I would like to map some actions in a child class to their super class, but I cannot figure it out. Example below...
abstract class A {
abstract def foo()
def aAction1 = {
// do something
render(view: '/someView')
}
def aAction2 = {
SomeObject someObject ->
// do something
render(view: '/someView2')
}
}
class B extents A {
def foo() { return "Hello World" }
# map to parent action
# works fine
def jump = super.&aAction1
# doesnt work ... Why? and can I make it work?
def swim = { SomeObject someObject ->
super.aAction2(someObject)
}
}
Any ideas on this one? Thanks.
So it turns out it didnt work because the parameters were slightly different. It does seem to work as expected. If you are having issues with this, make sure that the parameters for any inherited classes are exactly the same as the parent.
Related
I have a Grails application. I want to use a value from Grails controller class (say MyController) inside a class in src/groovy/MyClass.groovy
How can I pass the value from Grails controller class to this class? I couldn't find anything relevant.
I tried this:
class MyController {
def name = "myapp"
}
Class MyClass{
def username = MyController.name
}
Please correct me . Thanks
It is hard to say for sure without knowing what you are doing but your probably want to pass the value as an argument to a method in MyClass and you probably don't want the value to be a field in the controller class.
class MyController {
def someControllerAction() {
def name = // I don't know where you are
// getting this value, but you got it from somewhere
def mc = new MyClass()
mc.someMethod(name)
// ...
}
}
class MyClass {
def someMethod(String name) {
// do whatever you want to do with the name
}
}
Or you could pass the value as a constructor argument:
class MyController {
def someControllerAction() {
def name = // I don't know where you are
// getting this value, but you got it from somewhere
def mc = new MyClass(name: name)
// ...
}
}
class MyClass {
def name
}
I hope that helps.
In grails controller examples, I have seen save(Model modelInstance) and save(). I tried them both, both of them works. I imagine grails instantiates the modelInstance with the params. Is my assumption correct?
I also noticed in index(Integer max), does the param has to be named max? or any name would work as long as it is a number?
How does these passing of arguments work underneath?
If you write a controller like this...
class MyController {
def actionOne() {
// your code here
}
def actionTwo(int max) {
// your code here
}
def actionThree(SomeCommandObject co) {
// your code here
}
}
The Grails compiler will turn that in to something like this (not exactly this, but this describes effectively what is happening in a way that I think addresses your question)...
class MyController {
def actionOne() {
// Grails adds some code here to
// do some stuff that the framework needs
// your code here
}
// Grails generates this method...
def actionTwo() {
// the parameter doesn't have to be called
// "max", it could be anything.
int max = params.int('max')
actionTwo(max)
}
def actionTwo(int max) {
// Grails adds some code here to
// do some stuff that the framework needs
// your code here
}
// Grails generates this method...
def actionThree() {
def co = new SomeCommandObject()
bindData co, params
co.validate()
actionThree(co)
}
def actionThree(SomeCommandObject co) {
// Grails adds some code here to
// do some stuff that the framework needs
// your code here
}
}
There is other stuff going on to do things like impose allowedMethods checks, impose error handling, etc.
I hope that helps.
Take the following controller:
package test
class TestController {
static defaultAction = "test"
def test() {
render "test"
}
}
Why is test defined with def test() { instead of something like void test() {? Isn't the def keyword only used for closures or functions in a script (i.e. not in a Groovy class)?
render is void so in this case the test action could be void, but in the case where you return a model map the action has to be non-void:
def create() {
[personInstance: new Person(params)]
}
Since some actions can return a value and some don't, the general syntax has to return def to support all variants.
Burt's answer is correct but the real problem I was having is that I misunderstood what def is. Rather than being like var in JavaScript, you can think of it like Object in Java.
I thought that using def was like doing (JavaScript)
var test = function() {
alert("test");
}
while in reality it's just like (Java)
public Object test() {
return someObject;
}
It's not a different kind of function/closure, it's like a return type—def can be applied to any object (Groovy has no data primitives, so any value is also an object, unlike in Java).
It helps my Java brain to think of
def bar = "foo";
as
Object bar = "foo";
I am looking for ways on how to cleanup my Grails controller code. In various controllers i more or less have the same logic..
get the object
check if it exists
etc..
Is there a suggested way on making controller actions reuse common code?
--- solution ---
All answers to the question have contributed to the solution we have implemented.
We created a class that is used in our controllers using the Mixin approach. One of the methods that the mixin exposes is the withObject method. This method takes the domainname from the controller and uses this a base for the method. This behaviour can be overridden of course!
def withObject(object=this.getClass().getName()-"Controller", id="id", Closure c) {
assert object
def obj = grailsApplication.classLoader.loadClass(object).get(params[id])
if(obj) {
c.call obj
} else {
flash.message = "The object was not found"
redirect action: "list"
}
}
So all answers have contributed to the solution! Thanks a lot!
