Sharkitek Core

Introduction

Sharkitek is a Javascript / TypeScript library designed to ease development of client-side models.

With Sharkitek, you define the architecture of your models by applying decorators (which define their type) on your class properties. Then, you can use the defined methods like serialize, deserialize or serializeDiff.

Sharkitek makes use of decorators as defined in the TypeScript Reference. Due to the way decorators work, you must always set a value to your properties when you declare them, even if this value is undefined.

class Example extends Model
{
	@Property(SNumeric)
	@Identifier
	id: number = undefined;
	
	@Property(SString)
	name: string = undefined;
}

Examples

Simple model definition

/**
 * A person.
 */
class Person extends Model
{
	@Property(SNumeric)
	@Identifier
	id: number = undefined;
	
	@Property(SString)
	name: string = undefined;

	@Property(SString)
	firstName: string = undefined;

	@Property(SString)
	email: string = undefined;
}

Important: You must set a value to all your defined properties. If there is no set value, the decorator will not be applied instantly on object initialization and the deserialization will not work properly.

/**
 * An article.
 */
class Article extends Model
{
	@Property(SNumeric)
	@Identifier
	id: number = undefined;

	@Property(SString)
	title: string = undefined;

	@Property(SArray(SModel(Author)))
	authors: Author[] = [];

	@Property(SString)
	text: string = undefined;

	@Property(SDecimal)
	evaluation: number = undefined;
}

API

Types

Types are defined by a class extending Type.

Sharkitek defines some basic types by default, in these classes:

• StringType: string in the model, string in the serialized object.
• NumericType: number in the model, number in the serialized object.
• DecimalType: number in the model, formatted string in the serialized object.
• ArrayType: array in the model, array in the serialized object.
• ModelType: instance of a specific class in the model, object in the serialized object.

When you are defining a Sharkitek property, you must provide its type by instantiating one of these classes.

class Example extends Model
{
	@Property(new StringType())
	foo: string = undefined;
}

To ease the use of these classes and reduce read complexity, some constant variables and functions are defined in the library, following a certain naming convention: "S{type_name}".

• StringType => SString
• NumericType => SNumeric
• DecimalType => SDecimal
• ArrayType => SArray
• ModelType => SModel

When the types require parameters, the constant is defined as a function. If there is no parameter, then a simple variable is enough.

Type implementers should provide a corresponding variable or function for each defined type. They can even provide multiple functions or constants when predefined parameters. (For example, we could define SStringArray which would be a variable similar to SArray(SString).)

class Example extends Model
{
	@Property(SString)
	foo: string = undefined;
}

Models

serialize()

Serialize the model.

Example:

const serializedObject = model.serialize();

deserialize(serializedObject)

Deserialize the model.

Example:

const model = (new TestModel()).deserialize({
	id: 5,
	title: "Hello World!",
	users: [
		{
			id: 6,
			name: "TEST",
		},
	],
});

serializeDiff()

Serialize the difference between current model state and original one.

Example:

const model = (new TestModel()).deserialize({
	id: 5,
	title: "Hello World!",
	users: [
		{
			id: 6,
			name: "TEST",
		},
	],
});

model.title = "A new title for a new world";

const result = model.serializeDiff();
// if `id` is defined as the model identifier:
// result = { id: 5, title: "A new title for a new world" }
// if `id` is not defined as the model identifier:
// result = { title: "A new title for a new world" }

resetDiff()

Set current properties values as original values.

Example:

const model = (new TestModel()).deserialize({
	id: 5,
	title: "Hello World!",
	users: [
		{
			id: 6,
			name: "TEST",
		},
	],
});

model.title = "A new title for a new world";

model.resetDiff();

const result = model.serializeDiff();
// if `id` is defined as the model identifier:
// result = { id: 5 }
// if `id` is not defined as the model identifier:
// result = {}

save()

Get difference between original values and current ones, then reset it. Similar to call serializeDiff() then resetDiff().

const model = (new TestModel()).deserialize({
	id: 5,
	title: "Hello World!",
	users: [
		{
			id: 6,
			name: "TEST",
		},
	],
});

model.title = "A new title for a new world";

const result = model.save();
// if `id` is defined as the model identifier:
// result = { id: 5, title: "A new title for a new world" }
// if `id` is not defined as the model identifier:
// result = { title: "A new title for a new world" }