Use session inside src/groovy - function

I want to set a value in session inside a function A() in src/groovy class and use that value inside function B() in the same src/groovy class. Is that possible? I cannot pass the value between functions since they are overridden. I referenced this link but did not quite understand the implementation. Thanks in advance.
Edit: Here function A is visit function of crawler4j and function B is handlePageStatusCode()

The link you've referenced is the way to go - the static method RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes() will give you the instance of GrailsWebRequest that belongs to the currently-executing request, or null if you call it on a thread that is not running a controller action. Once you have the GrailsWebRequest you can access the session, request, response, params and flash (via getFlashScope()) from there.

I made a little utility Java class to handle accessing the session in places like src/groovy, src/java or grails-app/services. You could try using it:
public class SessionUtil {
/**
* Returns the current session. This can be used in classes where the session variable is not set by Grails, such as Services.
* #return the session
*/
public static GrailsHttpSession getSession() {
return WebUtils.retrieveGrailsWebRequest().getSession();
}
}
To use it, wherever you need the session you would write:
def session = SessionUtil.getSession()

It's hard to understand quite what you are trying to achieve here. A session only makes sense in terms of a connected user, during an HTTP request. If you are using the src/groovy class from e.g. a controller, you could pass the session to your method as an argument to the method. Otherwise how would you be using it?

Related

AS3: inline way to write get and set?

I was reading a tutorial and the user there was starting setters and getters like so
function get f():Number;
function set f(value:Number):void;
inside an interface, then saving it in the main file inside a variable
var testNode:INode;
and referencing them as
testNode.f;
I thought this was really handy, specially for when you have a lot of variables. Instead of having to create two functions for each private value.
However, I tried to do the same without instancing the get and set inside an interface (because I had no need for this) and I get an error saying the function doesn't have a body.
Why is that? Is there any way to write get and set in such a clean, short manner? So far I've been writing these as
public function get someVar():SomeClass {
return _someVar;
}
public function set someVar(newValue:SomeClass):void {
_someVar = newValue;
}
but it's a bit of a hassle when I have several private variables.
An interface is just a model for your class, it does not allows you to skip the definition of a function (or a getter/setter). You must declare the getter and the setter in any class implementing your interface. What you are looking for is an extension (inheritage).
If you define a class Mother.as with a getter and a setter, the class Child.as which extends Mother.as doesn't need to redefine the getter and setter.
Furthermore, if you don't plan on writing anything else inside the getter and setter, you should use a public variable. These are less resource consuming than useless get/set.

Passing Model to View constructor for Stage Instances

I'm looking for an elegant solution to setting the Model argument for a View that is a stage instance.
My View constructor looks like this:
public function View($model:Model, $controller:IController=null){ ... }
My Subclass constructor:
public function ViewSubClass($model:Model, $controller:IController=null){ ... }
The idea is that the subclass will be a UI element that I'd rather just have on stage and not have to position it manually. I've thrown around the possibility of having placeholder elements that get removed and using their positions to attach the real UI elements but it seems a little hackish to me.
I suppose I could always set the default value of the $model argument in View to null, but not all views will be stage instances so I don't exactly want to do that either.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Flash has no way to populate constructor parameters. This is why I always suggest avoiding constructor parameters for View. If this is your own Class, I'd suggest to go ahead and fix the parent Class so it doesn't need this.
If it is not, you can use
public function VewSubClass() {
super(null, null);
}
I would be concerned here that you actually need the Model and controller, so I would make setters available on the View subclass and then populate those variables once the instance arrives on stage.
public function set model(value:Model):void {
_model = value;
//do whatever the super constructor did based on receiving the model
}
public function set controller(value:IController):void {
_controller = value;
//etc.
}
Note that it probably shouldn't be necessary for the View to know about the controller, and I wouldn't suggest that the entire model be given to the View either--just the few properties it needs. So if the Class is yours, that puts you into a better position to correct these (IMO) architectural problems.
Based on the signature you've provided, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the model and controller internal storage are private, rather than protected, which means you're pretty much faced with a rewrite anyway (assuming the model and controller are needed on the View).
I solved the issue by changing the ViewSubClass constructor to:
public function ViewSubClass ($model:Model=null, $controller:IController=null){ ... }
Not sure why I was thinking that the constructor had to match the superclass' constructor perfectly. I'm still open to more elegant solutions if there are any. Thanks for looking.
-Veo

Actionscript: How exactly does ExternalInterface.addCallback() work?

