atomic-di

This library implements lifetimes, scopes and mocking for pure dependency injection.

Table of contents

• Intro
• Installation
• Usage
  • Creating resolvers
    • Transient
    • Singleton
    • Scoped
  • Propagating a context
  • Mocking
    • Registering mocks
    • Resolving with mocks
  • Scopes
    • Creating a scope
    • Resolving with a scope
  • Resolving collections
    • Resolving a list
    • Resolving a map
• Reference
  • Functions
    • transient
    • singleton
    • scoped
    • createMockMap
    • createScope
    • resolveList
    • resolveMap
  • Types
    • ResolverFn
    • Resolver
    • ResolutionContext
    • MockMap
    • Scope

Intro

Before reading, it's highly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the concepts of inversion of control (IoC) and dependency injection (DI), as well as DI techniques.

If you need a container to build your application, or you are satisfied with pure dependency injection, you should definitely consider other solutions, or not use a framework at all.

This library is an attempt to provide full-featured dependency injection without containers.

Installation

You can use any package manager.

npm add atomic-di

npx jsr add @ensi/di

Usage

Table of contents

• Creating resolvers
  • Transient
  • Singleton
  • Scoped
• Propagating a context
• Mocking
  • Registering mocks
  • Resolving with mocks
• Scopes
  • Creating a scope
  • Resolving with a scope
• Resolving collections
  • Resolving a list
  • Resolving a map

Creating resolvers

The approach to dependency injection in this library is factories. It consists of a factory creating an instance of a certain type by calling other factories that resolve dependencies for it.

To implement lifetimes, scope, and mocking mechanisms, the library provides functions that create factories with functionality specific to a particular lifetime, such factories are called resolvers. They all have some functionality in common, but first let's look at the functions that create them.

Transient

The transient function creates a basic resolver that does not contain any logic that controls a lifetime of a resolution. This means that this resolver will call a passed factory and return a new instance each time it is called.

const getRandom = transient(Math.random)

getRandom() !== getRandom()

Singleton

The singleton function creates a resolver that contains a logic specific to singletons. This means that a singleton resolver will only call a passed factory once, and will return a single instance created each time it is called.

const getRandom = singleton(Math.random)

getRandom() === getRandom()

Scoped

The scoped function creates a resolver that contains logic specific to scoped registrations, often supported by IoC containers. These resolvers operate on scope instances that are passed into a resolution context when called. They check whether their instance is in a scope, and depending on this, save a new instance or return an existing one within that scope. If a resolver is not passed a scope when called, it will behave as a singleton, simulating a global scope.

const getRandom = scoped(Math.random)

getRandom() === getRandom()

getRandom({ scope: myScope }) === getRandom({ scope: myScope })

getRandom() !== getRandom({ scope: myScope })

A detailed explanation of the scope mechanism and its use is described in this section.

Propagating a context

Each resolver takes an optional resolution context. This is an object that can contain a scope and a mock map. Based on this context, resolvers determine how to resolve an instance.

In order for a resolution context to correctly influence a current resolution, it must be propagated up a resolver call chain so that each resolver is aware of a current context. Therefore, if a factory uses other resolvers, it must pass a resolution context it receives into each resolver call.

Incorrect

const getDependency = transient(() => createDependency())
const getEntity = transient(() =>
    createEntity(getDependency())
)

Correct

const getDependency = transient(() => createDependency())
const getEntity = transient((c) =>
    createEntity(getDependency(c)) // context is propagated
)

Mocking

Mocking is a common mechanism in testing whereby some implementation being used is replaced with a replica to prevent side effects or reduce testing load.

This library implements this mechanism by adding logic to each resolver responsible for replacing itself (not a resolution) when its own mock is present in a resolution context. A definition of mocks in a resolution context is done by passing a mock map to this resolution context.

Registering mocks

A mock map is an immutable object similar to Map that implements an interface for registering and receiving mocks of some resolvers. To create one, you must use createMockMap function.

const mocks = createMockMap()

To register a mock resolver, use mock method, passing an original resolver and its mock. It will create a new mock map with this registration.

const mocks = createMockMap()
    .mock(getDatabase, getDatabaseMock)
    .mock(getLogger, getLoggerMock)
    // ...

If you need to partially replace an implementation, i.e. replace some fields in a resolution, use mockPartially method. Both original and mock resolver must return an object or a Promise of an object.

const getDatabaseMock = singleton(() => ({
    execute: (q) => console.log("db: executing", q)
}))
const mocks = createMockMap()
    .mockPartially(getDatabase, getDatabaseMock)

Resolving with mocks

To resolve an instance with mocks, you must pass a previously defined mock map to a resolution context when calling any resolver.

resolver({ mocks: myMockMap })

If resolver's direct or transitive dependencies or the resolver itself have their mock registered in a mock map, they will replace themselves with this mock, depending on a type of a mock. This behavior is clearly demonstrated in examples below.

