Typings

ActiveJS is strictly typed, it does its best to infer and enforce as many typings as possible. However, where it can't infer a type, it uses generics so that you can pass a type.

For example, Units, Systems, and Action accept a type for their value. Cluster doesn't need to be passed types, as it can infer the types from the provided members automatically.

Units

BoolUnit, NumUnit, and StringUnit don't accept a type because it's already implied as boolean, number, and string, respectively.

ListUnit's value already has an array type, but it can't know about the type of items that the array is going to contain. You can pass it at the time of instantiation.

// a ListUnit whose value type would be string[]
const namesList = new ListUnit<string>();

namesList.push('Mr. Anderson'); // works
namesList.dispatch(['Trinity', 'Morpheus']) // works

namesList.push(737); // linting error, invalid value
namesList.dispatch([737]) // linting error, invalid value

DictUnit's value already has an object literal type, but it doesn't know the type of key-value pairs it's going to hold. You can pass it at the time of instantiation.

// a DictUnit whose value type would be {[key in 'a' | 'b' | 'c']: number}
const someDict = new DictUnit<{[key in 'a' | 'b' | 'c']: number}>();

someDict.set('a', 1993) // works
someDict.dispatch({a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}) // works

someDict.set('b', 'not a number') // linting error, invalid value
someDict.set('d', 1993) // linting error, invalid key
someDict.dispatch({a: 1, b: 2}) // linting error, property 'c' is missing

GenericUnit's value has an any type, it allows all types of values and leaves the typings to the developer. You can pass it at the time of instantiation.

// a GenericUnit whose value type would be string | number | boolean
const primitivesUnit = new GenericUnit<string | number | boolean>();

primitivesUnit.dispatch(42); // works
primitivesUnit.dispatch('HanuMan'); // works
primitivesUnit.dispatch(true); // works

primitivesUnit.dispatch(['you and I']) // linting error, invalid value
primitivesUnit.dispatch({youAreMine: true}) // linting error, invalid value

Systems

AsyncSystem doesn't have a value of its own, it derives value from its member Units, 3 of them are GenericUnits and 1 is BoolUnit. The three GenericUnits can be supplied types through AsyncSystem's generics.

type UserQuery = number; // type for queryUnit's value
type UserData = string; // type for dataUnit's value
type UserError = {status: number, message: string}; // type for errorUnit's value

// pass the types to AsyncSystem
const userSystem = new AsyncSystem<UserQuery, UserData, UserError>();

userSystem.queryUnit.dispatch(666) // works
userSystem.dataUnit.dispatch('evil string') // works
userSystem.errorUnit.dispatch({status: 418, message: "I'm a teapot"}) // works

userSystem.queryUnit.dispatch('not a number') // linting error, invalid value
userSystem.dataUnit.dispatch(420) // linting error, invalid value
userSystem.errorUnit.dispatch("I'm a teapot") // linting error, invalid value

Custom AsyncSystem doesn't need to be passed types explicitly, since it doesn't create Units itself, they are provided externally, and it can infer the types from the provided Units.

Action

Action has any as its default value type, it can be restricted by passing a specific type through generics.

// an Action that will allow strings
const heroAction = new Action<string>();

heroAction.dispatch('fight injustice') // works
heroAction.dispatch('defeat bullies') // works

heroAction.dispatch(['catch', 22]) // liniting error, invalid value