step-object

Object based creation of step functions.

Still an experiment at this stage.

Step Creation

var StepObject = require('step-object'),
fs = require('fs');

var ReadDir = StepObject({

_filter: function(files){
var filteredFiles;

//some filter logic
return filteredFiles;
},

queue: function(path){
fs.readdir(path, this);
},

read: function(err, files){
if(err){
throw err;
}

return this._filter(files);
},

}, ['queue', 'read']);

ReadDir(function(err, files){
//files is the result of read
});

Testing

One problem I ran into using step initially was gaining access to the
scope in which the steps actually execute in.

I still perfer to specify the behaviour of each function which becomes
very difficult if these functions utlize the shared contex to store
information.

The below will give you a reference to the the context the step
execution. This is the same object you refer to when using 'this' inside
of your step methods.

//Note that this will not call queue from the above example
var subject = require('step-object/lib/mock-step-object')(ReadDir);

subject.queue //

Its important for me to note that this works via a simple hack
where by not returning anything in a function the step execution
halts because its effectivly waiting for a callback to execute.

So if you did the following:

subject();
//(which is the same as this() or next inside of step scope)

It will cause werid things to happen such as two steps
executing without waiting for the other to finish.

$3

The .group and .parallel functions are overriden to return
themselves. This is so you can spy for them inside of your tests.

Methods / Order

You can also gain access to methods and order of the StepObject at
anytime with:

ReadDir.methods //{queue: ....}
ReadDir.order //['queueRead', 'fsReadDir']

License

See LICENSE (MIT)