Full mock

const getDependency = transitive(() => "dependency")
const getEntity = transitive((c) => ({
    dependency: getDependency(c)
}))

const getDependencyMock = transitive(() => "dependencyMock")

const mocks = createMockMap()
    .mock(getDependency, getDependencyMock

getEntity({ mocks }) == {
    dependency: "dependencyMock"
}

Partial mock

const getDependency = transitive(() => ({
    value: "dependency",
    origin: "getDependency"
}))
const getEntity = transitive((c) => ({
    dependency: getDependency(c)
}))

const getDependencyMock = transitive(() => ({
    value: "dependencyMock"
}))

const mocks = createMockMap()
    .mockPartially(getDependency, getDependencyMock

getEntity({ mocks }) == {
    dependency: {
        value: "dependencyMock", // replaced
        origin: "getDependency" // original value
    }
}

Scopes

Sometimes you need to create and save resolutions for different areas of your program, such as a request or a thread. Scopes solve this problem.

IoC containers implement this by defining copies of a container in different parts of a program. Within this library, a scope is simply a map of resolvers to their resolutions. This map is used by scoped resolvers described earlier.

Creating a scope

There are two ways to create a scope:

• By calling createScope function.

const scope = createScope()

• By creating a Map with the correct type manually.

const scope = new Map<Resolver<any>, any>()

Resolving with a scope

To get a scoped resolver resolution within a scope, a scoped resolver, or a resolver that has a scoped resolver in its direct or transitive dependencies, must be called with a scope passed to a resolution context.

Direct resolution

const getEntity = scoped(() => createEntity())

const scope = createScope()

const scopeEntity = getEntity({ scope })

scope.get(getEntity) === scopeEntity

Indirect resolution

const getDependency = scoped(() => createDependency())
const getEntity = transient((c) => ({
    dependency: getDependency(c)
}))

const scope = createScope()

const entity = getEntity({ scope })

scope.get(getDependency) === entity.dependency

Resolving collections

Often you may need to get resolutions of a large number of resolvers within a single context at once. Doing this manually is inefficient, so the library provides functions specifically for this.

Resolving a list

If you need to get a list of resolutions of different resolvers, you can use resolveList function.

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(() => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()

const resolutions = resolveList(
    [getA, getB, getC],
    { scope }
)

resolutions == [
    getA({ scope }),
    getB({ scope }),
    getC({ scope })
]

If one of passed resolvers returns a promise, the function will return a Promise of a list of awaited resolutions.

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(async () => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()

const resolutions = await resolveList(
    [getA, getB, getC],
    { scope }
)

resolutions == [
    getA({ scope }),
    await getB({ scope }),
    getC({ scope })
]

Resolving a map

If you need to get a map of resolutions of different resolvers, you can use resolveMap function.

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(() => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()

const resolutions = resolveMap(
    { a: getA, b: getB, c: getC },
    { scope }
)

resolutions == {
    a: getA({ scope }),
    b: getB({ scope }),
    c: getC({ scope })
}

If one of passed resolvers returns Promise, the function will return a Promise of a map of awaited resolutions.

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(async () => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()

const resolutions = await resolveList(
    { a: getA, b: getB, c: getC },
    { scope }
)

resolutions == {
    a: getA({ scope }),
    b: await getB({ scope }),
    c: getC({ scope })
}

Reference

Table of contents

• Functions
  • transient
  • singleton
  • scoped
  • createMockMap
  • createScope
  • resolveList
  • resolveMap
• Types
  • ResolverFn
  • Resolver
  • ResolutionContext
  • MockMap
  • Scope

Functions

transient

function transient<T>(fn: ResolverFn<T>): Resolver<T>

• resolver: A function that takes a resolution context and returns a value of some type.

Creates a resolver that creates a new resolution on each call.

Example

const getEntity = transient(() => createEntity())
getEntity() !== getEntity()

singleton

function singleton<T>(resolver: ResolverFn<T>): Resolver<T>

• resolver: A function that takes a resolution context and returns a value of some type.

Creates a resolver that creates a resolution once and return it on each call.

Example

const getEntity = singleton(() => createEntity())
getEntity() === getEntity()

scoped

function scoped<T>(resolver: ResolverFn<T>): Resolver<T>

• resolver: A function that takes a resolution context and returns a value of some type.

Creates a resolver that takes its resolution from a scope or create a new one and save it if there is none. If no scope was passed in a resolution context, it will act as a singleton.

