# LibTSMClass

The LibTSMClass library allows for writing objected-oriented code in lua! There are many OOP / class libraries out there for lua, but none of them had all the features which we needed for TradeSkillMaster, were easily imported into WoW, and were sufficiently performant.

## Features

### Class Definition

To define a new class, simply use the `LibTSMClass.DefineClass()` method of the library:
```lua
local MyClass = LibTSMClass.DefineClass("MyClass")
```

This function takes at least one argument, which is the name of the class. This class name is primarily used to make debugging easier, by leveraging it in the `__tostring()` metamethod for both the class and instances of the class.

### Instantiation

The class can be called as a function to create an instance of the class.

```lua
local classInst = MyClass()
```

If a table containing existing attributes already exists, it can be converted into an instance of the class via the `LibTSMClass.ConstructWithTable()` method.

```lua
local tbl = { existingValue = 2 }
local classInst = LibTSMClass.ConstructWithTable(tbl, MyClass)
print(classInst.existingValue) -- prints 2
```

### Static Attributes

Static fields are allowed on all classes and can be accessed by instances of the class.

```lua
MyClass.staticValue = 31
print(MyClass.staticValue) -- prints 31
local classInst = MyClass()
print(classInst.staticValue) -- prints 31
```

### Method Definition

Classes define their methods by simply defining the functions on the class object which was previously created.

```lua
function MyClass.SayHi(self)
	print("Hello from MyClass!")
end
function MyClass.GetValue(self)
	return self._value
end
```

### Constructor

The constructor is a special class method with a name of `__init()` and is called whenever a class is instantiated. Any arguments passed when instantiating the class will be passed along to the constructor. Note that the constructor should never return any values.

```lua
function MyClass.__init(self, value)
	self._value = value
end
function MyClass.GetValue(self)
	return self._value
end
local classInst = MyClass(42)
print(classInst:GetValue()) -- prints 42
```

### Inheritance

Classes can be sub-classed by specifying their base class when defining them. Any methods which are defined on the base class can then be overridden. The subclass is also allowed to access any methods or properties of its base class.

```lua
local MySubClass = LibTSMClass.DefineClass("MySubClass", MyClass)
function MySubClass.SayHi(self)
	print("Hello from MySubClass")
end
```

### Accessing the Base Class

In order to explicitly access a method or attribute of the parent class, the `__super` attribute can be used. This is generally used to call the parent class's implementation of a given method. Note that the `__super` attribute can only be accessed from within a class method. This attribute can be used multiple times to continue to walk up the chain of parent classes for cases where there is more than one level of sub-classing.

```lua
function MySubClass.SayHiAll(self)
	print("Hello from MySubClass")
end
function MySubClass.GetValue(self)
	return self.__super:GetValue() + 2
end
```

Note that `__super` may also be used on class objects themselves, including outside of any class methods.

```lua
MyClass.staticValue = 2
MySubClass.staticValue = 5
print(MySubClass.__super.staticValue) -- prints 2
```

Another mechanism for accessing an explicit parent class from a subclass is by using the special `__as` instance method. This can be especially useful when there is a long chain of inheritance.

```lua
function MySubClass.GetValue(self)
	return self:__as(MyClass):GetValue() + 2
end
```

### Other Useful Attributes

#### `__tostring()`

Every class and instance has a special `__tostring()` method which can be used to convert it to a string. This is generally useful for debugging. Classes can override this method in order to provide a custom implementation.

```lua
function MySubClass.__tostring(self)
	return "MySubClass with a value of "..self._value
end
local classInst = MyClass(0)
print(classInst) -- prints "MyClass:00B8C688"
print(MySubClass) -- prints "class:MySubClass"
local subClassInst = MySubClass(3)
print(subClassInst) -- prints "MySubClass with a value of 3"
```

#### `__name`

The `__name` attribute is provided on all classes to look up the name of the class.

```lua
print(MyClass.__name) -- prints "MyClass"
```

