behaviour 3.0.1

This package adds support for behaviours. Behaviours are classes of which the instances are used as functions.

Behaviour

Behaviours are classes of which the instances are used as functions.

Why?

When writing code it is best to keep concerns separated and code testable. A behaviour helps with this. It is comparable with a global function which must be instantiated before it can be used. Because it is like a global function it only has one concern: executing one piece of logic, one behaviour. Because it still is a class, it can be injected where needed and/or mocked in testing.

A behaviour itself will never throw an exception. All exceptions/errors are caught and returned in a ExceptionOr<TSuccess> format which is either a Failed or a Success. The Failed contains the exception and the Success contains the return value if any.

Getting started

With input

Behaviour<TIn, TOut>

The standard behaviour receives an input parameter of type TIn and returns a TOut. If no output parameter is required it can be made void. A behaviour returns when called an Future<ExceptionOr<TSuccess>> value. For more details about that look at the Return value.

class CreateCustomer extends Behaviour<CreateCustomerParams, void> {
  @override
  Future<void> action(CreateCustomerParams input, BehaviourTrack? track) {
    // TODO logic to create a customer
    return Future.value();
  }
}

class CreateCustomerParams {
  const CreateCustomerParams({
    required this.name,
    required this.address,
    required this.phoneNumber,
  });

  final String name;
  final String address;
  final String phoneNumber;
}

Without input

BehaviourWithoutInput<TOut>

This behaviour does not receive an input parameter and returns a TOut. If no output parameter is required it can be made void. A behaviour returns when called an ExceptionOr<TSuccess> value. For more details about that look at the Return value.

class GetProfileData extends BehaviourWithoutInput<ProfileData> {
  @override
  Future<ProfileData> action(BehaviourTrack? track) {
    return Future.value(ProfileData(
      name: 'Wim',
      birthday: DateTime(1993, 10, 07),
    ));
  }
}

class ProfileData {
  const ProfileData({
    required this.name,
    required this.birthday,
  });

  final String name;
  final DateTime birthday;
}

Return value

The return value of a behaviour is always an ExceptionOr<TSuccess> value. This is an abstract class with two implementers: Failed<TSuccess> and Success<TSuccess> with each an exception and value property respectively. To determine what the received value is, the when method is provided (and thenWhen for async methods).

Future<void> main() {
  await getProfileData().thenWhen(
    (exception) => log('Exception: $exception'),
    (value) => log('value: $value'),
  );
}

Behaviour monitor

To monitor what the behaviour is doing a BehaviourMonitor exits. This is a factory class which creates a BehaviourTrack. During the call of a behaviour, the different methods of this track are called.

• start when the action is executed
• end when the action has successfully been completed.
• stopWithException when an exception happens.
• stopWithError when anything else is caught.

This monitor can be used to do logging/analytics/...