Stores

Stores are components that persist and synchronize state data. Lens uses a number of stores to maintain various kinds of state information, including:

• The ClusterStore manages cluster state data (such as cluster details), and it tracks which cluster is active.
• The WorkspaceStore manages workspace state data (such as the workspace name), and and it tracks which clusters belong to a given workspace.
• The ExtensionStore manages custom extension state data.

This guide focuses on the ExtensionStore.

ExtensionStore

Extension developers can create their own store for managing state data by extending the ExtensionStore class. This guide shows how to create a store for the appPreferences guide example, which demonstrates how to add a custom preference to the Preferences page. The preference is a simple boolean that indicates whether or not something is enabled. However, in the example, the enabled state is not stored anywhere, and it reverts to the default when Lens is restarted.

The following example code creates a store for the appPreferences guide example:

import { Store } from "@k8slens/extensions";
import { observable, toJS } from "mobx";

export type ExamplePreferencesModel = {
  enabled: boolean;
};

export class ExamplePreferencesStore extends Store.ExtensionStore<ExamplePreferencesModel> {

  @observable  enabled = false;

  private constructor() {
    super({
      configName: "example-preferences-store",
      defaults: {
        enabled: false
      }
    });
  }

  protected fromStore({ enabled }: ExamplePreferencesModel): void {
    this.enabled = enabled;
  }

  toJSON(): ExamplePreferencesModel {
    return toJS({
      enabled: this.enabled
    }, {
      recurseEverything: true
    });
  }
}

export const examplePreferencesStore = ExamplePreferencesStore.getInstance<ExamplePreferencesStore>();

First, our example defines the extension's data model using the simple ExamplePreferencesModel type. This has a single field, enabled, which represents the preference's state. ExamplePreferencesStore extends Store.ExtensionStore, which is based on the ExamplePreferencesModel. The enabled field is added to the ExamplePreferencesStore class to hold the "live" or current state of the preference. Note the use of the observable decorator on the enabled field. The appPreferences guide example uses MobX for the UI state management, ensuring the checkbox updates when it's activated by the user.

Next, our example implements the constructor and two abstract methods. The constructor specifies the name of the store ("example-preferences-store") and the default (initial) value for the preference state (enabled: false). Lens internals call the fromStore() method when the store loads. It gives the extension the opportunity to retrieve the stored state data values based on the defined data model. The enabled field of the ExamplePreferencesStore is set to the value from the store whenever fromStore() is invoked. The toJSON() method is complementary to fromStore(). It is called when the store is being saved. toJSON() must provide a JSON serializable object, facilitating its storage in JSON format. The toJS() function from mobx is convenient for this purpose, and is used here.

Finally, examplePreferencesStore is created by calling ExamplePreferencesStore.getInstance<ExamplePreferencesStore>(), and exported for use by other parts of the extension. Note that examplePreferencesStore is a singleton. Calling this function again will not create a new store.

The following example code, modified from the appPreferences guide demonstrates how to use the extension store. examplePreferencesStore must be loaded in the main process, where loaded stores are automatically saved when exiting Lens. This can be done in ./main.ts:

import { LensMainExtension } from "@k8slens/extensions";
import { examplePreferencesStore } from "./src/example-preference-store";

export default class ExampleMainExtension extends LensMainExtension {
  async onActivate() {
    await examplePreferencesStore.loadExtension(this);
  }
}

Here, examplePreferencesStore loads with examplePreferencesStore.loadExtension(this), which is conveniently called from the onActivate() method of ExampleMainExtension. Similarly, examplePreferencesStore must load in the renderer process where the appPreferences are handled. This can be done in ./renderer.ts:

import { LensRendererExtension } from "@k8slens/extensions";
import { ExamplePreferenceHint, ExamplePreferenceInput } from "./src/example-preference";
import { examplePreferencesStore } from "./src/example-preference-store";
import React from "react";

export default class ExampleRendererExtension extends LensRendererExtension {

  async onActivate() {
    await examplePreferencesStore.loadExtension(this);
  }

  appPreferences = [
    {
      title: "Example Preferences",
      components: {
        Input: () => <ExamplePreferenceInput preference={examplePreferencesStore}/>,
        Hint: () => <ExamplePreferenceHint/>
      }
    }
  ];
}

Again, examplePreferencesStore.loadExtension(this) is called to load examplePreferencesStore, this time from the onActivate() method of ExampleRendererExtension. There is no longer the need for the preference field in the ExampleRendererExtension class because the props for ExamplePreferenceInput is now examplePreferencesStore. ExamplePreferenceInput is defined in ./src/example-preference.tsx:

import { Component } from "@k8slens/extensions";
import { observer } from "mobx-react";
import React from "react";
import { ExamplePreferencesStore } from "./example-preference-store";

export class ExamplePreferenceProps {
  preference: ExamplePreferencesStore;
}

@observer
export class ExamplePreferenceInput extends React.Component<ExamplePreferenceProps> {

  render() {
    const { preference } = this.props;

    return (
      <Component.Checkbox
        label="I understand appPreferences"
        value={preference.enabled}
        onChange={v => { preference.enabled = v; }}
      />
    );
  }
}

export class ExamplePreferenceHint extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <span>This is an example of an appPreference for extensions.</span>
    );
  }
}

The only change here is that ExamplePreferenceProps defines its preference field as an ExamplePreferencesStore type. Everything else works as before, except that now the enabled state persists across Lens restarts because it is managed by the examplePreferencesStore.