ampersand-state [source]

An observable, extensible state object with derived watchable properties.

Ampersand-state serves as a base object for ampersand-model but is useful any time you want to track complex state.

ampersand-model extends ampersand-state to include assumptions that you'd want if you're using models to model data from a REST API. But by itself ampersand-state is useful for anytime you want something to model state, that fires events for changes and lets you define and listen to derived properties.

For further explanation see the learn ampersand-state guide.

API Reference

extend AmpersandState.extend({ })

To create a State class of your own, you extend AmpersandState and provide instance properties and options for your class. Typically here you will pass any properties (props, session and derived) of your state class, and any instance methods to be attached to instances of your class.

extend correctly sets up the prototype chain, so that subclasses created with extend can be further extended as many times as you like.

Definitions like props, session, derived etc will be merged with superclass definitions.

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        firstName: 'string',
        lastName: 'string'
    },
    session: {
        signedIn: ['boolean', true, false],
    },
    derived: {
        fullName: {
            deps: ['firstName', 'lastName'],
            fn: function () {
                return this.firstName + ' ' + this.lastName;
            }
        }
    }
});

AmpersandState.extend does more than just copy attributes from one prototype to another. As such it is incompatible with Coffeescript's class-based extend. TypeScript users may have similar issues.

For instance, this will not work since it never actually calls AmpersandState.extend:

class Foo extends AmpersandView
     constructor: (options)->
         @special = options.special
         super

constructor/initialize new AmpersandState([attrs], [options])

When creating an instance of a state object, you can pass in the initial values of the attributes which will be set on the state. Unless extraProperties is set to allow, you will need to have defined these attributes in props or session.

If you have defined an initialize function for your subclass of State, it will be invoked at creation time.

var me = new Person({
    firstName: 'Phil'
    lastName: 'Roberts'
});

me.firstName //=> Phil

Available options:

idAttribute state.idAttribute

The attribute that should be used as the unique id of the state. getId uses this to determine the id for use when constructing a model's url for saving to the server.

Defaults to 'id'.

var Person = AmpersandModel.extend({
    idAttribute: 'personId',
    urlRoot: '/people',
    props: {
        personId: 'number',
        name: 'string'
    }
});

var me = new Person({ personId: 123 });

console.log(me.url()) //=> "/people/123"

getId state.getId()

Get ID of state per idAttribute configuration. Should always be how ID is determined by other code.

namespaceAttribute state.namespaceAttribute

The property name that should be used as a namespace. Namespaces are completely optional, but exist in case you need to make an additionl distinction between states, that may be of the same type, with potentially conflicting IDs but are in fact different.

Defaults to 'namespace'.

getNamespace state.getNamespace()

Get namespace of state per namespaceAttribute configuration. Should always be how namespace is determined by other code.

typeAttribute

The property name that should be used to specify what type of state this is. This is optional, but specifying a state type types provides a standard, yet configurable way to determine what type of state it is.

Defaults to 'modelType'.

getType state.getType()

Get type of state per typeAttribute configuration. Should always be how type is determined by other code.

extraProperties AmpersandState.extend({ extraProperties: 'allow' })

Defines how properties that aren't defined in props, session or derived are handled. May be set to 'allow', 'ignore' or 'reject'.

Defaults to 'ignore'.

var StateA = AmpersandState.extend({
    extraProperties: 'allow',
});

var stateA = new StateA({ foo: 'bar' });
stateA.foo === 'bar' //=> true


var StateB = AmpersandState.extend({
    extraProperties: 'ignore',
});

var stateB = new StateB({ foo: 'bar' });
stateB.foo === undefined //=> true


var stateC = AmpersandState.extend({
    extraProperties: 'reject'
});

var stateC = new StateC({ foo: 'bar' })
//=> TypeError('No foo property defined on this state and extraProperties not set to "ignore" or "allow".');

collection state.collection

A reference to the collection a state is in, if in a collection.

