Hytex

Hytex is a state container for JS applications. It watches changing objects and trigger re-rendering of views or UI components using framework like react. It is a lightweight alternative for Redux, Mobx or Flux.

Compatible with all serious browsers

Works with: IE 9+, FF 4+, SF 5+, WebKit, CH 7+, OP 12+, Node.JS

Why?

JS single-page applications have become increasingly common these days together with the ever increasing complexity in both user experience and UI state. Data flow patterns like Redux or Flux appear to solve this problem. They both have three major parts: store, action, and dispatcher（reducer in Redux). The most important concept they develop is that the state of application is stored in one object tree within a single store, and the only way to change the it is to emit an message that tells which part of data should be modified. After receiving the message, a callback function will be applied to do the state modification.

Using Redux or Flux do relieve the pain of managing application state. But they also bring up new headache:

• We need to create a lot of files for actions and dispatchers（reducers in Redux).
• State changes can only happen when an action is dispatched which is unfriendly for developers.
• We have to put fetching data logic in some places (action files) and processing data logic in another places (reducers).

The last point is the most obvious disadvantage of Redux and Flux. The idea that state of application is stored in one object tree is great, but using patterns like actions or reducers bring up unnecessary burden for all developers. Message mechanism is a classical design pattern in software engineering for connecting different architecture modules, however, put it inside one architecture module is not reasonable.

In Hytex, I retain the concept of stores but no longer use actions, dispatchers and reducers. Changing application state can be accomplished by a simple assignment operation. Like "react-redux", Hytex provide a connect function to hook state store and UI components, any data change will trigger the re-rendering of corresponding UI components.

Installation

npm install hytex --save

//ES5
var Store = require("hytex").store;
var connectReact = require("hytex").connectReact;
//ES6
import {store, reactConnect } from 'hytex';

Simple Example

We use hytex to implement a counter, we don't need any action or reducer which used by redux.(view code)
First we initialize our data store.

import { store } from 'hytex';
store.init({
    counter: 0
});

Then, we've got a UI component to display and control the counter number.

import React, { Component } from 'react'
import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 
class Counter extends Component {
    static propTypes = {
        value: PropTypes.number.isRequired,
        onIncrement: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
        onDecrement: PropTypes.func.isRequired
    };
 
    incrementAsync = () => {
        setTimeout(this.props.onIncrement, 1000)
    };
 
    render() {
        const props =  this.props;
        return (
            <p>
                Clicked: {props.value} times
                {' '}
                <button onClick={props.onIncrement}>
                    +
                </button>
                {' '}
                <button onClick={props.onDecrement}>
                    -
                </button>
                {' '}
                <button onClick={props.incrementIfOdd}>
                    Increment if odd
                </button>
                {' '}
                <button onClick={this.incrementAsync}>
                    Increment async
                </button>
            </p>
        )
    }
}
 
export default Counter;

Now we need to relate data to the UI component.
Here we use a container to warp the component, the container do two things:

1. feed data to component stored in hytex .
   
2. pass related properties
   

The changing of counter stored in hytex will trigger re-rendering of the react component and display the new value.

import Counter from './components/Counter';
import {store, reactConnect } from 'hytex';
 
const mapData = (store) => {
    return {
        value: store.counter
    }
};
 
const properties = {
    onIncrement: function () {
        store.counter = store.counter + 1;
    },
    onDecrement: function() {
        store.counter = store.counter - 1;
    },
    incrementIfOdd: function() {
        if (store.counter % 2 !== 0) {
            store.counter = store.counter + 1;
        }
    }
};
 
export default reactConnect(Counter, mapData, properties);

You can runs this example in the development mode. Go to hytex/examples/counter directory, run "npm install" and "npm start", open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

API

store.init(data)

This method should be called before the rendering of any react components subscribe to hytex. You can use it to set the initial value of the store.

Arguments

• [data]:(Object): This argument is to set the initial value of the store, if you don't want anything in the store at the first place, just pass an empty object.

reactConnect(reactComponent, mapStoreDataToProps, [mergeProps])

The method connects a React component to a Hytex store. It does not modify the component class passed to it as the first argument; instead, it returns a new connected component React class for you to use.

Arguments

• [reactComponent](React Class): This argument is the react component to be connected to hytex. It must be specified, and it must be a React class not a stateless react function.

• [mapStoreDataToProps(store): stateProps](Function): This argument defines how the new component subscribes to Hytex updates. This means that any time the store is updated, mapStoreDataToProps will be called. The results of mapStoreDataToProps must be a plain object, which will be merged into the component’s props. and then trigger the render function. This argument must be a function return plain object and must be specified.

• [mergeProps](Object): This argument will be passed as props to the wrapped component. It is an optional argument.

store.observe(obj, [property], callback)

Hytex allows self-define function subscribed to store. Data change will not only trigger the rer-rendering of components, but also trigger the registered callback functions. New data and old data will both be passed to the callback functions.

Arguments

• [obj]:(Object): This argument defines the target to be observed. It should be reference to store or store properties.

• [property]:(string): This argument defines certain property of the first argument to be watched. It should be a string and is optional.

• [callback(oldVal, newVal)](Function): Function to execute when watched object is changed. old data and new data will be passed as the first and second parameters.

Specification

Almost all kinds of data change will trigger callback functions registered in Hytex. All the possibilities are listed as follows, you can try out the 'spec' example to see the results.

change a primitive

store.simpleValue = store.simpleValue + 1;

change object properties

store.changeObject.l = Math.random().toString(36).substr(2, 1);

replace the whole object

store.replaceObject = {
    l: Math.random().toString(36).substr(2, 1),
    n: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)
};

add property to object

const name = Math.random().toString(36).substr(2, 4);
store.newValueObject[name] =  Math.floor(Math.random()*100);

add property to object

const name = Math.random().toString(36).substr(2, 4);
store.newValueObject[name] =  Math.floor(Math.random()*100);

replace the whole array

store.replacedArray = [{value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)}, {value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)},{value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)}]

push, unshift and element to an array

store.addElmArray.push({
    value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)
});
 
store.addElmArray.unshift({
    value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)
});

pop, shift an element from an array

store.addElmArray.shift();
 
store.addElmArray.pop();

change an element in an array

Hytex doesn't watch each element in an array, in order to trigger the callback function, use the 'splice' function to replace the element.

store.replaceElmArray.splice(0,1, {value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)});

insert an element to an array

store.replaceElmArray.splice(0,0, {value: Math.floor(Math.random()*100)});

delete an element from an array

store.deleteElmArray.splice(0,1);

sort or reverse an array

store.sortedArray.sort();
store.sortedArray.reverse();