# computed

Allows you to define a computed property against your model. A computed property is state that is derived from other state. They can be accessed by your components just like any other state.

const model = {
  user: null,
  isLoggedIn: computed((state) => state.user != null),
};

The computation process is only performed when the property is being consumed by a component. In addition to this the results of computed properties are cached, with re-computations only occurring when the state that they rely on changes.

# API

The computed function is described below.

# Arguments

The computed helper allows you to provide two forms of arguments;

  1. A compute function only;

    computed(computeFn);
    

or

  1. A state resolver function, and a compute function;

    computed(stateResolverFn, computeFn);
    

The arguments as seen in the examples above can be described as follows;

  • computeFn (Function, required)

    The function that will receive the input state and return the derived value.

    If no stateResolverFm was provided the computeFn will receive the local model state as its input.

  • stateResolvers (Array<Function>)

    State resolvers allow you to isolate the specific parts of your state as inputs to your computation function. They also have the added benefit of being able to expose the entire store state to your computed property. Each state resolver function receives the following arguments:

    • state (Object)

      The local state against which your computed property is bound.

    • storeState (Object)

      The entire store state

    In general it is recommended that you only use state resolvers if you need to resolve state from another part of your model. There are some performance benefits to be had by isolating local state, but in almost every case this would be insignificant.

    It is also worth noting that the state and storeState that are provided to your state resolvers will include computed properties too. Computed properties are allowed to reference each other.

# Tutorial

# Consuming a component property

You access computed properties in the same manner as any other state within your components, i.e. via the useStoreState hook. Any updates to our computed property, i.e. the input state to our computed property changed, will automatically re-render your component.

import { useStoreState } from 'easy-peasy';

function TotalPriceOfProducts() {
  const totalPrice = useStoreState((state) => state.products.totalPrice);
  return <div>Total: {totalPrice}</div>;
}

# Utilising state resolvers

In this example we will use state resolvers to isolate different parts of our store state.

const model = {
  products: {
    items: {
      1: { id: 1, name: 'boots', price: 20 },
    },
  },
  basket: {
    productIds: [1],
    productsInBasket: computed(
      [
        (state) => state.productIds,
        //          👇 the store state is the 2nd argument to a state resolver
        (state, storeState) => storeState.products.items,
      ],
      (productIds, products) => productIds.map((id) => products[id]),
    ),
  },
};

# Supporting runtime arguments

Computed properties do not natively support runtime arguments, however, you can achieve this by resolving a function from your computed property.

const todos = {
  items: [{ id: 1, text: 'answer questions' }],

  todoById: computed((state) => {
    // Note how we are returning a function instead of state
    //      👇
    return (id) => state.items.find((todo) => todo.id === id);
  }),
};

You can then use the function within your components.

function Todo({ id }) {
  //                                                         👇
  const todo = useStoreState((state) => state.todos.todoById(id));
  return todo ? <div>{todo.text}</div> : null;
}

Note that only the function that you return will be memoized. If you wish to memoize the results from the function itself you will need to utilize a memoization utility, such as memoizerific (opens new window).

import memoize from 'memoizerific';

const todos = {
  items: [{ id: 1, text: 'answer questions' }],

  todoById: computed((state) => {
    // Wrap the returned function with the memoize utility
    //        👇
    return memoize((id) => state.items.find((todo) => todo.id === id), 1);
  }),
};

We don't recommend adding memoization unless you are observing performance issues.

# Limitations and Known Issues

# Computed properties will return the cached value when accessed from within actions

This design decision was made so that we can guarantee the lazy resolution of computed properties, ensuring that they are only computed when they are being accessed by your components.

import { action, computed } from 'easy-peasy';

const model = {
  todos: [],
  todoCount: computed(state => state.todos.length),
  addTodo: action((state, payload) => {
    // todoCount will not be recomputed and will return the last cached value
    //           👇
    if (state.todoCount) < 10) {
      state.todos.push(payload);
    }
  }),
}

They are available within every other API that utilizes/exposes state

# Computed properties break when destructuring a computed property out of state

Say you had a computed property defined in your model like below.

const storeModel = {
  session: {
    user: null,
    isLoggedIn: computed((state) => state.user != null),
  },
};

If you destructure the computed property when accessing it in your component, like below, it will not work.

function LoggedInBadge() {
  const { isLoggedIn } = useStoreState((state) => state.session);
  return isLoggedIn ? <LoggedInSvg /> : <LoggedOutSvg />;
}

This is because computed properties are in actual fact getter properties (opens new window). If you destructure the property you break the getter mechanism. Therefore you may not receive updates to your computed property based on when the state that your computed property depends on updates.

The resolution to this is to instead resolve the computed property directly.

function LoggedInBadge() {
  const isLoggedIn = useStoreState((state) => state.session.isLoggedIn);
  return isLoggedIn ? <LoggedInSvg /> : <LoggedOutSvg />;
}

# TypeScript: Defining a computed property as optional

Unfortunately, due to the way our typing system maps your model, you cannot declare a computed property as being optional via the ? property postfix.

For example:

interface StoreModel {
  products: Product[];
  totalPrice?: Computed<StoreModel, number>;
  //       👆
  // Note the optional definition
}

const storeModel: StoreModel = {
  products: [];
  // This will result in a TypeScript error 😢
  totalPrice: computed(
    state => state.products.length > 0
      ? calcPrice(state.products)
      : undefined
  )
}

Luckily there is a workaround; simply adjust the definition of your computed property to indicate that the result could be undefined.

  interface StoreModel {
    products: Product[];
-   totalPrice?: Computed<StoreModel, number>;
+   totalPrice: Computed<StoreModel, number | undefined>;
  }