method_chaining.md

Use method chaining

This pattern is very useful and commonly used in many libraries. It allows your code to be expressive, and less verbose. For that reason, use method chaining and take a look at how clean your code will be.

Bad:

class QueryBuilder {
  private collection: string;
  private pageNumber: number = 1;
  private itemsPerPage: number = 100;
  private orderByFields: string[] = [];

  from(collection: string): void {
    this.collection = collection;
  }

  page(number: number, itemsPerPage: number = 100): void {
    this.pageNumber = number;
    this.itemsPerPage = itemsPerPage;
  }

  orderBy(...fields: string[]): void {
    this.orderByFields = fields;
  }

  build(): Query {
    // ...
  }
}

// ...

const queryBuilder = new QueryBuilder();
queryBuilder.from('users');
queryBuilder.page(1, 100);
queryBuilder.orderBy('firstName', 'lastName');

const query = queryBuilder.build();

Good:

class QueryBuilder {
  private collection: string;
  private pageNumber: number = 1;
  private itemsPerPage: number = 100;
  private orderByFields: string[] = [];

  from(collection: string): this {
    this.collection = collection;
    return this;
  }

  page(number: number, itemsPerPage: number = 100): this {
    this.pageNumber = number;
    this.itemsPerPage = itemsPerPage;
    return this;
  }

  orderBy(...fields: string[]): this {
    this.orderByFields = fields;
    return this;
  }

  build(): Query {
    // ...
  }
}

// ...

const query = new QueryBuilder().from('users').page(1, 100).orderBy('firstName', 'lastName').build();