Running Dredd Hooks as a Flask App in the Open Event Server

The Open Event Server is based on the micro-framework Flask from its initial phases. After implementing API documentation, we decided to implement the Dredd testing in the Open Event API.

After isolating each request in Dredd testing, the real challenge is now to bind the database engine to the Dredd Hooks. And as we have been using Flask-SQLAlchemy db.Model Baseclass for building all the models and Flask, being a micro framework itself, came to our rescue as we could easily bind the database engine to the Flask app. Conventionally dredd hooks are written in pure Python, but we will running them as a self contained Flask app itself.

How to initialise this flask app in our dredd hooks. The Flask app can be initialised in the before_all hook easily as shown below:

def before_all(transaction):
    app = Flask(__name__)
    app.config.from_object('config.TestingConfig')

 

The database can be binded to the app as follows:

def before_all(transaction):
app = Flask(__name__)
app.config.from_object('config.TestingConfig')
db.init_app(app)
Migrate(app, db)

 

The challenge now is how to bind the application context when applying the database fixtures. In a normal Flask application this can be done as following:

with app.app_context():
#perform your operation

 

While for unit tests in python:

with app.test_request_context():
#perform tests

 

But as all the hooks are separate from each other, Dredd-hooks-python supports idea of a single stash list where you can store all the desired variables(a list or the name stash is not necessary).

The app and db can be added to stash as shown below:

@hooks.before_all
def before_all(transaction):
app = Flask(__name__)
app.config.from_object('config.TestingConfig')
db.init_app(app)
Migrate(app, db)
stash['app'] = app
stash['db'] = db

 

These variables stored in the stash can be used efficiently as below:

@hooks.before_each
def before_each(transaction):
with stash['app'].app_context():
db.engine.execute("drop schema if exists public cascade")
db.engine.execute("create schema public")
db.create_all()

 

and many other such examples.

Related Links:
1. Testing Your API Documentation With Dredd: https://matthewdaly.co.uk/blog/2016/08/08/testing-your-api-documentation-with-dredd/
2. Dredd Tutorial: https://help.apiary.io/api_101/dredd-tutorial/
3. Dredd Docs: http://dredd.readthedocs.io/

Continue ReadingRunning Dredd Hooks as a Flask App in the Open Event Server

Adding Unit Tests for Services in loklak search

In Loklak search, it can be tricky to write tests for services as these services are customizable and not fixed. Therefore, we need to test every query parameter of the URL. Moreover, we need to test if service is parsing data in a correct manner and returns only data of type ApiResponse.

In this blog here, we are going to see how to build different components for unit testing services. We will be going to test Search service in loklak search which makes Jsonp request to get the response from the loklak search.json API which are displayed as feeds on loklak search. We need to test if the service handles the response in a correct way and if the request parameters are exactly according to customization.

Service to test

Search service in loklak search is one of the most important component in the loklak search. SearchService is a class with a method fetchQuery() which takes parameter and sets up URL parameters for the search.json API of loklak. Now, it makes a JSONP request and maps the API response. The Method fetchQuery() can be called from other components with parameters query and lastRecord to get the response from the server based on a certain search query and the last record to implement pagination feature in loklak search. Now as the data is retrieved, a callback function is called to access the response returned by the API. Now, the response received from the server is parsed to JSON format data to extract data from the response easily.

@Injectable()
export class SearchService {
private static readonly apiUrl: URL = new URL(‘http://api.loklak.org/api/search.json’);
private static maximum_records_fetch = 20;
private static minified_results = true;
private static source = ‘all’;
private static fields = ‘created_at,screen_name,mentions,hashtags’;
private static limit = 10;
private static timezoneOffset: string = new Date().getTimezoneOffset().toString();constructor(
private jsonp: Jsonp
) { }// TODO: make the searchParams as configureable model rather than this approach.
public fetchQuery(query: string, lastRecord = 0): Observable<ApiResponse> {
const searchParams = new URLSearchParams();
searchParams.set(‘q’, query);
searchParams.set(‘callback’, ‘JSONP_CALLBACK’);
searchParams.set(‘minified’, SearchService.minified_results.toString());
searchParams.set(‘source’, SearchService.source);
searchParams.set(‘maximumRecords’, SearchService.maximum_records_fetch.toString());
searchParams.set(‘timezoneOffset’, SearchService.timezoneOffset);
searchParams.set(‘startRecord’, (lastRecord + 1).toString());
searchParams.set(‘fields’, SearchService.fields);
searchParams.set(‘limit’, SearchService.limit.toString());
return this.jsonp.get(SearchService.apiUrl.toString(), { search: searchParams })
.map(this.extractData)}private extractData(res: Response): ApiResponse {
try {
return <ApiResponse>res.json();
} catch (error) {
console.error(error);
}
}

