PipelineFlow

Magic macro that defines a pipeable struct for you. Comparable with Plug.Conn. It gives you the tools to properly formalize a flow or a so called operation. A flow that can fail at any step. The idea is that you define a flow that brings you from A->Z.

With the macro, you can define functions that will be wrapped and will automatically the merge results, halt on execution and log every executed step.

Imagine the following with statement:

def make_payment(user_id, order_id) do
  with {:user, {:ok, user}} <- {:user, Users.get_user(user_id)},
    {:order, {:ok, order}} <- {:order, Orders.get_order(order_id)},
    {:auth, {:ok, %{token: token}}} <- {:auth, PaymentApi.get_auth_token(user.app_token)},
    {:payment, {:ok, payment}} <- {:payment, PaymentApi.make_payment(user, token, order)} do
    {:ok, Orders.get_order(order_id)}
  else
    {step, {:error, error}} -> {:error, step, error}
end

You could also define a flow by using the PipelineFlow macro:

defmodule PaymentFlow do
  use PipelineFlow

  attrs(user: nil, order: nil, auth_token: nil)

  step get_user(pipeline) do
    case Users.get_user(pipeline.user_id) do
      {:ok, user} -> %{user: user}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  step get_order(pipeline), requires: :get_user do
    case Orders.get_order(pipeline.order_id) do
      {:ok, order} -> %{order: order}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  step get_auth_token(pipeline), requires: :get_order do
    case PaymentApi.get_auth_token(user.app_token) do
      {:ok, %{token: token}} -> %{auth_token: token}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  step make_payment(pipeline), requires: :get_auth_token do
    case PaymentApi.make_payment(user, token, order) do
      {:ok, %{order: order}} -> {:ok, %{order: order}}
      {:error, error}  -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  def value(pipeline), do: pipeline.order
end

Now you can do:

result =
  %{user_id: user_id, order_id: order_id}
  |> PaymentFlow.new()
  |> PaymentFlow.exec()

case result do
  {:ok, order} -> ...
  {:error, step, reason} -> ...
end

Or make your steps more explicit to your fellow developers:

result =
  %{user_id: user_id, order_id: order_id}
  |> PaymentFlow.new()
  |> PaymentFlow.get_user()
  |> PaymentFlow.get_order()
  |> PaymentFlow.get_auth_token()
  |> PaymentFlow.make_payment()
  |> PaymentFlow.result()

This will now return {:ok, order} or {:error, step_where_it_went_wrong, the_error}. You can also call the individual steps if you like:

flow = PaymentFlow.new(%{user_id: user_id, order_id: order_id})
flow = PaymentFlow.get_user()

And unit test them:

flow = PaymentFlow.new(%{user_id: user_id)
flow = PaymentFlow.get_user(flow)

assert flow.user == expected_user

Getting started

In order to get started with a Pipeline, use the PipelineFlow macro:

defmodule Payment do
  use PipelineFlow
end

Next, define the attributes of the struct:

defmodule Payment do
  use PipelineFlow

  attrs(user: nil, user_id: nil)
end

Now the macro generated a struct %Payment{} with attributes user and user_id. It also exposes the function new/0 and new/1 now for you:

payment = Payment.new(%{user: user})

The general idea is that a pipeline holds a state. Every step can manipulate that state, just like Plug.Conn or a GenServer.

Default attributes

A PipelineFlow struct always has a couple of default attributes:

• last_step: The last step that was called.
• error: The last error that was encountered. Will be set if a step errors.
• halted: Indicates if other steps can still be called on the pipeline.
• completed_steps: A list of steps that were executed
• value: The end result of the execution. Note that this is entirely optional. Can be used by the developer if a pipeline always results in just one useable value.
• parent: A reference to another pipeline struct that was called before this pipeline. That way you can chain different pipelines together. For example: a registration flow followed by an onboarding flow.
• warnings: A list of warnings that were encountered when a step was executed.

Defining steps

Steps can be defined by using step. step just generates a wrapper function for you with the same function name:

step get_user(pipeline) do
  :ok
end

Note, that the first argument is always the struct to the pipeline itself. You can use this in your function definition:

step get_user(pipeline) do
  IO.inspect(pipeline.user_id)

  :ok
end

You can now just call this as a function:

pipeline = Pipeline.new(user_id)

Payment.get_user(pipeline)
# ok

As you can see now, the wrapper function did some stuff for us:

IO.inspect pipeline.last_step # get_user
IO.inspect pipeline.completed_steps # [:get_user]

Step return values

Just like defnew, the step macro expects the function to return one of the following things:

• map() The map() represents the attributs to be set to the struct. The key/values will be merged with the struct. Any unknown keys will be ignored. The last_step attribute will be set and the step will be added to completed_steps
• {:ok, map()} Same as above.
• :ok Will just return the struct in the called state.
• %__MODULE__{} You can also just return the struct itself as you see fit. The wrapper function will return the struct as you just returned. Besides that, it will also add the step to the list of completed_steps and set last_step.
• {:ok, %__MODULE__{} Same as above.
• {:error, reason} In case of an error, the struct will be returned and the error attribute of the struct will be set to the returned error. The last_step attribute will be set to the called step. Note that the halted attribute will not be set in this case.
• {:error, %__MODULE__{}} Same as above.
• {:error, :halt, reason} This will do the same things as {:error, reason} but will also set halted to true. Meaning: any other steps will not be executed anymore.

Halted

If the halted state is set to the pipeline, other steps will be ignored. So for instance:

step trigger_error(pipeline) do
  {:error, :halt, :internal_error}
end

step make_payment(pipeline) do
  IO.puts "This should not be called"
  :ok
end

pipeline
|> Payment.trigger_error()
|> Payment.make_payment()

The step make_payment will not be called, since halted is set.

Steps that are dependent on other steps

You can use the step macro to define a required step:

step get_api_config(pipeline), requires: [:get_user] do
  ...
end

If you now call get_api_config without calling get_user, first, you will get an exception:

pipeline = Payment.new(user_id)

pipeline
|> Payment.get_api_config()

# Throws PipelineFlow.Error exception now

Example with an execution chain

Another upside of defining required steps, is that you can define an execution chain of the steps. That way you can tell the macro in what order certain steps need to be called:

defmodule Payment do
  use PipelineFlow

  attrs(user: nil, user_id: nil, api_config: %{}, api_session_token: nil, api_result: nil, product: nil)

  step get_user(pipeline) do
    case Users.get_user(pipeline.user_id) do
      {:ok, user} -> {:ok, %{user: user}
        {:error, :not_found} -> {:error, :not_found}
    end
  end

  step get_api_config(pipeline) do
    Application.get_env(:test_app, :api_config)
  end

  step get_api_session_token(pipeline), requires: [:get_user] do
    case PaymentApi.get_api_token(user: pipeline.api_config[:user], password: pipeline.api_config[:password]) do
      {:ok, %{token: token}} -> {:ok, %{api_session_token: token}}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  step pay_for_product(pipeline), requires: [:get_api_session_token] do
    case PaymentApi.pay(pipeline.api_session_token, pipeline.product) do
      {:ok, %{status: "paid"}} -> {:ok, %{payment_result: status}}
      {:ok, %{status: "pending"}} -> {:error, :payment_pending}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, :halt, error}
    end
  end

  step set_product_status(pipeline), requires: [:pay_for_product] do
    case Products.update_status(pipeline.user, pipeline.product, "paid") do
      {:ok, _} -> {:ok, pipeline}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, error}
    end
  end

  def value(pipeline), do: pipeline.product
end

You can now execute the individual steps:

result =
  %{user_id: user_id}
  |> Payment.new()
  |> Payment.get_user()
  |> Payment.get_api_config()
  |> Payment.pay_for_product()
  |> Payment.set_product_status()

Or call the entire chain by just calling exec:

result =
  %{user_id: user_id}
  |> Payment.new()
  |> Payment.exec()

The result in the example above will be {:ok, product} or {:error, :atom_of_step_where_it_went_wrong, error}.

Ignored/halted steps

Steps that are "halted" (just like Plug.Conn.halt()) will not be executed and just be ignored. Instead, the pipeline itself will be returned. For example, if the step get_api_session_token returns an error with a :halt {:error, :halt, atom()}, all the other function calls will be ignored:

|> Payment.pay_for_product()
|> Payment.set_product_status()

Example with steps with arguments

You can also define steps that require an argument:

defmodule Payment do
  ...

  step get_user(pipeline, user_id) when is_binary(user_id) do
    case Users.get_user(user_id) do
      {:ok, user} -> {:ok, %{user: user, user_id: user_id}}
      {:error, error} -> {:error, error}
    end
  end
end

This will give you the opportunity to some more complex stuff with the pipeline. However, take into account that you cannot use exec anymore since once of the steps now require a function argument. You can still call the step individually of course:

pipeline =
  Payment.new()
  |> Payment.get_user(user_id)

Installation

If available in Hex, the package can be installed by adding pipeline to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:pipeline, "~> 0.1.0"}
  ]
end

Documentation can be generated with ExDoc and published on HexDocs. Once published, the docs can be found at https://hexdocs.pm/pipeline.