### `__dump()`

All instances have a special `__dump()` method which can be used to pretty-print the fields of class for debugging. Similarly to `__tostring()`, the default implementation may be overridden in order to provide a custom implementation.

```lua
local classInst = MyClass(0)
classInst:__dump()
-- prints [[
MyClass:00B8C688 {
	_value = 0
}
]]
```

#### `__class`

The special `__class` field is provided on every instance in order to introspect the class to which the instance belongs.

```lua
local classInst = MyClass(0)
print(classInst.__class) -- prints "class:MyClass"
```

#### `__isa()`

In order to test whether or not an instance belongs to a given class, the `__isa` method is provided on all instances.

```lua
local classInst = MyClass(3)
print(classInst:__isa(MyClass)) -- prints true
print(classInst:__isa(MySubClass)) -- prints false
```

### Virtual Methods

One of the most powerful features of LibTSMClass is support for virtual class methods. What this means is that within a base class method, an instance of a class is still treated as its an instance of its actual class, not the base class. This is best demonstrated with an example:

```lua
function MyClass.GetMagicNumber(self)
	return 99
end
function MyClass.PrintMagicNumber(self)
	print(self:GetMagicNumber())
end
function MySubClass.GetMagicNumber(self)
	return 88
end
local subClassInst = MySubClass(0)
subClassInst:PrintMagicNumber() -- prints 88
```

### Abstract Classes

An abstract class is one which can't be directly instantiated. Other than this restriction, abstract classes behave exactly the same as normal classes, including the ability to be sub-classed. This is useful in order to define a common interface which multiple child classes are expected to adhere to. An abstract class is defined by passing an extra argument when defining the class as shown below:
```lua
local AbstractClass = LibTSMClass.DefineClass("AbstractClass", nil, "ABSTRACT")
```

## Limitations, Gotchas, and Notes

### Access Restrictions (Private / Protected)

All instance variables and class methods are publicly accessible. While it's possible for LibTSMClass to be extended to allow for enforcing private / protected access restrictions, it's not currently implemented in order to keep the library as simple and performant as possible. With that being said, a general convention of adding an leading underscore to things which shouldn't be used externally (i.e. private members / methods) is encouraged. If true private members are needed, another alternative is to create scope-limited lookup tables or functions within the file where the class is defined.

### Classes are Immutable and Should be Atomically Defined

One gotcha of LibTSMClass is that all methods and static fields of a class must be fully defined before that class is subclassed or instantiated. This means that changing the definition of a class at runtime is not supported, and may lead to undefined behavior. Along the same lines, once a class's methods are defined, they may not be changed later on.

### Highly-Performant Base Classes

Inheritance is one of the most powerful uses of OOP, and LibTSMClass fully supports it. However, for cases where performance is of the utmost importance, LibTSMClass is heavily optimized to reduce the overhead of a class which does not subclass anything to be as close to direct table access as possible (without metamethod calls).

## Example

A basic example of the library is below:
```lua
local LibTSMClass = LibStub("LibTSMClass")
local MyClass = LibTSMClass.DefineClass("MyClass")

function MyClass.__init(self, value)
	self._value = value
end

function MyClass.GetValue(self)
	return self._value
end

function MyClass.SetValue(self, value)
	self._value = value
end

local MySubClass = LibTSMClass.DefineClass("MySubClass", MyClass)

function MySubClass.AddValue(self, value)
	self:SetValue(self:GetValue() + value)
end

local obj = MySubClass(4)
print(obj:GetValue()) -- 4
obj:SetValue(10)
print(obj:GetValue()) -- 10
obj:AddValue(5)
print(obj:GetValue()) -- 15
```

## License and Contributes

LibTSMClass is licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt for more information. If you would like to contribute to LibTSMClass, opening an issue or submitting a pull request against the [LibTSMClass Bitbucket project](https://bitbucket.org/tradeskillmasteraddon/libtsmclass) is highly encouraged.