This is used for building the default url property, etc.

Which is why you can do this:

// some ampersand-rest-collection instance
// with a `url` property
widgets.url //=> '/api/widgets'

// get a widget from our collection
var badWidget = widgets.get('47');

// Without a `collection` reference this
// widget wouldn't know what URL to build
// when calling destroy
badWidget.destroy(); // does a DELETE /api/widgets/47

cid state.cid

A special property of states, the cid, or a client id, is a unique identifier automatically assigned to all states when they are first created. Client ids are handy when the state has not been saved to the server, and so does not yet have its true id, but needs a unique id (so it can be rendered in the UI, etc.).

var userA = new User();
console.log(userA.cid) //=> "state-1"

var userB = new User();
console.log(userB.cid) //=> "state-2"

isNew state.isNew()

Has this state been saved to the server yet? If the state does not yet have an id (using getId()), it is considered to be new.

escape state.escape()

Similar to get, but returns the HTML-escaped version of a state's attribute. If you're interpolating data from the state into HTML, use escape when retrieving attributes to help prevent XSS attacks.

var hacker = new PersonModel({
    name: "<script>alert('xss')</script>"
});

document.body.innerHTML = hacker.escape('name');

isValid state.isValid()

Check if the state is currently valid. It does this by calling the state's validate method (if you've provided one).

dataTypes AmpersandState.extend({ datatypes: myCustomTypes })

ampersand-state defines several built-in datatypes: string, number, boolean, array, object, date, or any. Of these, object, array and any allow for a lot of extra flexibility. However sometimes it may be useful to define your own custom datatypes. Then you can use these types in the props below with all their features (like required, default, etc).

To define a type, you generally will provide an object with 4 member functions (though only 2 are usually necessary) get, set, default, and compare.

For example, let's say your application uses a special type of date, JulianDate. You'd like to setup this as a type in state, but don't want to just use any or object as the type. To define it:

// Julian Date is a 'class' defined elsewhere: 
// it has an 'equals' method and takes `{julianDays : number}` as a constructor

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
   dataTypes : {
        julianDate : {
           // set called every time someone tried to set a property of this datatype
           set : function(newVal){                 
               if(newVal instanceof JulianDate){
                   return {
                       val : newVal,
                       type : 'julianDate'
                   };
               }
               try{
                   // try to parse it from passed in value:
                   var newDate = new JulianDate(newVal);

                   return {
                       val : newDate,
                       type : 'julianDate'
                   };
               }catch(parseError){
                   // return the value with what we think its type is
                   return {
                       val : newVal,
                       type : typeof newVal
                   };
               }
           },
           compare : function(currentVal, newVal, attributeName){
               return currentVal.equals(newVal);
           }
       }

   }
   props : {
       bornOn : 'julianDate',
       retiresOn : {
           type : 'julianDate',
           required : 'true',
           default : function(){
                  // assuming an 'add' function on julian date which returns a new JulianDate
                  return this.bornOn.add('60','years');               
               }
           }
   }
});

var person = new Person({ bornOn : new JulianDate({julianDays : 1000}); }
// this will also work and will build a new JulianDate
var person = new Person({bornOn : {julianDays : 1000}});

// will construct a new julian date for us
// and will also trigger a change event
person.bornOn = {julianDays : 1001}; 

// but this will not trigger a change event since the equals method would return true
person.bornOn = {julianDays : 1001};

props AmpersandState.extend({ props: { name: 'string' } })

The props object describes the observable properties of your state class. Always pass props to extend; never set it on an instance, as it won't define new properties.

Properties can be defined in three different ways:

Trying to set a property to an invalid type will throw an error.

See get and set for more information about getting and setting properties.