Testing the service

  • Create a mock backend to assure that we are not making any Jsonp request. We need to use Mock Jsonp provider for this. This provider sets up MockBackend and wires up all the dependencies to override the Request Options used by the JSONP request.

const mockJsonpProvider = {
provide: Jsonp,
deps: [MockBackend, BaseRequestOptions],
useFactory: (backend: MockBackend, defaultOptions: BaseRequestOptions) => {
return new Jsonp(backend, defaultOptions);
}
};

 

  • Now, we need to configure the testing module to isolate service from other dependencies. With this, we can instantiate services manually. We have to use TestBed for unit testing and provide all necessary imports/providers for creating and testing services in the unit test.

describe(‘Service: Search’, () => {
let service: SearchService = null;
let backend: MockBackend = null;
beforeEach(() => {
TestBed.configureTestingModule({
providers: [
MockBackend,
BaseRequestOptions,
mockJsonpProvider,
SearchService
]
});
});

 

  • Now, we will inject Service (to be tested) and MockBackend into the Testing module. As all the dependencies are injected, we can now initiate the connections and start testing the service.

beforeEach(inject([SearchService, MockBackend], (searchService: SearchService, mockBackend: MockBackend) => {
service = searchService;
backend = mockBackend;
}));

 

  • We will be using it() block to mention about what property/feature we are going to test in the block. All the tests will be included in this block. One of the most important part is to induce callback function done which will close the connection as soon the testing is over.

it(‘should call the search api and return the search results’, (done)=>{
// test goes here
});

 

  • Now, we will create a connection to the MockBackend and subscribe to this connection. We need to configure ResponseOptions so that mock response is JSONified and returned when the request is made.  Now, the MockBackend is set up and we can proceed to make assertions and test the service.

const result = MockResponse;
backend.connections.subscribe((connection: MockConnection) => {
const options = new ResponseOptions({
body: JSON.stringify(result)
});
connection.mockRespond(new Response(options));

 

  • We can now add test by using expect() block to check if the assertion is true or false. We will now test:
    • Request method: We will be testing if the request method used by the connection created is GET.

expect(connection.request.method).toEqual(RequestMethod.Get);
    • Request Url: We will be testing if all the URL Search Parameters are correct and according to what we provide as a parameter to the method fetchQuery().

expect(connection.request.url).toEqual(
`http://api.loklak.org/api/search.json` +
`?q=${query}` +
`&callback=JSONP_CALLBACK` +
`&minified=true&source=all` +
`&maximumRecords=20&timezoneOffset=${timezoneOffset}` +
`&startRecord=${lastRecord + 1}` +
`&fields=created_at,screen_name,mentions,hashtags&limit=10`);
});
);

 

  • Response:  Now, we need to call the service to make a request to the backend and subscribe to the response returned. Next, we will make an assertion to check if the response returned and parsed by the service is equal the Mock Response that should be returned. At the end, we need to call the callback function done() to close the connection.

service
.fetchQuery(query, lastRecord)
.subscribe((res) => {
expect(res).toEqual(result);
done();
});
});

Reference

Continue ReadingAdding Unit Tests for Services in loklak search

Auto-Refreshing Mode in loklak Media Wall

Auto-refreshing wall means that the request to the loklak server for the feeds must be sent after every few seconds and adding up new feeds in the media wall as soon as the response is received for a single session. For a nice implementation, it is also necessary to check if the new feeds are being received from the server and consequently, close the connection as soon as no feeds are received as to maintain session singularity.

In this blog post, I am explaining how I implemented the auto-refreshing mode for media wall using tools like ngrx/store and ngrx/effects.

Flow Chart

The flowchart below explains the workflow of how the actions, effects and service are linked to create a cycle of events for auto-refreshing mode. It also shows up how the response is handled as a dependency for the next request. Since effects play a major role for this behaviour, we can say it as the “Game of Effects”.

Working

  • Effect wallSearchAction$: Assuming the Query for media wall has changed and ACTION: WALL_SEARCH has been dispatched, we will start from this point of time. Looking into the flowchart, we can see as soon the action WALL_SEARCH is dispatched, a effect needs to be created to detect the action dispatched.This effect customizes the query and sets up various configurations for search service and calls the service. Depending on whether the response is received or not, it either dispatches WallSearchCompleteSuccessAction or WallSearchCompleteFailAction respectively. Moreover, this effect is responsible for changing the route/location of the application.

