Chapter 2: Feedback

Overview

Alright! Now, we get to build more sophisticated functionality! But, before we dive in, we’ll review where we left off. Then, we’ll render a dialog, create a form, and handle our first events. Along the way, we’ll refactor for cleaner code, explore schemas, and implement permissions.

Training

Pre-requisites

1. Understanding of the previous chapter, building a dashboard and adding a card with images and buttons.

Concepts Covered in This Chapter

1. Mercury - Event-handling and communication via Mercury.
2. Tests - TDD by the 3 laws!
3. Views - The visual representation of your skill provided by the Heartwood Skill.
4. Events - Custom event creation and handling.
5. Schemas - Data validation and normalization through schemas.
6. Permissions - Controlling access with permission contracts.
7. Listeners - Listening for backend events and responding appropriately.
8. Errors - Handling and displaying errors effectively.

Tools Used in This Chapter

1. spruce-cli - The Spruce Command Line Interface (CLI) is a tool that enables you create, build, and test your skills.
2. vscode - A free code editor that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
3. Development Theatre - The runtime that executes your skills.

Commands Used in This Chapter

Assertions

1. vcAssert.rendersDialogue

   • Description: Asserts that a dialogue box is rendered on the view controller.

2. formAssert.formRendersField

   • Description: Asserts that a specific field is rendered in the form.

3. assert.isFalse

   • Description: Verifies that a specific condition or value is false.

4. formAssert.fieldRendersAs

   • Description: Ensures that a form field is rendered as a specific type, e.g., a text area.

5. assert.isEqual

   • Description: Checks that two values are equal.

6. assert.renders.alert

   • Description: Confirms that an alert is displayed on the view.

7. form.cardRenderedForm

   • Description: Asserts that a card renders a form.

8. form assert.field.renders

   • Description: Verifies that a specific form field is rendered.

Events

1. eventFaker.on

   • Description: Sets up a listener for a specified event to verify its behavior in tests.

2. eventFaker.makeEventThrow

   • Description: Simulates an event throwing an error for testing purposes.

3. client.emit

   • Description: Emits an event to a backend API.

4. client.emitAndFlattenResponses

   • Description: Emits an event and simplifies the response structure, commonly used when responses contain nested data.

Forms

1. formVC.getValue

   • Description: Retrieves the value of a specific field from the form.

2. formVc.setValue

   • Description: Sets a value for a specific field in the form.

Views

1. controller.Factory

   • Description: Creates a new instance of a controller for use in the application.

2. this.controller.card

   • Description: Initializes a card view controller encapsulating the necessary view components.

3. this.render.in.dialogue

   • Description: Renders a dialogue box with specific options and content.

4. build.form

   • Description: Builds a form object with fields, sections, and schema definitions.

Listeners and Permissions

1. this.connect.to.API

   • Description: Establishes a connection to the API for emitting or listening to events.

2. buildPermissionReference

   • Description: Creates a reference for a permission contract, specifying roles and permissions.

3. permissions.sync

   • Description: Synchronizes the permissions configuration to ensure it reflects the latest changes.

Terminal and CLI Commands

1. spruce watch.views

   • Description: Watches for changes in views and rebuilds them automatically during development.

2. spruce create.view

   • Description: Generates a new view controller file using the CLI.

3. spruce sync.events

   • Description: Synchronizes the events configuration, ensuring event types and handlers are up-to-date.

4. spruce sync.permissions

   • Description: Updates permission contracts and related configurations.

Schemas

1. spruce create.schema
   • Description: Constructs a schema definition, including fields, types, and validation rules.

Test Doubles

1. SpyFeedbackCard
   • Description: Defines a protected method used as a test case in the test framework.

Something Missing?

Now What?