Current Unmock architecture feels a bit difficult to understand and hard to extend. Modifying Unmock requires, I think, rather intricate knowledge of the internals.
I think it should be possible to simplify the architecture to allow more easily extending it to different environments and to make it easier for new developers to understand.
Describes an API service such as “GitHub”. A service essentially corresponds to a single OpenAPI specification. Exposes properties such as state, spy, and reset().
Delegates a lot of logic to ServiceCore. Strongly coupled to OpenAPI.
Container for all services defined by the user or loaded from file system. Provides access to services via services property. Services can only be accessed by their "name", which is not always intuitively clear.
Matches serialized request to a corresponding service and generates response. Throws an error if no matching operation is found. Most of the mock generation logic is in generator.ts.
Abstraction for intercepting (HTTP) requests and serving back mock data. Interceptor is responsible for serializing the request to ISerializedRequest object, passing it to Faker to generate ISerializedResponse and delivering a response. For an example, see NodeInterceptor and FetchInterceptor.
Class implemented by unmock object exported by default from unmock-node and unmock-browser. Exposes options such as unmock.randomize.on(), services via unmock.services.githubv3, unmock.nock API for adding services programmatically, unmock.on() for switching on interceptor and loading services, etc.
Services are loaded when Backend is initialized. Currently this is a no-op in environments other than Node.js, where services are loaded from filesystem's __unmock__ folder.
Architecture diagram
Essentially looks like this.
Requirements
WIP
Flexible interceptors.
Flexible service "origin"
Flexible mock generation
Suggestions for improvement
WIP
Provide access to services not by name but by their URL
Interceptor should accept a Faker or CreateResponse
More plugin-like architecture?
Get rid of Backend
Create an abstraction for services that could also work with GraphQL
Get rid of nock API
It feels very out-of-place, for example, in browser and React Native environments.
Motivation
Current Unmock architecture feels a bit difficult to understand and hard to extend. Modifying Unmock requires, I think, rather intricate knowledge of the internals.
I think it should be possible to simplify the architecture to allow more easily extending it to different environments and to make it easier for new developers to understand.
Overview of current core components
Service
Describes an API service such as “GitHub”. A service essentially corresponds to a single OpenAPI specification. Exposes properties such as
state,spy, andreset().Delegates a lot of logic to ServiceCore. Strongly coupled to OpenAPI.
ServiceStore
Container for all services defined by the user or loaded from file system. Provides access to services via
servicesproperty. Services can only be accessed by their "name", which is not always intuitively clear.Faker
Matches serialized request to a corresponding service and generates response. Throws an error if no matching operation is found. Most of the mock generation logic is in generator.ts.
IInterceptor
Abstraction for intercepting (HTTP) requests and serving back mock data. Interceptor is responsible for serializing the request to
ISerializedRequestobject, passing it toFakerto generateISerializedResponseand delivering a response. For an example, see NodeInterceptor and FetchInterceptor.Backend
“Manager”-kind of class wrapping generic environment-unspecific behaviour.
UnmockPackage
Class implemented by
unmockobject exported by default fromunmock-nodeandunmock-browser. Exposes options such asunmock.randomize.on(), services viaunmock.services.githubv3,unmock.nockAPI for adding services programmatically,unmock.on()for switching on interceptor and loading services, etc.ServiceDefLoader
Services are loaded when
Backendis initialized. Currently this is a no-op in environments other than Node.js, where services are loaded from filesystem's__unmock__folder.Architecture diagram
Essentially looks like this.
Requirements
WIP
Suggestions for improvement
WIP
Provide access to services not by name but by their URL
Interceptor should accept a Faker or CreateResponse
More plugin-like architecture?
Get rid of Backend
Create an abstraction for services that could also work with GraphQL
Get rid of
nockAPIIt feels very out-of-place, for example, in browser and React Native environments.