Rails spinoffs - Aug 2006 - actsAsDecorator( ) -- works great with Ajax.InPlaceEditor

Hi prototype and scriptaculous fans.

I''ve come up with a clever bit of Javascript that allows one to add
''before'' and ''after'' hooks to any method of
an object.  I''ve named it
actsAsDecorator in the spirit of all the acts_as_* plugins for
ActiveRecord, and I''ve published it on my blog at:
http://beppu.lbox.org/articles/2006/08/22/the-decorator-pattern-for-javascript
.

OO purists will note that''s it''s not a true implementation of
the GoF
Decorator pattern, but it has similar functionality (and I think it''s
a lot more straight-forward to do in Javascript, because you can
change things around at runtime instead of having to wrap everything
in classes.)

I also find that it works particularly well with Ajax.InPlaceEditor,
because it lets me add hooks to various methods and lets me implement
the functionality that I need without having to bug the
script.aculo.us maintainers about adding yet another parameter to
Ajax.InPlaceEditor''s options.  I find it to be really useful, and I
think some of you out there will like it, too, so check it out.

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This is really cool, thanks for the post. I extended the InPlaceEditor 
before with a popup calendar but maybe this would have been easier. I 
extend other things occasionally as well and imagine this will come in 
handy because the onxxx options that most sau and prototype stuff has 
isn''t always flexible enough. And then there are non-prototypish things
like calendars that have even less flexibility :)

Colin

John Beppu wrote:
> Hi prototype and scriptaculous fans.
>
> I''ve come up with a clever bit of Javascript that allows one to
add
> ''before'' and ''after'' hooks to any
method of an object.  I''ve named it
> actsAsDecorator in the spirit of all the acts_as_* plugins for
> ActiveRecord, and I''ve published it on my blog at:
>
http://beppu.lbox.org/articles/2006/08/22/the-decorator-pattern-for-javascript
> .
>
> OO purists will note that''s it''s not a true
implementation of the GoF
> Decorator pattern, but it has similar functionality (and I think
it''s
> a lot more straight-forward to do in Javascript, because you can
> change things around at runtime instead of having to wrap everything
> in classes.)
>
> I also find that it works particularly well with Ajax.InPlaceEditor,
> because it lets me add hooks to various methods and lets me implement
> the functionality that I need without having to bug the
> script.aculo.us maintainers about adding yet another parameter to
> Ajax.InPlaceEditor''s options.  I find it to be really useful, and
I
> think some of you out there will like it, too, so check it out.
>
> >
>
>   

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On 8/27/06, Colin Mollenhour
<eliteii92g-NPSFNn/7+NYVo650/ln6uw@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> imagine this will come in
> handy because the onxxx options that most sau and prototype stuff has
> isn''t always flexible enough. And then there are non-prototypish
things
> like calendars that have even less flexibility :)
>
> Colin

Exactly.  You can add flexibility where it did not exist before with
actsAsDecorator.

(...and I''m glad that prototype and scriptaculous provide as many
hooks as they do, but there''s no way the maintainers could anticipate
every possible hook someone will need.  However, with
actsAsDecorator(), they won''t have to anymore, because the power to
add hooks is in your hands now.)

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Isn''t this kind of like aspect oriented programming? I definitely like
the
decorator stuff, John, keep up the good work.

On 8/29/06, John Beppu
<john.beppu-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
>
> On 8/27/06, Colin Mollenhour
<eliteii92g-NPSFNn/7+NYVo650/ln6uw@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > imagine this will come in
> > handy because the onxxx options that most sau and prototype stuff has
> > isn''t always flexible enough. And then there are
non-prototypish things
> > like calendars that have even less flexibility :)
> >
> > Colin
>
>
> Exactly.  You can add flexibility where it did not exist before with
> actsAsDecorator.
>
> (...and I''m glad that prototype and scriptaculous provide as many
> hooks as they do, but there''s no way the maintainers could
anticipate
> every possible hook someone will need.  However, with
> actsAsDecorator(), they won''t have to anymore, because the power
to
> add hooks is in your hands now.)
>
> >
>

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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
  <title></title>
</head>
<body>
<font face="Arial,sans-serif"><font
size="2">Sure is.<br>
<br>
I''ve got an AOP library that I can I''ll try and publish for
feedback
when I get a minute !<br>
<br>
Basic idea is :<br>
<br>
Aspects.addAround(Logger.prototype.AOPLogger, this, /rating/);<br>
<br>
It''ll match all methods on the current object with named like
"rating"
and apply an around advice. In this case the advice simple entry / exit
logs the method calls dumping args and returns etc...<br>
<br>
Matt<br>
<br>
<span type="cite">Ryan Gahl wrote:</span>
</font></font>
<p><font face="Arial,sans-serif"
size="2"></font></p>
<blockquote type="cite"  style="border-left: thin solid blue;
padding-left: 10px; margin-left: 0pt;"><font 
face="Arial,sans-serif" size="2">Isn''t this kind
of like aspect
oriented programming? I definitely like the decorator stuff, John, keep
up the good work.<br>
  <br>
  </font>
  <div><font face="Arial,sans-serif"
size="2"><span class="gmail_quote">On
8/29/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">John Beppu</b>
&lt;<a 
href="mailto:john.beppu-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org">
john.beppu-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org</a>&gt;
wrote:</span></font>
  <blockquote class="gmail_quote"  style="border-left: 1px
solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left:
1ex;"><font  face="Arial,sans-serif"
size="2"><br>
On 8/27/06, Colin Mollenhour &lt;<a 
href="mailto:eliteii92g-NPSFNn/7+NYVo650/ln6uw@public.gmane.org">
eliteii92g-NPSFNn/7+NYVo650/ln6uw@public.gmane.org</a>&gt;
wrote:<br>
&gt; imagine this will come in<br>
&gt; handy because the onxxx options that most sau and prototype stuff
has<br>
&gt; isn''t always flexible enough. And then there are
non-prototypish
things
    <br>
&gt; like calendars that have even less flexibility :)<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Colin<br>
    <br>
    <br>
Exactly.&nbsp;&nbsp;You can add flexibility where it did not exist
before with<br>
actsAsDecorator.<br>
    <br>
(...and I''m glad that prototype and scriptaculous provide as many
    <br>
hooks as they do, but there''s no way the maintainers could
anticipate<br>
every possible hook someone will need.&nbsp;&nbsp;However,
with<br>
actsAsDecorator(), they won''t have to anymore, because the power
to<br>
add hooks is in your hands now.)
    <br>
    <br>
    <br>
    </font></blockquote>
  </div>
  <font face="Arial,sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  <br>
  <br>
  </font></blockquote>
<br>
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<br>

On 8/29/06, Ryan Gahl <ryan.gahl-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> Isn''t this kind of like aspect oriented programming? I definitely
like the
> decorator stuff, John, keep up the good work.
>

Yeah, that''s what people are telling me.  I wasn''t really
familiar with AOP
before this, and I''m still not that familiar with it now.  Perhaps
I''m
looking at the wrong sites, but the literature for AOP that I''ve found
is
kinda heavy on theory and not that easy to understand.

What''s funny is that I might have accidentally brought AOP to the
masses.
(...or at least a watered down version of AOP (that''s still useful))


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