PipelinR
PipelinR is a lightweight command processing pipeline ❍ ⇢ ❍ ⇢ ❍ for your awesome Java app.
PipelinR has been battle-proven on production, as a service layer in some cool FinTech apps. PipelinR has helped teams switch from a giant service classes handling all use cases to small handlers following single responsibility principle.
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Table of contents
- How to use
- Commands
- Handlers
- Pipeline
- Spring Example
- Async
- CQRS
- How to contribute
- Alternatives
- Contributors
How to use
PipelinR has no dependencies. All you need is a single 15KB library:
Maven:
<dependency>
<groupId>an.awesome</groupId>
<artifactId>pipelinr</artifactId>
<version>0.4</version>
</dependency>
<repositories>
<repository>
<id>central</id>
<name>bintray</name>
<url>http://jcenter.bintray.com</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
Gradle:
repositories {
jcenter()
}
dependencies {
compile 'an.awesome:pipelinr:0.4'
}
Java version required: 1.8+.
Commands
Commands encapsulate all information needed to perform an action at a later time. You create a command by implementing Command<R>
interface, where R
is a command's return type:
class Ping implements Command<String> {
public final String host;
public Ping(String host) {
this.host = host;
}
}
If a command has nothing to return, you can use a built-in Voidy
return type:
class Ping implements Command<Voidy> {
public final String host;
public Ping(String host) {
this.host = host;
}
}
Handlers
For every command you must define a Handler, that knows how to handle the command. You create a handler by implementing Command.Handler<C, R>
interface, where C
is a command type and R
is a return type. Handler's return type must match command's return type.
class PingHandler implements Command.Handler<Ping, String> {
@Override
public String handle(Ping command) {
String host = command.host;
// ... ping logic here ...
return "OK";
}
}
Pipeline
A pipeline mediates between commands and handlers. You send commands to the pipeline. When the pipeline receives a command, it sends the command through a sequence of pipeline steps and finally invokes the matching command handler. Pipelinr
is a default implementation of Pipeline
interface.
To construct a Pipeline
, create an instance of Pipelinr
and provide a list of command handlers:
Pipeline pipeline = new Pipelinr(() -> Stream.of(new LocalhostPingHandler(), new RemotePingHandler()));
Send a command for handling:
pipeline.send(new Ping("localhost"));
since v0.4, you can execute commands more naturally:
new Ping("localhost").execute(pipeline);
Pipelinr
can receive an optional, ordered list of custom pipeline steps. Every command will go through the pipeline steps before being handled. Use steps when you want to add extra behavior to command handlers, such as logging, transactions or metrics.
Pipeline steps must implement PipelineStep
interface:
// step one (logs a command and a returned result)
class LogInputAndOutput implements PipelineStep {
@Override
public <R, C extends Command<R>> R invoke(C command, Next<R> next) {
// log command
R response = next.invoke();
// log response
return response;
}
}
// step two (wraps a command handling in a transaction)
class WrapInATransaction implements PipelineStep {
@Override
public <R, C extends Command<R>> R invoke(C command, Next<R> next) {
// start tx
R response = next.invoke();
// end tx
return response;
}
}
In the following pipeline, every command and its response will be logged, plus commands will be wrapped in a transaction:
Pipeline pipeline = new Pipelinr(
() -> Stream.of(new LocalhostPingHandler(), new RemotePingHandler()),
() -> Stream.of(new LogInputAndOutput(), new WrapInATransaction())
);
By default, command handlers are being resolved using generics. By overriding command handler's matches
method, you can dynamically select a matching handler:
class LocalhostPingHandler implements Command.Handler<Ping, String> {
@Override
public boolean matches(Ping command) {
return command.host.equals("localhost");
}
}
class RemotePingHandler implements Command.Handler<Ping, String> {
@Override
public boolean matches(Ping command) {
return !command.host.equals("localhost");
}
}
Spring Example
PipelinR works well with Spring and Spring Boot.
Start by configuring a Pipeline
. Create an instance of Pipelinr
and inject all command handlers and ordered pipeline steps via the constructor:
@Configuration
class PipelinrConfiguration {
@Bean
Pipeline pipeline(ObjectProvider<Command.Handler> commandHandlers, ObjectProvider<PipelineStep> pipelineSteps) {
return new Pipelinr(commandHandlers::stream, pipelineSteps::orderedStream);
}
}
Define Spring-managed command handlers:
@Component
class PingHandler implements Command.Handler<Ping, String> {
// ...
}
Optionally, define Order
-ed pipeline steps:
@Component
@Order(1)
class LogInputAndOutput implements PipelineStep {
// ...
}
@Component
@Order(2)
class WrapInATransaction implements PipelineStep {
// ...
}
Inject Pipeline
into your application, and start sending commands:
class Application {
@Autowired
Pipeline pipeline;
public void run() {
String response = new Ping("localhost").execute(pipeline);
System.out.println(response);
}
}
Async
PipelinR works well in async or reactive applications. For example, a command can return CompletableFuture
:
class AsyncPing implements Command<CompletableFuture<String>> {
@Component
static class Handler implements Command.Handler<AsyncPing, CompletableFuture<String>> {
@Override
public CompletableFuture<String> handle(AsyncPing command) {
return CompletableFuture.completedFuture("OK");
}
}
}
Sending AsyncPing
to the pipeline returns CompletableFuture
:
CompletableFuture<String> okInFuture = new Ping().execute(pipeline);
CQRS
For CQRS applications you may want to have different pipelines – one for queries, another for commands. RoutingPipeline
has got you covered. RoutingPipeline
is a pipeline that can route commands to different pipelines, depending on a condition:
interface Cmd<R> extends Command<R> {
}
interface Query<R> extends Command<R> {
}
Pipeline queriesPipeline = ... // build a Pipelinr for queries
Pipeline commandsPipeline = ... // build a Pipelinr for commands
Pipeline pipeline = new RoutingPipeline(
new Route(command -> command instanceof Query, queriesPipeline),
new Route(command -> command instanceof Cmd, commandsPipeline)
);
How to contribute
Just fork the repo and send us a pull request.
Alternatives
- MediatR – Simple, unambitious mediator implementation in .NET