@Effect()
wallSearchAction$: Observable<Action>
= this.actions$
.ofType(wallAction.ActionTypes.WALL_SEARCH)
.debounceTime(400)
.map((action: wallAction.WallSearchAction) => action.payload)
.switchMap(query => {
const nextSearch$ = this.actions$.ofType(wallAction.ActionTypes.WALL_SEARCH).skip(1);
const searchServiceConfig: SearchServiceConfig = new SearchServiceConfig();if (query.filter.image) {
searchServiceConfig.addFilters([‘image’]);
} else {
searchServiceConfig.removeFilters([‘image’]);
}
if (query.filter.video) {
searchServiceConfig.addFilters([‘video’]);
} else {
searchServiceConfig.removeFilters([‘video’]);
}return this.apiSearchService.fetchQuery(query.queryString, searchServiceConfig)
.takeUntil(nextSearch$)
.map(response => {
const URIquery = encodeURIComponent(query.queryString);
this.location.go(`/wall?query=${URIquery}`);
return new apiAction.WallSearchCompleteSuccessAction(response);
})
.catch(() => of(new apiAction.WallSearchCompleteFailAction()));
  • Property lastResponseLength: Looking into the flow chart, we can see that after WallSearchCompleteSuccessAction is dispatched, we need to check for the number of feeds in the response. If the number of feeds in the response is more than 0, we can continue to make a new request to the server. On the other hand, if no feeds are received, we need to close the connection and stop requesting for more feeds. This check is implemented using lastResponseLength state property of the reducer which maintains the length of the entities for the last response received.

case apiAction.ActionTypes.WALL_SEARCH_COMPLETE_SUCCESS: {
const apiResponse = action.payload;return Object.assign({}, state, {
entities: apiResponse.statuses,
lastResponseLength: apiResponse.statuses.length
});
}

 

  • Effect nextWallSearchAction$: Now, we have all the information regarding if we should dispatch WALL_NEXT_PAGE_ACTION depending on the last response received. We need to implement an effect that detects WALL_SEARCH_COMPLETE_SUCCESS  keeping in mind that the next request should be made 10 seconds after the previous response is received. For this behaviour, we need to use debounceTime() which emits a value only after certain specified time period has passed. Here, debounce is set to 10000ms which is equal to 10 seconds. The effect also needs to dispatch the next action depending on the lastResponseLength state property of the reducer. It should dispatch WallNextPageAction if the entities length of the response is more than 0, otherwise, it should dispatch StopWallPaginationAction.

@Effect()
nextWallSearchAction$
= this.actions$
.ofType(apiAction.ActionTypes.WALL_SEARCH_COMPLETE_SUCCESS)
.debounceTime(10000)
.withLatestFrom(this.store$)
.map(([action, state]) => {
if (state.mediaWallResponse.lastResponseLength > 0) {
return new wallPaginationAction.WallNextPageAction();
}
else {
return new wallPaginationAction.StopWallPaginationAction();
}
});

 

  • Effect wallPagination$: Now, we need to have an effect that should detect WALL_NEXT_PAGE_ACTION and call the SearchService similar to wallSearchAction$ Effect. However, we need to keep a check on the last record of the entities from the previous response received. This can be done using lastRecord state property which maintains the last record of the entities.

@Effect()
wallPagination$: Observable<Action>
= this.actions$
.ofType(wallPaginationAction.ActionTypes.WALL_NEXT_PAGE)
.map((action: wallPaginationAction.WallNextPageAction) => action.payload)
.withLatestFrom(this.store$)
.map(([action, state]) => {
return {
query: state.mediaWallQuery.query,
lastRecord: state.mediaWallResponse.entities.length
};
})
.switchMap(queryObject => {
const nextSearch$ = this.actions$.ofType(wallAction.ActionTypes.WALL_SEARCH);this.searchServiceConfig.startRecord = queryObject.lastRecord + 1;
if (queryObject.query.filter.image) {
this.searchServiceConfig.addFilters([‘image’]);
} else {
this.searchServiceConfig.removeFilters([‘image’]);
}
if (queryObject.query.filter.video) {
this.searchServiceConfig.addFilters([‘video’]);
} else {
this.searchServiceConfig.removeFilters([‘video’]);
}return this.apiSearchService.fetchQuery(queryObject.query.queryString, this.searchServiceConfig)
.takeUntil(nextSearch$)
.map(response => {
return new wallPaginationAction.WallPaginationCompleteSuccessAction(response);
})
.catch(() => of(new wallPaginationAction.WallPaginationCompleteFailAction()));
});

 

  • Effect nextWallPageAction$: Similar to the nextWallSearchAction$ effect, we need to implement an effect that detects WALL_PAGINATION_SUCCESS_ACTION and depending on the lastResponseLength should either dispatch WallNextPageAction or StopWallPaginationAction after a certain specified debounceTime.

@Effect()
nextWallPageAction$
= this.actions$
.ofType(wallPaginationAction.ActionTypes.WALL_PAGINATION_COMPLETE_SUCCESS)
.debounceTime(10000)
.withLatestFrom(this.store$)
.map(([action, state]) => {
if (state.mediaWallResponse.lastResponseLength > 0) {
return new wallPaginationAction.WallNextPageAction();
}
else {
return new wallPaginationAction.StopWallPaginationAction();
}
});

 

Now the cycle is created and requests will be automatically made after every 10 seconds depending on the previous response. This cycle also closes the connection and stops making a pagination request for the particular query as soon as no feeds are received from the server.

