moobx we wrote previously is still perfectly good and valid. So beside a few cosmetic adjusments, we’ll keep it wholesale.

package MoobX;

use 5.20.0;

use MoobX::Observer;
use MoobX::Observable;

our @DEPENDENCIES;
our $WATCHING = 0;

use Scalar::Util qw/ reftype refaddr /;
use Moose::Util qw/ with_traits /;
use Module::Runtime 'use_module';

use experimental 'signatures';

use parent 'Exporter::Tiny';

our @EXPORT = qw/ observer observable autorun /;

use Graph::Directed;

our $graph = Graph::Directed->new;

sub changing_observable($obs) {

    my @preds = $graph->all_predecessors( refaddr $obs );

    for my $pred ( @preds ) {
        my $info = $graph->get_vertex_attribute(
            $pred, 'info'
        );

        $info->clear_value;
    }
}

sub dependencies_for($self,@deps) {
    $graph->delete_edges(
        map { 
            refaddr $self => $_
        } $graph->successors(refaddr $self)
    );

    $graph->add_edges( 
        map { refaddr $self => refaddr $_ } @deps 
    );

    $graph->set_vertex_attribute(
        refaddr $_, info => $_ 
    ) for $self, @deps; 
}

For the declaration of observables, we’ll use a few cabalistricks. First we’ll use a function prototype to grab the reference to its argument so that we can do observable @foo instead of observable \@foo. And then we’ll tie the passed variable to some class we’ll assemble right on the spot:

sub observable :prototype([$%@]) {
    my $ref = shift;

    my $type = reftype $ref;

    my $class = 'MoobX::'.( $type || 'SCALAR' );

    $class = with_traits( 
        map { use_module($_) }
        map { $_, $_ . '::Observable' } $class
    );

    if( $type eq 'SCALAR' ) {
        my $value = $$ref;
        tie $$ref, $class;
        $$ref = $value;
    }
    elsif( $type eq 'ARRAY' ) {
        my @values = @$ref;
        tie @$ref, $class;
        @$ref = @values;
    }
    elsif( not $type ) {
        my $value = $ref;
        tie $ref, $class;
        $ref = $value;
    }


    return $ref;

}

Why the ad-hoc composition there? Because I want to keep things nicely encapsulated: the classes MoobX::<TYPE> will strictly implement the functions required by the tie, while MoobX::<TYPE>::Observable will implement the extras we need to make it, well, observable. Although I didn’t do it yet, it’ll also allow for variables that could consume both an observable and an observer role.

And talking of the observer, that’s the other bit we need. And, why not?, we’ll throw in an autorun too:

sub observer :prototype(&) { MoobX::Observer->new( generator => @_ ) }
sub autorun :prototype(&)  { MoobX::Observer->new( autorun => 1, generator => @_ ) }

The base MoobX::classes

Here, nothing outrageous. Just a Moose-base variation on the basic tie classes (see Tie::StdScalar at the bottom of Tie::Scalar’s package for an example).

package MoobX::SCALAR; 

use Moose;

has value => (
    is     => 'rw',
    reader => 'FETCH',
    writer => 'STORE',
);

sub BUILD_ARGS {
    my( $class, @args ) = @_;

    unshift @args, 'value' if @args == 1;

    return { @args }
}

sub TIESCALAR { $_[0]->new( value => $_[1]) }

1;

Of course, a scalar variable is the most boring of the lot. Arrays and hashes are not much more exciting, but they have more functions to implement. For the good of this proof of concept, I did part of the array class as well.

package MoobX::ARRAY;

use Moose;

has value => (
    traits => [ 'Array' ],
    is => 'rw',
    default => sub { [] },
    handles => {
        FETCHSIZE => 'count',
        CLEAR     => 'clear',
        STORE     => 'set',
        FETCH     => 'get',
        PUSH      => 'push',
    },
);

sub BUILD_ARGS {
    my( $class, @args ) = @_;

    unshift @args, 'value' if @args == 1;

    return { @args }
}

sub TIEARRAY { 
    (shift)->new( value => [ @_ ] ) 
}

1;

Oh, sorry, did I say I did it? I meant to say, just use delegation to the attribute trait. Because being lazy is its own reward.

