Play symbols

[sunny]

This is a feature idea for using Ruby symbols as play arguments.

Currently

Sometimes, we need to interlace small actions with larger ones inside a play. For that, instead of giving it actors we can give it lambda actions.

For example :

class PlaceOrder < ApplicationActor
  input :order
  input :log, default: true

  play -> actor do
         actor.order.currency ||= Current.currency
         actor.order.save! if actor.order.changes.any?
       end,
       Orders::Create,
       Orders::Notify,
       -> actor { Logger.log("Order #{actor.order.id} created") if actor.log }
end

Ideally

In some cases it could be nice to be able to give it instance methods as well:

class PlaceOrder < ApplicationActor
  input :order
  input :log, default: true

  play :set_current_currency,
       Orders::Create,
       Orders::Notify,
       :log_order_creation

  private

  def set_current_currency
   order.currency ||= Current.currency
   order.save! if order.changes.any?
  end

  def log_order_creation
    Logger.log("Order #{order.id} created") if log
  end
end

[Buzzkill-McSquare]

An alternative with the current implementation is to define your lambdas before you use them.

class PlaceOrder < ApplicationActor
  input :order
  input :log, default: true

  set_current_currency = ->(actor) do
   actor.order.currency ||= Current.currency
   actor.order.save! if order.changes.any?
  end

  log_order_creation = ->(actor) do
    Logger.log("Order #{actor.order.id} created") if actor.log
  end

  play set_current_currency,
       Orders::Create,
       Orders::Notify,
       log_order_creation
end

Unfortunately this does require defining your play sequence at the bottom of the actor so it isn't immediately clear what it's doing. Being able to define and use instance methods also feel more like the ruby (read: OO) way.

[sunny]

Oh, indeed, that could be a good alternative for the time being.

What I also like about instance methods though is that they have access to inputs, which makes them terser.

[pboling]

I want to start using this yesterday! 💟 For now I'll settle for the pre-defined lambda locals.

[sunny]

Released in v3.2 🚀