Loopback React SDK Proposals

HTTPInterface.js

// it could be part of the LoopBackSDK module

// evaluate usage of node http module for ajax call
var http = require( 'http' );

// LoopBack HTTP Interface
// Class that has the responsibility to call
// the LoopBack Application, must be instantiated for each models

function HTTPInterface(
  modelName,
  urlBase,
  actions
) {
  // requires check
  // ...
  
  // sets
  this.modelName = modelName;
  this.urlBase = urlBase;
  this.actions = actions;
  this.actionsUrlGenerators = { };
  
  // parse actions to create for each of them
  // a function that compile the url with received params
  for( var i in this.actions ) {
    this.compileActionUrlGenerator( i, this.actions[ i ] );
    this[ i ] = this.makeCall.bind( this, i );
  }
}

// this function create the url generator.
// url generators prevent this class to recalc
// the url pattern each time we have to make
// a call to the API for each action
HTTPInterface.prototype.compileActionUrlGenerator = function compileActionUrlGenerator( action, actionConfig ) {
  // calc parameters that has to be in the url, like user's id  (/user/:id/)
  // use a regexp to match pattern like /\:([^\/?]+)/
  // so, params contains an array of possible parameters
  // like [ "id" ]
  var params = actionConfig.url.match( /\:([^\/?]+)/g );
  if( params && params.length ) params = params.map( function( v ) { return v.substring( 1, v.length ); } );
  
  // add the function body to params,
  // this could be 'return "/users/" + id;', generated with params and actionConfig.url .
  // here is it possible to call LoopBackAuth and has the accessToken not to be passed
  // but directly taken from LoopBackAuth class
  // ...
  
  var genratedFunction = new Function( params );
  this.actionsUrlGenerators[ action + "__urlGenerator" ] = genratedFunction;
};

// this function makes the call to the LoopBack Application
// receiving the action name, the parameters that goes
// in the url and the data object (the body of the HTTP Request).
// action parameters is binded automatically into the constructor,
// the parameters must be an array and the data is an optional literal object
HTTPInterface.prototype.makeCall = function makeCall( action, parameters, data ) {
  // evaluate params
  // evaluate data, if exists
  
  // call LoopBackAuth for setts Header (if the auth mode is by header)
  
  // call the action url generator in order to have the url
  
  // make the http call, use promises (more compatibility to chainable call and other libs)
  // ...
};

module.exports = HTTPInterface;

Model Class.js

var LoopBackSDK = require( 'loopback-sdk' );

// create user model api
var UserAPI = new LoopBackSDK.HTTPInterface(
	// set model
	"user",
	
	// evaluate if set a config variable for the url of the app
	LoopBackSDK.appUrl + "/users/",
	
	// set actions
	{
		findById: {
			url: ':id',
			method: 'GET'
		},
		create: {
			url: '',
			method: 'POST',
			// evaluate if create a map
			// of parameters in the body data
			// helpful for validation, maybe
			data: {
				name: LoopBackSDK.types.String,
				lastname: LoopBackSDK.types.String,
				email: LoopBackSDK.types.Email,
				photo: LoopBackSDK.types.FileImage,
			}
		},
		// ...
	}
);

module.exports = UserAPI;

Top Level API Example.js

var UserAPI = require('loopback-sdk/apis/user');

UserAPI.create( {
  name: 'Luca',
  lastname: 'Colonnello',
  email: 'example@gmail.com',
  photo: 'bytes of the photo to be converted in HTML5 File API multipart/form-data'
} )
  .then( function( d ){
    UserAPI.findById( [ d.id ] )
      .then( ... )
      .fail( ... )
      .done( )
    ;
  } )
  .fail( function( ) { } )
  .done( )
;