Reference

Continue ReadingAuto-Refreshing Mode in loklak Media Wall

Selecting Best persistent storage for Phimpme Android and how to use it

As we are progressing in our Phimpme Android app. I added account manager part which deals with connecting all other accounts to phimpme. Showing a list of connected accounts.

We need a persistent storage to store all the details such as username, full name, profile image url, access token (to access API). I researched on various Object Relation mapping (ORMs) such as:

  1. DBFlow: https://github.com/Raizlabs/DBFlow
  2. GreenDAO: https://github.com/greenrobot/greenDAO
  3. SugarORM: http://satyan.github.io/sugar/
  4. Requery: https://github.com/requery/requery

and other NoSQL databases such as Realm Database : https://github.com/realm/realm-java.

After reading a lot from some blogs on the benchmarking of these ORMs and database, I came to know that Realm database is quite better in terms of Speed of writing data and ease of use.

Steps to integrate Realm Database:

  • Installation of Realm database in android

Following these steps https://realm.io/docs/java/latest/#installation quickly setup realm in android. Add

classpath "io.realm:realm-gradle-plugin:3.3.2"

in Project level build.gradle file and Add

apply plugin: 'realm-android' 

in app level build.gradle, That’s it for using Realm

  • Generating required Realm models

Firstly, make sure what you need to store in your database. In case of phimpme, I first go through the account section and noted down what needs to be there.  Profile image URL, username, full name, account indicator image name. Below image illustrate this better.

This is the Realm Model class I made in Kotlin to store name, username and access token for accessing API.

open class AccountDatabase(
       @PrimaryKey var name: String = "",
       var username: String = "",
       var token: String = ""
) : RealmObject()

  • Writing data in database

In Account manager, I create a add account option from where a dialog appear with a list of accounts. Currently, Twitter is working, when onSuccess function invoke in AccountPickerFragment I start a twitter session and store values in database. Writing data in database:

// Begin realm transaction
realm.beginTransaction();

// Creating Realm object for AccountDatabase Class
account = realm.createObject(AccountDatabase.class,
       accountsList[0]);

account.setUsername(session.getUserName());
account.setToken(String.valueOf(session.getAuthToken()));
realm.commitTransaction();

Begin and commit block in necessary. There is one more way of doing this is using execute function in Realm

  • Use Separate Database Helper class for Database operations

It’s good to use a separate class for all the Database operations needed in the project. I created a DatabaseHelper Class and added a function to query the result needed. Query the database

public RealmResults<AccountDatabase> fetchAccountDetails(){
   return realm.where(AccountDatabase.class).findAll();
}

It give all of the results, stored in the database like below

  • Problems I faced with annotation processor while using Kotlin and Realm together

The Kotlin annotation processor not running due to the plugins wrong order. This issue https://github.com/realm/realm-java/pull/2568 helped me in solving that. I addded apply plugin: ‘kotlin-kapt’. In app gradle file and shift apply plugin: ‘realm-android’ In below the order.

Resources:

 

Continue ReadingSelecting Best persistent storage for Phimpme Android and how to use it

Porting Phimpme Android to Kotlin

As we are going ahead in Phimpme Project we are now on verge to start our account manager which deals with sharing images to many platforms right from the app. The account manager will take care of logging In the user. Saving it’s important credentials such access token, username etc as required by the API.

Google IO ‘17 just passed, and we seen tons of new features, APIs and development tools. One of the them is official support for Kotlin in Android Studio.

As stated by the developers at the conference that one best way to work on Kotlin is add today in your project. Because it is compatible with Java, we can work together on both languages in the same project. It is not mandatory for you to shift your entire code to Kotlin to build a project. So starting with the account manager we decided to bring this to our code. It helps in reducing the boilerplate code for example in Phimpme, I created a model for Realm database.

open class AccountDatabase(

       @PrimaryKey var name: String = "",

       var username: String = "",

       var token: String = ""

) : RealmObject()

That’s all I need to create a model class, no need to create getter and setter property

This helps me to get details from getter methods and show on Account Manager Recycler View like below.

Step 1 : Upgrade to Android Studio Preview 3.0

Android Studio Preview 3.0 comes up with all new features and Kotlin support. We all upgraded to that. It has a great Android Profiler with advance features for debugging and logcat is now moved separately. This step is not mandatory, you can work on older version of Android Studio as well.

Step 2 : Configure Kotlin

It’s easy in Android Studio Preview 3.0 to configure Kotlin. Go to Tools → Kotlin → Configure Kotlin in project.

What in the configuration

  • It added a classpath dependency in project level build.gradle file
classpath"org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:$kotlin_version"
  • Added Kotlin plugin
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android'
  • Added kotlin std lib in app level build.gradle
compile "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jre7:$kotlin_version"

Step 3: How to add Kotlin files

Now your project is ready for Kotlin. In Android Studio Preview 3.0 you can create new Kotlin files from the file menu.

