Macrobot: Macro Commands For Robotlegs2

Macro command utility for Robotlegs which provides the ability to execute batches of commands in sequential or parallel fashion.

NOTE This project is a shameful port of the awesome work that Aaronius made for the first release of Robotlegs.

Introduction

While using Robotlegs and encapsulating your business logic inside commands, you may find yourself in a situation where you wish to batch commands, instead of relying on events to trigger every step.
Macrobot simplifies this process and provide two way to group commands:

Sequence: The commands will be executed in order one after the other. A command will not be executed until the previous one is complete. The macro itself will not be complete until all its commands are complete.

Parallel: The commands will be executed as quickly as possible, with no regards on the order in which they were registered. The macro itself will not be complete until all its commands are complete.

Usage

To create a macro command, extend on the two classes Macrobot provides: ParallelMacro or SequenceMacro.
Override the prepare() method and add sub commands by calling addSubCommand() specifying the command class to use.
At the appropriate time the command will be created, initiated by satisfying the injection points and then executed.
This automated process of instantiation, injection, and execution is very similar to how commands are normally prepared and executed in Robotlegs.
You could use Guards and Hooks as you would normally use with regular commands to control the execution workflow.
Additionally you could use the withPayloads() method to add some data that can be used to satisfy the injection points of the sub commands. The data provided will be available to the guards and hooks applied to the sub command as well.

Here's an example of a simple sequential macro:

public class MyMacro extends SequenceMacro {
	override public function prepare() {
		add(CommandA);
		add(CommandB);
		add(CommandC);
	}
}

Using Guards

Guards are used to approve or deny the execution of one of the subcommands.

public class DailyRoutine extends SequenceMacro {
	override public function prepare() {
		add(Work);
		add(Party).withGuards(IsFriday); // It will only party on fridays
		add(Sleep);
	}
}

public class IsFriday implements IGuard {
	public funciton approve():Boolean {
		return new Date().day = 5;
	}
}

Refer to the Robotlegs documentation for more details about Guards.

Using Hooks

Hooks run before the subcommands. They are typically used to run custom actions based on environmental conditions.
Hooks will run only if the applied Guards approve the execution of the command.

public class DailyRoutine extends SequenceMacro {
	override public function prepare() {
		add(Work);
		add(Party).withGuards(IsFriday); // It will only party on fridays
		add(Sleep).withHook(GoToHome); // Try to avoid sleeping at the office or the pub
	}
}

public class IsFriday implements IHook {
	[Inject] public var me:Person;
	public funciton hook():void {
		me.goHome();
	}
}

Refer to the Robotlegs documentation for more details about Hooks.

Using Payloads

Payloads are used to temporary inject some data, which would not be available otherwise, and make it available to the subcommand, it's guards and it's hooks.

You can use pass the data to be injected directly to the withPayloads() method, for a normal injection.

public class Macro extends SequenceMacro {
	override public function prepare() {
		const data:SomeModel = new SomeModel()
		add(Action).withPayloads(data);
	}
}

public class Action implements ICommand {
	[Inject] public var data:SomeModel;
	public function execute():void {
		data.property = 'value'
	}
}

Or you can use the SubCommandPayload class to create a more complex injection.

public class Macro extends SequenceMacro {
	override public function prepare() {
		const data:SomeModel = new SomeModel()
		const payload:SubCommandPayload = new SubCommandPayload(data).withName('mydata').ofClass(IModel)
		add(Action).withPayloads(payload);
	}
}

public class Action implements ICommand {
	[Inject(name='mydata'] public var data:IModel;
	public function execute():void {
		data.property = 'value'
	}
}

Asynchronous commands

While Macrobot can work with synchronous commands, it is most effective when you have to deal with asynchronous ones.
Your sub command may wait for a response from a server or for user interaction before being marked as complete.
In this case you command can subclass Macrobot's AsyncCommand and call dispatchComplete() when it should be marked as complete.
dispatchComplete() receives a single parameter which reports whether the subcommand completed successfully.

Here's an example of a simulated asynchronous sub command:

public class DelayCommand extends AsyncCommand     {
   protected var timer:Timer;
   override public function execute():void {
   	timer = new Timer(1000, 1);
   	timer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER_COMPLETE, timerCompleteHandler);
   	timer.start();
   }
   protected function timerCompleteHandler(event:TimerEvent):void {
   	timer.removeEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER_COMPLETE, timerCompleteHandler);
   	timer = null;
   	dispatchComplete(true);
   }
}
   
public class MyMacro extends SequenceMacro     {
   override public function prepare():void {
   	add(DelayCommand)
   	add(OtherCommand)
   	registerCompleteCallback(onComplete)
   }
   protected function onComplete(success):void {
   	trace('all commands have been executed')
   }
}

Atomic execution

For sequential macros, when the_ atomic_ property is set to false (it is true by default) and one of the sub commands dispatches a failure (using dispatchComplete(false)), subsequent sub commands will not be executed and the macro itself will dispatch failure.

This behaviour does not apply to parallel commands.

Building

In the build folder, make a copy of the user.properties.eg file and call it user.properties
Edit that file to provide values specific to your system
Use the build.xml ant script you'll find in the build folder, to build the project

Contributing

If you want to contribute to the project refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md document for guidelines.

Roadmap

• document the code
• allow functions or instances to be added as sub commands
• add test coverage