The not-quite-as-base MoobX::::Observable roles

Atop those main classes, we’ll have the observable roles that add the tallying and notifying logic around the setters and getters.

For scalars, it’s short and sweet.

package MoobX::SCALAR::Observable;

use 5.20.0;

use Moose::Role;

before 'FETCH' => sub {
    my $self = shift;
    push @MoobX::DEPENDENCIES, $self if $MoobX::WATCHING;
};

after 'STORE' => sub {
    my $self = shift;
    MoobX::changing_observable( $self );
};

1;

For arrays, it’s still not too bad. We just have to pay attention to more ways the data can be set/accessed.

package MoobX::ARRAY::Observable;

use Moose::Role;

use experimental 'postderef', 'signatures';

use Scalar::Util 'refaddr';

before [ qw/ FETCH FETCHSIZE /] => sub {
    my $self = shift;
    push @MoobX::DEPENDENCIES, $self if $MoobX::WATCHING;
};

after [ qw/ STORE PUSH CLEAR /] => sub {
    my $self = shift;
    for my $i ( 0.. $self->value->$#* ) {
        next if tied $self->value->[$i];
        next unless ref $self->value->[$i] eq 'ARRAY';
        MoobX::observable( @{ $self->value->[$i] } );
    }
    MoobX::changing_observable( $self );
};

1;

There is also one small addition: we also set the values of the array as observables themselves. Right now, I’m doing it in a rather uncouth way, so don’t look too closely, but the thing to take away is that we’ll be able to have arrays of arrays of arrays and we’ll be able to observe all changes, no matter how deep they happen.

(and yeah, I’m also being very sloppy for the case where values are already tied. But that can be fixed and prettified with a little bit of gilding code. I swear)

The Observer class

The observer objects are… simple.

package MoobX::Observer;

use 5.20.0;

use Moose;

use overload 
    '""' => sub { $_[0]->value },
    fallback => 1;

use MooseX::MungeHas 'is_ro';

use Scalar::Util 'refaddr';
use experimental 'signatures';

has value => ( 
    builder   => 1,
    lazy      => 1,
    predicate => 1,
    clearer   => 1,
);

after clear_value => sub {
    my $self = shift;
    $self->value if $self->autorun;
};

has generator => (
    required => 1,
);

has autorun => ( is => 'ro', trigger => sub {
    $_[0]->value
});

sub dependencies($self) {
     map {
        $MoobX::graph->get_vertex_attribute( $_, 'info' );
      } $MoobX::graph->successors( refaddr($self) ) 
}

sub _build_value {
    my $self = shift;

    local $MoobX::WATCHING = 1;
    local @MoobX::DEPENDENCIES;

    my $new_value = $self->generator->();

    MoobX::dependencies_for( $self, @MoobX::DEPENDENCIES );

    return $new_value;
}

1;

The object has a generator (the function used to figure our the value), and a value attribute that cache its result. We tally the dependencies when we generate that value. Oh yeah, and we add a smidgen of logic to have that value recomputed immediately if our observer is flagged to be autorun.

Try it, it’s a riot

Aaaaand we’re done.

use Test::More;

use 5.20.0;

use Data::Printer;
use MoobX;

observable my $first_name;
observable my $last_name;
observable my $title;

my $address = observer {
    join ' ', $title || $first_name, $last_name;
};

is $address, ' ', "begin empty";

( $first_name, $last_name ) = qw/ Yanick Champoux /;

is $address => 'Yanick Champoux';

$title = 'Dread Lord';

is $address => 'Dread Lord Champoux';

done_testing;

Thanks to the magic of recursion, it works for changes that deep in our data structures too.

file-1.perl

And, yes, we have also functions that autorun when changes are detected.

file-2.perl

So, there we go. Brilliant? Insane? Or way beyond such mundane human concepts? I’ll let posterity judge. In the meantime, MoobX is living in its GitHub repo. Enjoy!