Also by using Activity template you can select the source language as Java or Kotlin as per your preference.

Step 4 : Work with Kotlin

There are a lot new features in Kotlin to explore. Some of them are

  • Null Safety : In Kotlin, the type system distinguishes between references that can hold null (nullable references) and those that can not (non-null references). For example, a regular variable of type String cannot hold null.
var a: String = "abc"
a = null // compilation error

To allow nulls, we can declare a variable as nullable string, written String?:

 var b: String? = "abc"
 b = null // ok
  • Val and Var are two keywords in Kotlin to declare variables. Val gives you read only variable which is same as final modifier in Java, it is not changing. In other words it is immutable Data variables. Var is mutable data variable
  • Semicolons (;) are optional
  • No switch it’s when block in Kotlin. No need to write break and case: below is snippet from phimpme app
override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean {
        when (item.itemId) {
            R.id.action_add_account -> {
                val fragmentManager = fragmentManager
                val accountsPicker = AccountPickerFragment().newInstance("Accounts Picker")
                accountsPicker.show(fragmentManager, "Accounts Picker")
            }
            else -> return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
        }
        return true
    }


Source:

Continue ReadingPorting Phimpme Android to Kotlin

Adding unit tests for effects in Loklak Search

Loklak search uses @ngrx/effects to listen to actions dispatched by the user and sending API request to the loklak server. Loklak search, currently, has seven effects such as Search Effects,  Suggest Effects which runs to make the application reactive. It is important to test these effects to ensure that effects make API calls at the right time and then map the response to send it back to the reducer.

I will  explain here how I added unit tests for the effects. Surprisingly, the test coverage increased from 43% to 55% after adding these tests.

Effects to test

We are going to test effects for user search. This effect listens to the event of type USER_SEARCH and makes a call to the user-search service with the query as a parameter. After a response is received, it maps the response and passes it on the UserSearchCompleteSuccessAction action which performs the later operation. If the service fails to get a response, it makes a call to the UserSearchCompleteFailAction.

Code

ApiUserSearchEffects is the effect which detects if the USER_SEARCH action is dispatched from some component of the application and consequently, it makes a call to the UserSearchService and handles the JSON response received from the server. The effects then, dispatch the action new UserSearchCompleteSuccessAction if response is received from server or either dispatch the action new UserSearchCompleteFailAction if no response is received. The debounce time is set to 400 so that response can be flushed if a new USER_SEARCH is dispatched within the next 400ms.

For this effect, we need to test if the effects actually runs when USER_SEARCH action is made. Further, we need to test if the correct parameters are supplied to the service and response is handled carefully. We also, need to check if the response if really flushed out within the certain debounce time limit.

@Injectable()
export class ApiUserSearchEffects {@Effect()
search$: Observable<Action>
= this.actions$
.ofType(userApiAction.ActionTypes.USER_SEARCH)
.debounceTime(400)
.map((action: userApiAction.UserSearchAction) => action.payload)
.switchMap(query => {
const nextSearch$ = this.actions$.ofType(userApiAction.ActionTypes.USER_SEARCH).skip(1);const follow_count = 10;return this.apiUserService.fetchQuery(query.screen_name, follow_count)
.takeUntil(nextSearch$)
.map(response => new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteSuccessAction(response))
.catch(() => of(new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteFailAction()));
});constructor(
private actions$: Actions,
private apiUserService: UserService
) { }

}

Unit test for effects

  • Configure the TestBed class before starting the unit test and add all the necessary imports (most important being the EffectsTestingModule) and providers. This step will help to isolate the effects completely from all other components and testing it independently. We also need to create spy object which spies on the method userService.fetchQuery with provider being UserService.

beforeEach(() => TestBed.configureTestingModule({
imports: [
EffectsTestingModule,
RouterTestingModule
],
providers: [
ApiUserSearchEffects,
{
provide: UserService,
useValue: jasmine.createSpyObj(‘userService’, [‘fetchQuery’])
}
]
}));
  • Now, we will be needing a function setup which takes params which are the data to be returned by the Mock User Service. We can now configure the response to returned by the service. Moreover, this function will be initializing EffectsRunner and returning ApiUserSearchEffects so that it can be used for unit testing.

function setup(params?: {userApiReturnValue: any}) {
const userService = TestBed.get(UserService);
if (params) { userService.fetchQuery.and.returnValue(params.userApiReturnValue);
}return {
runner: TestBed.get(EffectsRunner),
apiUserSearchEffects: TestBed.get(ApiUserSearchEffects)
};
}

 