I always pull out this blog post when this question comes up:
http://mrpaulwoods.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/a-pattern-to-simplify-grails-controllers/
Basically you have a private helper for various domains in your controllers.
private def withPerson(id="id", Closure c) {
def person = Person.get(params[id])
if(person) {
c.call person
} else {
flash.message = "The person was not found."
redirect action:"list"
}
}
The way you code the getter is very flexible and a typical use for me (that is not covered in the blog) is for editing etc.
I normally code this way (i like the pattern for its clear division and readability):
def editIssue() {
withIssue { Issue issue ->
def issueTypes = IssueTypeEnum.values().collect {it.text }
[issueTypes:issueTypes,activePage:"issue", issue: issue]
}
}
def doEditIssue(IssueCommand cmd) {
if(cmd.validate()) {
withIssue { Issue issue ->
issue.updateIssue(cmd)
redirect(action: "show", id: issue.id)
}
}
else {
def issueTypes = IssueTypeEnum.values().collect {it.text }
render(view: "edit", model:[issueTypes:issueTypes,issue:cmd,activePage:"issue"])
}
}
With my getter helper being:
private def withIssue( Closure c) {
def issue = Issue.get(params.id)
if(issue) {
c.call issue
}
else {
response.sendError(404)
}
}
I do think that the mixin method (very similar to the 'extend a common abstract controller' way) is nice too, but this way gives two advantages:
You can type the helper, like you see I do in the closure giving you access to the methods etc in STS/IDEA (not tested Netbeans)
The repetition is not very high, and the ability to change the getter (to use for example BarDomain.findByFoo(params.id) etc)
In the view I bind to edit() I just put an id="${issue.id}" in the <g:form> and it works seamlessly.
I wouldn't recommend inheritance for that, as you can't spread generic methods in several super classes. Your abstract class would quickly become messy if you have many controllers. You can't use composition (for instance using a Service) because you don't have access to response, render, or params directly from there.
The approach I use is to inject generic methods via Mixins.
#Mixin(ControllerGenericActions)
#Mixin(ControllerUtil)
class BookController {
def show = &genericShow.curry(Book)
def exists = {
render(idExists(Book))
}
}
The first action show uses a generic method in ControllerGenericActions.groovy, with an argument binded to it. The second use of a mixin idExists method is inside a controller action.
Here is an example code for src/groovy/ControllerGenericActions.groovy
class ControllerGeneric {
def genericShow(Class clazz) {
render clazz.get(params.id) as XML
}
}
and in src/groovy/ControllerUtil.groovy
class ControllerUtil {
def idExists (Class clazz) {
return clazz.get(params.id) != null
}
Not very useful in this case, but you get the idea.
Implement abstract controller with common methods (use 'protected' directive) and extend from it your real controllers. Do not use 'get' and 'set' words at the beginning of this method's names. Not good, but it works.
Normally for a Grails domain or command class, you declare your constraints and the framework adds a validate() method that checks whether each of these constraints is valid for the current instance e.g.
class Adult {
String name
Integer age
void preValidate() {
// Implementation omitted
}
static constraints = {
name(blank: false)
age(min: 18)
}
}
def p = new Person(name: 'bob', age: 21)
p.validate()
In my case I want to make sure that preValidate is always executed before the class is validated. I could achieve this by adding a method
def customValidate() {
preValidate()
validate()
}
But then everyone who uses this class needs to remember to call customValidate instead of validate. I can't do this either
def validate() {
preValidate()
super.validate()
}
Because validate is not a method of the parent class (it's added by metaprogramming). Is there another way to achieve my goal?
You should be able to accomplish this by using your own version of validate on the metaclass, when your domain/command class has a preValidate() method. Something similar to the below code in your BootStrap.groovy could work for you:
class BootStrap {
def grailsApplication // Set via dependency injection
def init = { servletContext ->
for (artefactClass in grailsApplication.allArtefacts) {
def origValidate = artefactClass.metaClass.getMetaMethod('validate', [] as Class[])
if (!origValidate) {
continue
}
def preValidateMethod = artefactClass.metaClass.getMetaMethod('preValidate', [] as Class[])
if (!preValidateMethod) {
continue
}
artefactClass.metaClass.validate = {
preValidateMethod.invoke(delegate)
origValidate.invoke(delegate)
}
}
}
def destroy = {
}
}
You may be able to accomplish your goal using the beforeValidate() event. It's described in the 1.3.6 Release Notes.