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        name: 'string',
        age: 'number',
        paying: ['boolean', true, false], // required attribute, defaulted to false
        type: {
            type: 'string',
            values: ['regular-hero', 'super-hero', 'mega-hero']
        }
    }
});

defaulting to objects/arrays

You will get an error if you try to set the default of any property as either an object or array. This is because those two dataTypes are mutable and passed by reference. (Thus, if you did set a property's default to ['a','b'], it would return the same array on every new instantiation of the state.)

Instead, if you want a property to default to an array or an object, just set default to a function, like this:

AmpersandModel.extend({
    props: {
        checkpoints: {
            type: 'array',
            default: function () { return []; }
        }
    }
});

It's worth noting that both array and object have this behavior built-in: they default to empty versions of themselves. You would only need to do this if you wanted to default to an array/object that wasn't empty.

session AmpersandState.extend({ session: { name: 'string' } })

Session properties are defined and work in exactly the same way as props, but generally only exist for the lifetime of the page. They would not typically be persisted to the server, and are not returned by calls to toJSON() or serialize().

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        name: 'string',
    },
    session: {
        isLoggedIn: 'boolean'
    }
);

derived

Derived properties (also known as computed properties) are properties of the state object that depend on other properties (from props, session, or even derived) to determine their value. Best demonstrated with an example:

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        firstName: 'string',
        lastName: 'string'
    },
    derived: {
        fullName: {
            deps: ['firstName', 'lastName'],
            fn: function () {
                return this.firstName + ' ' + this.lastName;
            }
        }
    }
});

var person = new Person({ firstName: 'Phil', lastName: 'Roberts' });
console.log(person.fullName) //=> "Phil Roberts"

person.firstName = 'Bob';
console.log(person.fullName) //=> "Bob Roberts"

Each derived property is defined as an object with the following properties:

Derived properties are retrieved and fire change events just like any other property. However, they cannot be set directly. Caching ensures that the fn function is only run when any of the dependencies change, and change events are only fired if the result of calling fn() has actually changed.

children AmpersandState.extend({ children: { profile: Profile } })

Define child state objects to attach to the object. Attributes passed to the constructor or to set() will be proxied to the children/collections. Childen's change events are proxied to the parent.

var AmpersandState = require('ampersand-state');
var Hat = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        color: 'string'
    }
});

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        name: 'string'
    },
    children: {
        hat: Hat
    }
});

var me = new Person({ name: 'Phil', hat: { color: 'red' } });

me.on('all', function (eventName) {
    console.log('Got event: ', eventName);
});

console.log(me.hat) //=> Hat{color: 'red'}

me.set({ hat: { color: 'green' } });
//-> "Got event: change:hat.color"
//-> "Got event: change"

console.log(me.hat) //=> Hat{color: 'green'}

collections AmpersandState.extend({ collections: { widgets: Widgets } })

Define child collection objects to attach to the object. Attributes passed to the constructor or to set() will be proxied to the collections.

Note: Currently, events don't automatically proxy from collections to parent. This is for efficiency reasons. But there are ongoing discussions about how to best handle this.

var State = require('ampersand-state');
var Collection = require('ampersand-collection');

var Widget = State.extend({
    props: {
        name: 'string',
        funLevel: 'number'
    }
});

var WidgetCollection = Collection.extend({
    model: Widget
});

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        name: 'string'
    },
    collections: {
        widgets: WidgetCollection
    }
});

var me = new Person({
    name: 'Henrik', 
    widgets: [
        { name: 'rc car', funLevel: 8 },
        { name: 'skis', funLevel: 11 }
    ]
});

console.log(me.widgets.length); //=> 2
console.log(me.widgets instanceof WidgetCollection); //=> true

parse

parse is called when the state is initialized, allowing the attributes to be modified, remapped, renamed, etc., before they are actually applied to the state. In ampersand-state, parse is only called when the state is initialized, and only if { parse: true } is passed to the constructor's options:

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        id: 'number',
        name: 'string'
    },

    parse: function (attrs) {
        attrs.id = attrs.personID; //remap an oddly named attribute
        delete attrs.personID;

        return attrs;
    }
});

var me = new Person({ personID: 123, name: 'Phil' },{ parse: true});

console.log(me.id) //=> 123
console.log(me.personID) //=> undefined

parse is arguably more useful in ampersand-model, where data typically comes from the server.

serialize state.serialize()

Serialize the state object into a plain object, ready for sending to the server (typically called via toJSON). Of the state's properties, only props is returned, session and derived are omitted. Will also serialize any children or collections by calling their serialize methods.

get state.get(attribute); state[attribute]; state.firstName

Get the current value of an attribute from the state object. Attributes can be accessed directly, or a call to the Backbone style get. So these are all equivalent:

person.get('firstName');
person['firstName'];
person.firstName

Get will retrieve props, session or derived properties all in the same way.

set state.set(attributes, [options]); state.firstName = 'Henrik';

Sets an attribute, or multiple attributes, on the state object. If any of the state object's attributes change, it will trigger a "change" event. Change events for specific attributes are also triggered, which you can listen to as well. For example: "change:firstName" and "change:content". If the changes update any derived properties on the object, their values will be updated, and change events fired as well.

Attributes can be set directly, or via a call to the backbone style set (useful if you wish to update multiple attributes at once):

person.set({firstName: 'Phil', lastName: 'Roberts'});
person.set('firstName', 'Phil');
person.firstName = 'Phil';

Possible options (when using state.set()):

unset state.unset(attribute, [options])

Clear the named attribute from the state object. Fires a "change" event and a "change:attributeName" event unless silent is passed as an option.

If the attribute being unset is required and has a default value as defined in either props or session, it will be set to that value, otherwise it will be undefined.

person.unset('firstName')

clear state.clear([options])

Clear all the attributes from the state object, by calling the unset function for each attribute, with the options provided.

person.clear()

toggle state.toggle('a')

Shortcut to toggle boolean properties, or cycle through “ENUM” type properties with a values array in their definition. Fires "change" events, as you would expect from set().

var Person = AmpersandState.extend({
    props: {
        active: 'boolean',
        color: {
            type: 'string',
            values: ['red', 'green', 'blue']
        }
    }
});

var me = new Person({ active: true, color: 'green' });

me.toggle('active');
console.log(me.active) //=> false

me.toggle('color');
console.log(me.color) //=> 'blue'

me.toggle('color');
console.log(me.color) //=> 'red'

previousAttributes state.previousAttributes()

Return a copy of the object's previous attributes (the state before the last "change" event). Useful for getting a diff between versions of a state, or getting back to a valid state after an error occurs.

hasChanged state.hasChanged([attribute])

Determine if the state has been modified since the last "change" event. If an attribute name is passed, determine if that one attribute has changed.

changedAttributes state.changedAttributes([objectToDiff])

Return an object containing all the attributes that have changed, or false if there are no changed attributes. Useful for determining what parts of a view need to be updated and/or what attributes need to be persisted to the server. Unset attributes will be set to undefined. You can also pass an attributes object to diff against the state, determining if there would be a change.

Note that if passing an attributes object to diff against, only changes to properties defined on the model will be detected. This means that changes to children or collections will not be returned as changes by this method.

toJSON state.toJSON()

Return a shallow copy of the state's attributes for JSON stringification. This can be used for persistence, serialization, or augmentation, before being sent to the server. The name of this method is a bit confusing, as it doesn't actually return a JSON string — but I'm afraid that it's the way that the JavaScript API for JSON.stringify works.

Calls serialize to determine which values to return in the object. Will be called implicitly by JSON.stringify.

var me = new Person({ firstName: 'Phil', lastName: 'Roberts' });

me.toJSON() //=> { firstName: 'Phil', lastName: 'Roberts' }

//JSON.stringify implicitly calls toJSON:
JSON.stringify(me) //=> "{\"firstName\":\"Phil\",\"lastName\":\"Roberts\"}"