  • Now we will be adding unit tests for the effects. In these tests, we are going to test if the effects recognise the action and return some new action based on the response we want and if it maps the response only after a certain debounce time.We have used fakeAsync() which gives us access to the tick() function. Next, We are calling the function setup and pass on the Mock Response so that whenever User Service is called it returns the Mock Response and never runs the service actually. We will now queue the action UserSearchAction in the runner and subscribe to the value returned by the effects class. We can now test the value returned using expect() block and that the value is returned only after a certain debounce time using tick() block.

it(‘should return a new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteSuccessAction, ‘ +
‘with the response, on success, after the de-bounce’, fakeAsync(() => {
const response = MockUserResponse;const {runner, apiUserSearchEffects} = setup({userApiReturnValue: Observable.of(response)});

const expectedResult = new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteSuccessAction(response);

runner.queue(new userApiAction.UserSearchAction(MockUserQuery));

let result = null;
apiUserSearchEffects.search$.subscribe(_result => result = _result);
tick(399); // test debounce
expect(result).toBe(null);
tick(401);
expect(result).toEqual(expectedResult);
}));

it(‘should return a new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteFailAction,’ +
‘if the SearchService throws’, fakeAsync(() => {
const { runner, apiUserSearchEffects } = setup({ userApiReturnValue: Observable.throw(new Error()) });

const expectedResult = new userApiAction.UserSearchCompleteFailAction();

runner.queue(new userApiAction.UserSearchAction(MockUserQuery));

let result = null;
apiUserSearchEffects.search$.subscribe(_result => result = _result );

tick(399); // Test debounce
expect(result).toBe(null);
tick(401);
expect(result).toEqual(expectedResult);
}));
});

Reference

Continue ReadingAdding unit tests for effects in Loklak Search

Introducing Customization in Loklak Media Wall

My GSoC Project includes implementing media wall in loklak search . One part of the issue is to include customization options in media wall. I looked around for most important features that can be implemented in a media wall to give the user a more appealing and personalized view. One of the feature that can be implemented is enabling Full Screen Mode.  This feature can help the user to display media wall on the projector or any big display screen without compromising with space available. In one part, I would be explaining how I implemented Full screen Mode in loklak media wall using fullscreen.js library.

Secondly, it is important to include a very reactive and user-friendly setting box. The setting box should be a central container in which all the customization options will be included.In loklak media wall,  setting box is implemented as a dialog box with various classifications in form of tabs. I would also be explaining  how I designed customization menu using Angular Material.

Implementation

Full Screen Mode

Since loklak search is an Angular 2 application and all the code is written in typescript, we can’t simply use the fullscreen.js library. We have to import the library into our application and create a directive that can be applied to the element to use it in the application.

  • Install fullscreen.js library in the application using Node Package Manager.

npm install save screenfull

import {Directive, HostListener, Output, EventEmitter} from ‘@angular/core’;
import * as screenfull from ‘screenfull’;@Directive({
selector: ‘[toggleFullscreen]’
})
export class ToggleFullscreenDirective {constructor() {}@HostListener(‘click’) onClick() {
if (screenfull.enabled) {
screenfull.toggle();
}
}
}
  • Import Directive into the module and add it to declaration. This allows directive to be used anywhere in the template.

import { ToggleFullscreenDirective } from ‘../shared//full-screen.directive’;
.
.
.
@NgModule({
.
.
.
declarations: [
.
.
.
ToggleFullscreenDirective,
.
.
.
]
})
export class MediaWallModule { }
  • Now, the directive is ready to use on the template. We just have to add this attribute directive to an element.

<i toggleFullscreen mdTooltip=“Full Screen” mdTooltipPosition=“below” class=“material-icons md-36”>fullscreen</i>

Customization Menu

Customization Menu is created using the idea of central container for customization. It is created using two components of Angular Material – Dialog Box and Tabs . We will now be looking how customization menu is implemented using these two components.

  • Create a component with the pre-configured position, height and width of the dialog box. This can be done simply using updatePosition and updateSize property of the MdDialogRef class.

export class MediaWallCustomizationComponent implements OnInit {
public query: string;constructor(
private dialogRef: MdDialogRef<MediaWallCustomizationComponent>,
private store: Store<fromRoot.State>,
private location: Location) { }ngOnInit() {
this.dialogRef.updatePosition(’10px’);
this.dialogRef.updateSize(‘80%’, ‘80%’);
}public searchAction() {
if (this.query) {
this.store.dispatch(new mediaWallAction.WallInputValueChangeAction(this.query));
this.location.go(‘/wall’, `query=${this.query}`);
}
}
}
  • Create a template for the Customization menu. We will be using md-tab and md-dialog to create a dialog box with options displayed using tabs. dynamicHeight should be set to true so that dialog box adjust according to the tabs. We can simply add an attribute md-dialog-close to the button which will close the dialog box. All the content should be added in the div with attribute md-dialog-content linked to it. Moreover, to make options look more user-friendly and adjustable on smaller screens, icons must be added with the Tab title.

