yii2-bootstrap/docs/review_2011_11_12_alex.md

Alex's Code Review, 2011.11.12

Overall hierarchy

Generally is OK. Like that Object and Component are now separated. I've generated 2 diagrams under docs/ to see it better as a whole.

Object

property feature

Why returning anything when setting a value?

if (method_exists($this, $setter)) {
	// ???
	return $this->$setter($value);
}

Is it OK that canGetProperty and canSetProperty will return false for real class members?

callbacks and expressions

We're using 5.3. What's the reason to support eval() in evaluateExpression if we have anonymous functions? Is that for storing code as string inside of DB (RBAC)?

If we're going to get rid of eval(), cosider remaning method to something about callback. If not then we definitely need to use anonymous functions in API docs and the guide where possible.

Object::create()

__construct issue

Often a class doesn't have __construct implementation and stdClass doesn't have default one either but Object::create() always expects constructor to be defined. See ObjectTest. Either method_exists call or Object::__construct needed.

How to support object factory like we do with CWidgetFactory?

class ObjectConfig
{
	public function configure($class)
	{
		$config = $this->load($class);
		// apply config to $class
	}

	private function load($class)
	{
		// get class properties from a config file
		// in this method we need to walk all the
		// inheritance hierarchy down to Object itself
		return array(
			'property' => 'value',
			// …
		);
	}
}

Then we need to add __construct to Object (or implement Initalbe):

class Object
{
	public function __construct()
	{
		$conf = new ObjectConfig();
		$conf->configure($this);
	}
}

This way we'll be able to set defaults for any object.

Do we need to support lazy class injection?

Currently there's no way to lazy-inject class into another class property via config. Do we need it? If yes then we can probably extend component config to support the following:

class Foo extends Object
{
	public $prop;
}

class Bar extends Object
{
	public $prop;
}

$config = array(
	'prop' => array(
		'class' => 'Bar',
		'prop' => 'Hello!',
	),
);

$foo = Foo::create($config);
echo $foo->bar->prop;
// will output Hello!

Should it support infinite nesting level?

Why Event is Object?

There's no need to extend from Object. Is there a plan to use Object features later?

Initable

Interface itself looks OK. Its usage is OK too.

Initable::preinit mentioned in Yii::create() docs but neither defined in the interface nor called in the code.

Behaviors

Overall I wasn't able to use behaviors. See BehaviorTest.

Wrong API docs at Behavior

Docs mention properties and events but not methods.

Should behaviors be able to define events for owner components?

Why not? Should be a very good feature in order to make behaviors customizable.

Multiple behaviors can be attached to the same component

What if we'll have multiple methods / properties / events with the same name?

How to use Behavior::attach?

Looks like it is used by Component::attachBehavior but can't be used without it. Why it's public then? Can we move it to Component?

Events

Class itself looks OK. Component part is OK as well but I've not tested it carefully. Overall it seems concept is the same as in Yii1.

Event declaration: the on-method is mostly repetitive for every event. Should we choose a different way of declaring events?

Maybe. People complained previously about too many code for event declaration.

Should we implement some additional event mechanism, such as global events?

Why use two different implementations in a single application?

Exceptions

• Should we convert all errors, warnings and notices to exceptions?

Coding style

See docs/code_style.md.