I'm pretty new to ActionScript, but not new to either object oriented or procedural languages in general. ActionScript's particular combination of features from both categories, however, confuses me.
Specifically, I'm confused about the mechanism of ExternalInterface.addCallback(). The method signature is:
public static function addCallback(functionName:String, closure:Function):void
Of particular interest is the closure parameter, which has the following documentation:
closure:Function — The function closure to invoke. This could be a free-standing
function, or it could be a method closure referencing a method of an
object instance. By passing a method closure, you can direct the
callback at a method of a particular object instance.
I take the above to mean that closure only be a function (not a method), which may or may not be a closure containing a method call from an instantiated object. So I get confused when I see code like this (taken from the same documentation page):
public class ext_test extends Sprite {
function ext_test():void {
ExternalInterface.marshallExceptions = true;
ExternalInterface.addCallback("g", g);
try {
ExternalInterface.call("throwit");
} catch(e:Error) {
trace(e)
}
}
function g() { throw new Error("exception from actionscript!!!!") }
}
The above code inserts in to addCallback, a non-static method of ext_test without wrapping it in a closure containing an instantiated ex_test object.
The method contains trivial code, but what if it were to have statements containing member variables and the like? How would the method be evaluated when it has no parent object?
Furthermore, (since the addCallback seems to allow the passing of arbitrary methods) the documentation makes no mention on the effect access modifiers have on the passed methods, if any. If I label a method private, am I still able to pass it to addCallback? What's the deal?
I'd appreciate it if anyone can help me wrap my head around this.
If your concern is to know in what context the method you passed will be executed, this is simply the context in which you attached it.
The doc's jibber jabber simply means that there are several kinds of function in AS3 and the runtime. "Free-standing" function refers to what you usually call an anonymous function - that still preserves the context in which they were defined :
var anonymous:Function = createAnonymous();
trace(anonymous()); // 123
function createAnonymous():Function {
var internalStuff:Number = 123;
var func:Function = function():Number {
return internalStuff;
}
return func;
}
Methods closures are instances of your classes' methods, the same way objects are instances of these classes. So, when you pass a method closure to ExternalInterface.addCallback(), you'll be safe about the context (i.e. member variables) when it will be invoked.
Woops. Totally forgot the that in all the examples I've seen, addCallback is being executed in the context of a constructor, so the method references passed to it have a context to execute under.
As such, access modifiers don't matter since everything in a class can be seen by the class.

With jUnit 4, can I parameterize #BeforeClass?

I am using jUnit to manage integration tests for an application that accesses a database. Because setting up the test data is a time-consuming operation, I have been doing that in the #BeforeClass method, which is executed only once per test class (as opposed to the #Before method, which is run once per test method).
Now I want to try a few different permutations for the configuration of the data layer, running all of my tests on each different configuration. This seems like a natural use of the Parameterized test runner. Problem is, Parameterized supplies parameters to the class constructor, and the #BeforeClass method is abstract and is called before the class constructor.
A few questions,
Does Parameterized call the #BeforeClass method for each permutation of parameters, or does it only call once?
If the #BeforeClass method is called repeatedly, is there some way to access the parameter values from inside of it?
If none of these, what do people suggest as the best alternative approach to this problem?
I think you are going to need a custom test runner. I'm having the same issue you are having (needing to run the same tests using multiple, expensive configurations). You'd need a way to parameterize the set up, perhaps using #Parameter annotations similar to those used by the Parameterized runner but on static member fields instead of instance fields. The custom runner would have to find all static member fields with the #Parameter annotation and then run the test class (probably using the basic BlockJunit4ClassRunner) once per static #Parameter field. The #Parameter field should probably be a #ClassRule.
Andy on Software has done a good job of developing custom test runners, and he explains so pretty clearly in these blog posts here and here.
#BeforeClass is only called once in your example. Which makes sense given the name - before class!
If your tests require different data, there are two choices I can think of:
Set up that data in #Before so it is test specific
Group the tests that you want to run with the same data into separate test classes and use #BeforeClass for each one.
You can call this initialization logic in the constructor of your test class. Keep track of the last parameter used in a static variable. When it changes, set up the class for the new parameter.
I can't think of an equivalent for AfterClass.
This is an old question, but I just had to solve a probably similar problem. I went with the solution below for now, which essentially is an implementation of TREE's (updated) answer with using a generic abstract base class in order to avoid duplication whenever you need this mechanism.
Concrete tests would provide a #Parameters method that return an iterable of single-element arrays containing a Supplier< T > each. Those suppliers are then executed exactly once per actual input needed by the concrete test methods.
#RunWith(Parameterized.class)
public class AbstractBufferedInputTest<T> {
private static Object INPUT_BUFFER;
private static Object PROVIDER_OF_BUFFERED_INPUT;
private T currentInput;
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public AbstractBufferedInputTest(Supplier<T> inputSuppler) {
if (PROVIDER_OF_BUFFERED_INPUT != inputSuppler) {
INPUT_BUFFER = inputSuppler.get();
PROVIDER_OF_BUFFERED_INPUT = inputSuppler;
}
currentInput = (T) INPUT_BUFFER;
}
/**
*
* #return the input to be used by test methods
*/
public T getCurrentInput() {
return currentInput;
}
}
You could do your initialization in a #Before method, writing to an instance variable but testing for null.
#RunWith(value = Parameterized.class)
public class BigThingTests {
private BigThing bigThing;
#Before
public void createBitThing() {
if (bigThing == null) {
bigThing = new BigThing();
}
}
...
}
A new instance of BigThingTests is created for each set of parameters, and bigThing is set to null with each new instance. The Parameterized runner is single-threaded, so you don't have to worry about multiple initializations.