<h1 mddialogtitle>Customization Menu</h1>
<button class=“form-close” mddialogclose>x</button>
<span mddialogcontent>
<mdtabgroup color=“accent” dynamicHeight=“true”>
<mdtab>
<ngtemplate mdtablabel>
<mdicon>search</mdicon>
Search For
</ngtemplate>
<h3> Search Customization </h3>
<mdinputcontainer class=“example-full-width” color=“accent”>
<input placeholder=“Search Term” mdInput type =“text” class=“input” name=“search-term” [(ngModel)]=“query”>
</mdinputcontainer>
<span class=“apply-button”>
<button mdraisedbutton color=“accent” mddialogclose (click)=“searchAction()”>Display</button>
</span>
</mdtab>
</mdtabgroup>
</span>

The code currently shows up code for search customization. It basically, records to the input using [(ngModel)] for two-way binding and makes the call the search action whenever user clicks on Display button.

  • Add a button which would open dialog box using open property of MdDialog class. This property would provide an instance for MediaWallCustomizationComponent and the component will show up dynamically.

<i class=“material-icons md-36” (click)=“dialog.open(MediaWallCustomizationComponent)”>settings</i>
  • It is important to add MediaWallCustomizationComponent as an entry component in the module so that AOT compiler can create a ComponentFactory for it during initialization.

import { MediaWallCustomizationComponent } from ‘./media-wall-customization/media-wall-customization.component’;

@NgModule({
entryComponents: [
MediaWallCustomizationComponent
]
})
export class MediaWallModule { }

 

This creates an appealing and user-friendly customization menu which acts a central container for customization options.

References

Continue ReadingIntroducing Customization in Loklak Media Wall

Adding Masonry Grid Layout to loklak Media Wall

Working on loklak media walls, I wanted to add a responsive self-adjusting grid layout for media walls. Going through the most trending media wall, I concluded that the most commonly used view for media walls is Masonry view. This view is a much similar view to the Pinterest grid layout. In fact, Masonry Desandro states that Masonry view can be one of the most responsive and most pretty ways to present cards. It is also beneficial to use masonry view as it avoids unnecessary gaps and makes full use of the display screen.

In this blog, we are going to see how I added a masonry view to the media walls without any other dependency than CSS using column-count and column-gap. We would also be looking upon how to adjust font-size using rem units to make text readable for all screen-sizes depending on number of columns.

HTML File

<span class=“masonry”>
<span class=“masonry-panel” *ngFor=“let item of (apiResponseResults$ | async)”>
<span class=“masonry-content”>
<mediawallcard [feedItem]=“item”></mediawallcard>
</span>
</span>
</span>
  • The first span with class masonry is like a container in which all the cards will be embedded. This div will provide a container to adjust the number of columns in which cards will be adjusted.
  • The second span with class masonry-panel will be the column division. These panels are like the elements of a matrix. These panels are responsive and will adjust according to the screen size.
  • The third span with class masonry-content are like the content box in which all the content will be embedded. This div will create a space in the panel for the card to be adjusted.
  • The fourth element media-wall-card are the cards in which all the feed items are placed.

CSS File

  • Adjusting columns – The column-count and column-gap property was introduced in CSS3 to divide the element in a specified number of column and to keep the specified number (whole number) of column gap between the elements respectively. For different screen sizes, these are the column count that are kept. We need adjust the number of columns according to various screen sizes so that cards neither look too stretched or too bleak. Media wall is now responsive enough to adjust on smaller screens like mobiles with one column and on larger screens too with five columns.

@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.masonry {
columncount: 1;
columngap: 0;
}
} @media only screen and (min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 900px) {
.masonry {
columncount: 2;
columngap: 0;
}
} @media only screen and (min-width: 1280px) and (max-width: 1500px) {
.masonry {
columncount: 3;
columngap: 0;
}
} @media only screen and (min-width: 1500px) and (max-width: 1920px) {
.masonry {
columncount: 4;
columngap: 0;
}
} @media only screen and (min-width: 1920px) {
.masonry {
columncount: 5;
columngap: 0;
}
}
  • Adjusting Font-Size – For a fixed aspect ratio of various divisions of the media wall card, we need a central unit that can be adjusted to keep this ratio fixed. Using px will rather make the sizes fixed and adjusting these sizes for various screen sizes will make it hectic and would spoil the ratio. We will be instead using rem as a font-unit to adjust the font size for different screen sizes. Firstly, we need to assign a certain font size to all the elements in the media wall card. Now, we can configure the central font-size of the root unit for all the screen sizes using @media tag.

One thing that should be kept in mind is that The root font size should be kept more than 14px always.

