wire: add FAQ section (google/go-cloud#573)

Fixes google/go-cloud#555
Updates google/go-cloud#513
This commit is contained in:
Ross Light
2018-10-25 15:52:20 -07:00
parent b7c4e8db66
commit c4f6234106

115
README.md
View File

@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ global variables. Because Wire operates without runtime state or reflection,
code written to be used with Wire is useful even for hand-written
initialization.
For an overview, see the [introductory blog post][].
[dependency injection]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection
[introductory blog post]: https://blog.golang.org/wire
## Installing
@@ -491,3 +494,115 @@ Create a new struct that includes the app plus all of the dependencies you want
to mock. Create a test-only injector that returns this struct, give it providers
for the concrete mock types, and use `wire.Bind` to tell Wire that the
concrete mock types should be used to fulfill the appropriate interface.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### How does Wire relate to other Go dependency injection tools?
Other dependency injection tools for Go like [dig][] or [facebookgo/inject][]
are based on reflection. Wire runs as a code generator, which means that the
injector works without making calls to a runtime library. This enables easier
introspection of initialization and correct cross-references for tooling like
[guru][].
[dig]: https://github.com/uber-go/dig
[facebookgo/inject]: https://github.com/facebookgo/inject
[guru]: https://golang.org/s/using-guru
### How does Wire relate to other non-Go dependency injection tools (like Dagger 2)?
Wire's approach was inspired by [Dagger 2][]. However, it is not the aim of Wire
to emulate dependency injection tools from other languages: the design space and
requirements are quite different. For example, the Go compiler does not support
anything like Java's annotation processing mechanisms. The difference in
languages and their idioms necessarily requires different approaches in
primitives and API.
[Dagger 2]: https://google.github.io/dagger/
### Why is Wire part of Go Cloud?
Wire was designed to reduce the toil in setting up the multitude of dependencies
often found when interacting with common cloud providers. However, Wire is not
coupled to Go Cloud or cloud servers: Wire is a standalone tool.
The Go Cloud team is investigating splitting out Wire as its own repository.
Follow [#513][] for updates.
[#513]: https://github.com/google/go-cloud/issues/513
### Why use pseudo-functions to create provider sets or injectors?
In the early prototypes, Wire directives were specially formatted comments. This
seemed appealing at first glance as this meant no compile-time or runtime
impact. However, this unstructured approach becomes opaque to other tooling not
written for Wire. Tools like [`gorename`][] or [guru][] would not be able to
recognize references to the identifiers existing in comments without being
specially modified to understand Wire's comment format. By moving the references
into no-op function calls, Wire interoperates seamlessly with other Go tooling.
[`gorename`]: https://godoc.org/golang.org/x/tools/cmd/gorename
### What if my dependency graph has two dependencies of the same type?
This most frequently appears with common types like `string`. An example of this
problem would be:
```go
type Foo struct { /* ... */ }
type Bar struct { /* ... */ }
func newFoo1() *Foo { /* ... */ }
func newFoo2() *Foo { /* ... */ }
func newBar(foo1 *Foo, foo2 *Foo) *Bar { /* ... */ }
func inject() *Bar {
// ERROR! Multiple providers for *Foo.
wire.Build(newFoo1, newFoo2, newBar)
return nil
}
```
Wire does not allow multiple providers for one type to exist in the transitive
closure of the providers presented to `wire.Build`, as this is usually a
mistake. For legitimate cases where you need multiple dependencies of the same
type, you need to invent a new type to call this other dependency. For example,
you can name OAuth credentials after the service they connect to. Once you have
a suitable different type, you can wrap and unwrap the type when plumbing it
through Wire. Continuing our above example:
```go
type OtherFoo Foo
func newOtherFoo() *OtherFoo {
// Call the original provider...
foo := newFoo2()
// ...then convert it to the new type.
return (*OtherFoo)(foo)
}
func provideBar(foo1 *Foo, otherFoo *OtherFoo) *Bar {
// Convert the new type into the unwrapped type...
foo2 := (*Foo)(otherFoo)
// ...then use it to call the original provider.
return newBar(foo1, foo2)
}
func inject() *Bar {
wire.Build(newFoo1, newOtherFoo, provideBar)
return nil
}
```
### Should I use Wire for small applications?
Probably not. Wire is designed to automate more intricate setup code found in
larger applications. For small applications, hand-wiring dependencies is
simpler.
### Who is using Wire?
Wire is still fairly new and doesn't have a large user base yet. However, we
have heard a lot of interest from Go users wanting to simplify their
applications. If your project or company uses Wire, please let us know by either
emailing us or sending a pull request amending this section.