Function Parameter best practice

I have question regarding the use of function parameters.
In the past I have always written my code such that all information needed by a function is passed in as a parameter. I.e. global parameters are not used.
However through looking over other peoples code, functions without parameters seem to be the norm. I should note that these are for private functions of a class and that the values that would have been passed in as paramaters are in fact private member variables for that class.
This leads to neater looking code and im starting to lean towards this for private functions but would like other peoples views.
E.g.
Start();
Process();
Stop();
is neater and more readable than:
ParamD = Start(paramA, ParamB, ParamC);
Process(ParamA, ParamD);
Stop(ParamC);
It does break encapsulation from a method point of view but not from a class point of view.
There's nothing wrong in principle with having functions access object fields, but the particular example you give scares me, because the price of simplifying your function calls is that you're obfuscating the life cycle of your data.
To translate your args example into fields, you'd have something like:
void Start() {
// read FieldA, FieldB, and FieldC
// set the value of FieldD
}
void Process() {
// read FieldA and do something
// read FieldD and do something
}
void Stop() {
// read the value of FieldC
}
Start() sets FieldD by side effect. This means that it's probably not valid to call Process() until after you've called Start(). But the code doesn't tell you that. You only find out by searching to see where FieldD is initialized. This is asking for bugs.
My rule of thumb is that functions should only access an object field if it's always safe to access that field. Best if it's a field that's initialized at construction time, but a field that stores a reference to a collaborator object or something, which could change over time, is okay too.
But if it's not valid to call one function except after another function has produced some output, that output should be passed in, not stored in the state. If you treat each function as independent, and avoid side effects, your code will be more maintainable and easier to understand.
As you mentioned, there's a trade-off between them. There's no hard rule for always preferring one to another. Minimizing the scope of variables will keep their side effect local, the code more modular and reusable and debugging easier. However, it can be an overkill in some cases. If you keep your classes small (which you should do) then the shared variable would generally make sense. However, there can be other issues such as thread safety that might affect your choice.
Not passing the object's own member attributes as parameters to its methods is the normal practice: effectively when you call myobject.someMethod() you are implicitly passing the whole object (with all its attributes) as a parameter to the method code.
I generally agree with both of Mehrdad and Mufasa's comments. There's no hard and fast rule for what is best. You should use the approach that suits the specific scenarios you work on bearing in mind:
readability of code
cleanliness of code (can get messy if you pass a million and one parameters into a method - especially if they are class level variables. Alternative is to encapsulate parameters into groups, and create e.g. a struct to whole multiple values, in one object)
testability of code. This is important in my opinion. I have occassionally refactored code to add parameters to a method purely for the purpose of improving testability as it can allow for better unit testing
This is something you need to measure on a case by case basis.
For example ask yourself if you were to use parameter in a private method is it ever going to be reasonable to pass a value that is anything other than that of a specific property in the object? If not then you may as well access the property/field directly in the method.
OTH you may ask yourself does this method mutate the state of the object? If not then perhaps it may be better as a Static and have all its required values passed as parameters.
There are all sorts of considerations, the upper most has to be "What is most understandable to other developers".
In an object-oriented language it is common to pass in dependencies (classes that this class will communicate with) and configuration values in the constructor and only the values to actually be operated on in the function call.
This can actually be more readable. Consider code where you have a service that generates and publishes an invoice. There can be a variety of ways to do the publication - via a web-service that sends it to some sort of centralized server, or via an email sent to someone in the warehouse, or maybe just by sending it to the default printer. However, it is usually simpler for the method calling Publish() to not know the specifics of how the publication is happening - it just needs to know that the publication went off without a hitch. This allows you to think of less things at a time and concentrate on the problem better. Then you are simply making use of an interface to a service (in C#):
// Notice the consuming class needs only know what it does, not how it does it
public interface IInvoicePublisher {
pubic void Publish(Invoice anInvoice);
}
This could be implemented in a variety of ways, for example:
public class DefaultPrinterInvoicePublisher
DefaultPrinterInvoicePublisher _printer;
public DefaultPrinterInvoicePublisher(DefaultPrinterFacade printer) {
_printer = printer
}
public void Publish(Invoice anInvoice) {
printableObject = //Generate crystal report, or something else that can be printed
_printer.Print(printableObject);
}
The code that uses it would then take an IInvoicePublisher as a constructor parameter too so that functionality is available to be used throughout.
Generally, it's better to use parameters. Greatly increases the ability to use patterns like dependency injection and test-driven design.
If it is an internal only method though, that's not as important.
I don't pass the object's state to the private methods because the method can access the state just like that.
I pass parameters to a private method when the private method is invoked from a public method and the public method gets a parameter which it then sends to the private method.
Public DoTask( string jobid, object T)
{
DoTask1(jobid, t);
DoTask2(jobid, t);
}
private DoTask1( string jobid, object T)
{
}
private DoTask2( string jobid, object T)
{
}