@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
:root {
font-size: 14px;
}
}@media only screen and (min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 800px) {
:root {
font-size: 16px;
}
}@media only screen and (min-width: 800px) and (max-width: 1200px) {
:root {
font-size: 17px;
}
}@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) and (max-width: 1500px) {
:root {
font-size: 18px;
}
}@media only screen and (min-width: 1500px) {
:root {
font-size: 20px;
}
}

 

This will create a masonry layout and now, all the cards can be adjusted in this self-adjusting grid and will look readable on all types of screen.

Reference

Continue ReadingAdding Masonry Grid Layout to loklak Media Wall

Adding Unit Test for Reducer in loklak search

Ngrx/store components are an integral part of the loklak search. All the components are dependent on how the data is received from the reducers. Reducer is like a client-side database which stores up all the data received from the API response. It is responsible for changing the state of the application. Reducers also supplies data to the Angular components from the central Store. If correct data is not received by the components, the application would crash. Therefore, we need to test if the reducer is storing the data in a correct way and changes the state of the application as expected.

Reducer also stores the current state properties which are fetched from the APIs. We need to check if reducers store the data in a correct way and if the data is received from the reducer when called from the angular components.

In this blog, I would explain how to build up different components for unit testing reducers.

Reducer to test

This reducer is used for store the data from suggest.json API from the loklak server.The data received from the server is further classified into three properties which can be used by the components to show up auto- suggestions related to current search query.

  • metadata: – This property stores the metadata from API suggestion response.
  • entities: – This property stores the array of suggestions corresponding to the particular query received from the server.
  • valid: – This is a boolean which keeps a check if the suggestions are valid or not.

We also have two actions corresponding to this reducer. These actions, when called, changes the state properties which , further, supplies data to the components in a more classified manner. Moreover, state properties also causes change in the UI of the component according to the action dispatched.

  • SUGGEST_COMPLETE_SUCCESS: – This action is called when the data is received successfully from the server.
  • SUGGEST_COMPLETE_FAIL: – This action is called when the retrieving data from the server fails.

export interface State {
metadata: SuggestMetadata;
entities: SuggestResults[];
valid: boolean;
}export const initialState: State = {
metadata: null,
entities: [],
valid: true
};export function reducer(state: State = initialState, action: suggestAction.Actions): State {
switch (action.type) {
case suggestAction.ActionTypes.SUGGEST_COMPLETE_SUCCESS: {
const suggestResponse = action.payload;return {
metadata: suggestResponse.suggest_metadata,
entities: suggestResponse.queries,
valid: true
};
}case suggestAction.ActionTypes.SUGGEST_COMPLETE_FAIL: {
return Object.assign({}, state, {
valid: false
});
}default: {
return state;
}
}
}

Unit tests for reducers

  • Import all the actions, reducers and mocks

import * as fromSuggestionResponse from ‘./suggest-response’;
import * as suggestAction from ‘../actions/suggest’;
import { SuggestResponse } from ‘../models/api-suggest’;
import { MockSuggestResponse } from ‘../shared/mocks/suggestResponse.mock’;

 

  • Next, we are going to test if the undefined action doesn’t a cause change in the state and returns the initial state properties. We will be creating an action by const action = {} as any;  and call the reducer by const result = fromSuggestionResponse.reducer(undefined, action);. Now we will be making assertions with expect() block to check if the result is equal to initialState and all the initial state properties are returned

describe(‘SuggestReducer’, () => {
describe(‘undefined action’, () => {
it(‘should return the default state’, () => {
const action = {} as any;const result = fromSuggestionResponse.reducer(undefined, action);
expect(result).toEqual(fromSuggestionResponse.initialState);
});
});

 

  • Now, we are going to test SUGGEST_COMPLETE_SUCCESS and SUGGEST_COMPLETE_FAIL action and check if reducers change only the assigned state properties corresponding to the action in a correct way.  Here, we will be creating action as assigned to the const action variable in the code below. Our next step would be to create a new state object with expected new state properties as assigned to variable const expectedResult below. Now, we would be calling reducer and make an assertion if the individual state properties of the result returned from the reducer (by calling reducer) is equal to the state properties of the expectedResult (Mock state result created to test).

describe(‘SUGGEST_COMPLETE_SUCCESS’, () => {
it(‘should add suggest response to the state’, () => {
const ResponseAction = new suggestAction.SuggestCompleteSuccessAction(MockSuggestResponse);
const expectedResult: fromSuggestionResponse.State = {
metadata: MockSuggestResponse.suggest_metadata,
entities: MockSuggestResponse.queries,
valid: true
};const result = fromSuggestionResponse.reducer(fromSuggestionResponse.initialState, ResponseAction);
expect(result).toEqual(expectedResult);
});
});describe(‘SUGGEST_COMPLETE_FAIL’, () => {
it(‘should set valid to true’, () => {
const action = new suggestAction.SuggestCompleteFailAction();
const result = fromSuggestionResponse.reducer(fromSuggestionResponse.initialState, action);expect(result.valid).toBe(false);
});
});

Reference

Continue ReadingAdding Unit Test for Reducer in loklak search