Feature: Returning the current state of builder

[chrisbewz]

Hey,

Is it possible to add support for returning the current state of the object being built by the builder class?

I'm aiming to implement something like this sample:

[FluentApi("{Name}Builder")]
public sealed class LoggerSettings
{
    
    [FluentMember(0)]
    public LogLevel MinimumLogLevel { get; init; }
    
    [FluentMember(1)]
    public FileLoggerConfiguration File { get; init; }
}

Then on a separate class i declare a method that takes an action that relies on the generated builder to setup:

public class Logger
{
  /// <summary>
  /// Configures the static logger settings.
  /// </summary>
  /// <param name="configure">A delegate that defines the logic to configure the logger settings builder.</param>
  public static void ConfigureLogger(Action<LoggerSettingsBuilder.ILoggerSettingsBuilder> configure)
  {
      var builder = LoggerSettingsBuilder.InitialStep();
      configure(builder);
      Settings = builder.Value();
  }
}

Value() would return the inner LoggerSettings object as it is and it so we can use it on wherever is necessary. The Value method would also be capable of being called whenever the current build step is.

I checked on other issues and found that something related was mentioned on #9, but applied to another scenario.

[m31coding]

Hi @chrisbewz,

thank you for your request. I’ve considered the proposed Value method, but I’m not yet convinced it would be a meaningful addition to the library. If LoggerSettings can be valid even when some members are not initialized, I recommend reflecting that in the model:

[FluentApi("{Name}Builder")]
public sealed class LoggerSettings
{
    [FluentMember(0)]
    [FluentSkippable]
    public LogLevel MinimumLogLevel { get; init; }

    [FluentMember(1)]
    [FluentSkippable]
    public FileLoggerConfiguration File { get; init; }

    [FluentMethod(2)]
    public void Value()
    {
    }
}

You can then use it like so:

/// <summary>
/// Configures the static logger settings.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="configure">A delegate that defines the logic to configure the logger settings builder.</param>
public static void ConfigureLogger(
    Func<LoggerSettingsBuilder.ILoggerSettingsBuilder, LoggerSettingsBuilder.IValue> configure)
{
    var builder = LoggerSettingsBuilder.InitialStep();
    var settings = configure(builder).Value();
}

Logger.ConfigureLogger(c => c);
Logger.ConfigureLogger(c => c.WithMinimumLogLevel(LogLevel.Debug));
Logger.ConfigureLogger(c => c.WithFile(fileLoggerConfig));
Logger.ConfigureLogger(c => c.WithMinimumLogLevel(LogLevel.Debug).WithFile(fileLoggerConfig));

Alternatively you could get the LoggerSettings inside your ConfigureLogger method via reflection.

Please let me know if either of these approaches works for you.

Best regards,
Kevin

[chrisbewz]

Hi @m31coding, thanks for having the time to answer my questions.

At least from what I understood reading the docs, nothing was mentioning that this is possible using the attribute FluentMethod. I think this fits in the "additional behaviors" mention on docs right?

Initially I thought that one way of achieving the same expected outcome was using FluentMethod and FluentReturn attributes combined like here, but your suggestion is exactly what I was willing to implement.

[m31coding]

Glad to help!

If you don't care about the order of initialization, you can also define your class like this:

[FluentApi("{Name}Builder")]
public sealed class LoggerSettings
{
    [FluentMember(0)]
    [FluentContinueWith(0)]
    public LogLevel MinimumLogLevel { get; init; }

    [FluentMember(0)]
    [FluentContinueWith(0)]
    public FileLoggerConfiguration File { get; init; }

    [FluentMember(0)]
    public void Value()
    {
    }
}

A similar example can already be found here. I'll clarify these possibilities in the README. Thanks for pointing that out!

Best regards,
Kevin