Example 1

const getEntity = scoped(() => createEntity())
getEntity() === getEntity()

Example 2

const getEntity = scoped(() => createEntity())
const scope = createScope()
getEntity({ scope }) === getEntity({ scope }) !== getEntity()

createMockMap

function createMockMap(): MockMap

Creates a mock map, an immutable map that registers and provides mocks. Is passed in a resolution context and used by resolvers to replace or partially replace themselves with a mock if one is defined.

Example

const mocks = createMockMap()
    .mock(getDependency, getDependencyMock)
    .mockPartially(
        getOtherDependency,
        transient(() => ({ someField: "mock" }))
    )

const entityWithMocks = getEntity({ mocks })

createScope

function createScope(): Scope

Creates a Map of resolvers to their resolutions. Is passed in a resolution context and used by scoped resolvers to retrieve or save resolution within it.

Example

const requestScope = createScope()

app.use(() => {
    const db = getDb({ scope: requestScope })
})

resolveList

function resolveList<const Resolvers extends ResolverList>(
    resolvers: Resolvers,
    context?: ResolutionContext
): AwaitValuesInCollection<
    InferResolverCollectionResolutions<Resolvers>
>

• resolvers: A list of resolvers.
• context?: A resolution context.

Calls every resolver in a list with a provided resolution context and returns a list of resolutions. Returns a Promise of a list of awaited resolutions if there's at least one Promise in the resolutions.

Example 1

Only sync resolvers:

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(() => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()
const resolutions = resolveList(
    [getA, getB, getC],
    { scope }
)

resolutions == [
    getA({ scope }),
    getB({ scope }),
    getC({ scope })
]

Example 2

Some resolver is async:

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(async () => await createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()
const resolutions = await resolveList(
    [getA, getB, getC],
    { scope }
)

resolutions == [
    getA({ scope }),
    await getB({ scope }),
    getC({ scope })
]

resolveMap

function resolveMap<const Resolvers extends ResolverRecord>(
    resolvers: Resolvers,
    context?: ResolutionContext
): AwaitValuesInCollection<
    InferResolverCollectionResolutions<Resolvers>
>

• resolvers: A map of resolvers.
• context?: A resolution context.

Calls every resolver in a map with a provided resolution context and returns a map with identical keys but with resolutions in values instead. Returns a Promise of a map awaited resolutions if there's at least one Promise in the resolutions.

Example 1

Only sync resolvers:

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(() => createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()
const resolutions = resolveMap(
    { a: getA, b: getB, c: getC },
    { scope }
)

resolutions == {
    a: getA({ scope }),
    b: getB({ scope }),
    c: getC({ scope })
}

Example 2

Some resolver is async:

const getA = scoped(() => createA())
const getB = scoped(async () => await createB())
const getC = scoped(() => createC())

const scope = createScope()
const resolutions = await resolveMap(
    { a: getA, b: getB, c: getC },
    { scope }
)

resolutions == {
    a: getA({ scope }),
    b: await getB({ scope }),
    c: getC({ scope })
}

Types

ResolverFn

type ResolverFn<T> = (context?: ResolutionContext) => T

A function that takes a resolution context and returns a value of some type.

Resolver

type Resolver<T> = (context?: ResolutionContext) => T

A function that returns a value of some type based on a resolution context.

ResolutionContext

type ResolutionContext = {
    scope?: Scope;
    mocks?: MockMap;
}

A context used by resolvers that defines the behaviour of the resolver with the passed mocks and scope.

MockMap

type MockMap = {
    mock<T>(original: Resolver<T>, mock: Resolver<T>): MockMap;
    mockPartially<T extends object>(
        original: Resolver<T>,
        mock: Resolver<PromiseAwarePartial<T>>,
    ): MockMap;
    get<T>(original: Resolver<T>): Mock<T> | undefined;
};

• mock: Registers a mock for a resolver, creating a new MockMap with this registration.
  • original: The original resolver.
  • mock: The mock resolver.
• mockPartially: Registers a partial mock for a resolver, creating a new MockMap with this registration. In this case, the mock resolver's resoluton object will be merged with the original resolver's resolution object, overwriting certain fields.
  • original: The original resolver.
  • mock: The mock resolver.
• get: Returns a mock of a resolver or undefined if one is not registered.
  • original: The original resolver.

Immutable map that registers and provides mocks. Is passed in a resolution context and used by resolvers to replace or partially replace themselves with a mock if one is defined.

Scope

type Scope = Map<Resolver<any>, any>

A Map of resolvers to their resolutions. Is passed in a resolution context and used by scoped resolvers to retrieve or save resolution within it.

Contribution

This is free and open source project licensed under the MIT License. You could help its development by contributing via pull requests or submitting an issue.