nightshift-core

NightShift has been designed to be configurable and extendable.

Configurability

The configurability allows you to use only the features that you need and to avoid undesired dependencies. For example, if you are only interested in dependency injection, then you can configure NightShift as below.

var nightShift = require('nightshift-core');
var di = require('nightshift-dependency-injection');

nightShift.plugin(di);

NightShift is exactly what you want it to be!

Extendability

The extendability allows you to enrich NightShift with your own plugins. A NightShift plugin is nothing more than a function that enriches the NightShift core object. For example, the plugin below adds logging capabilities to NightShift.

module.exports = function plugin(nightShift) {
    nightShift.logger = {...};    
};

A plugin can rely on the availability of other plugins at runtime. However, it is recommended not to make a plugin explicitly dependent on another plugin. This makes it possible to combine different versions or implementations of the same plugins.

Demo

Discover what you can do with NightShift in this demo!

Working with Promises

NightShift encourages the usage of promises instead of callback functions.

NightShift supports two ways of working with promises: one that creates a new promise for an executor function (like ES6 or bluebird), and the other one that creates a deferred object (like Q).

By default, NightShift relies on ES6 native promises. However, it is possible to plug another promise implementation. For example, you can use the nightshift-bluebird plugin.

Promise

nightShift.promises.Promise is the constructor function for promises.

newPromise(executor)

The method nightShift.promises.newPromise(executor) creates a new promise, initially in the pending state, and provides references to the resolving functions that can be used to change its state - executor(resolve, reject). It will not return until the given executor function has completed. The resolving functions can be used at any time, before or after the executor has completed, to control the final state of the promise. If the executor throws an exception, its value will be passed to the reject resolving function.

var promise = nightShift.promises.newPromise(function (resolve, reject) { 
    ... 
});

defer()

The method nightShift.promises.defer() creates a deferred object that exposes the associated promise as well as the resolving functions that can be used to change its state.

var deferred = nightShift.promises.defer();

var promise = deferred.promise;

// use deferred.resolve(...) or deferred.reject(...) to change the state of the promise

Function Utilities

The NightShift core object provides some function-related utilities.

factoryOf(ConstructorFn)

The usage of the new keyword prevents a module from being testable in isolation. Using new makes it impossible to test a module without retesting the delegate it instantiates. A solution is to encapsulate the instantiation in a factory which can then be injected in the module and mocked for the testing.

The method nightShift.functions.factoryOf(ConstructorFn) creates a factory that can instantiate objects by invoking the given constructor function with the parameters it receives.

it('should return a factory for the given constructor function', function () {
    var Point  = function (x, y) {
        this.x = x;
        this.y = y;
    };
    var factory = nightShift.functions.factoryOf(Point);
    expect(factory(10, 20)).toEqual(new Point(10, 20));
});

getParamNames(fn)

The method nightShift.functions.getParamNames(fn) returns an array listing the names of the parameters of the given function. The array is empty if the function does not expect any parameter.

it('should return the names of the parameters of the given function', function () {
    expect(nightShift.functions.getParamNames(function () {})).toEqual([]);
    expect(nightShift.functions.getParamNames(function (one) {})).toEqual(['one']);
    expect(nightShift.functions.getParamNames(function (one, two) {})).toEqual(['one', 'two']);
});

getNbOfParams(fn)

The method nightShift.functions.getNbOfParams(fn) returns the number of parameters which are expected by the given function.

it('should return the number of parameters of the given function', function () {
    expect(nightShift.functions.getNbOfParams(function () {})).toEqual(0);
    expect(nightShift.functions.getNbOfParams(function (one) {})).toEqual(1);
    expect(nightShift.functions.getNbOfParams(function (one, two) {})).toEqual(2);
});

Contribute

The tests can be executed by running the command below.

npm install && npm test

The test coverage can be checked by running the command below. It executes the tests and it generates a coverage report in build/coverage/index.html.

npm install && npm build-coverage

The quality of the code can be checked by running the command below. It detects potential problems in the code with JSHint, it executes the tests and it generates a coverage report.

npm install && npm build