Writing Extensions

Extensions allow you to make powerful modifications to DSL entities. If you are using AshPostgres, AshGraphql or AshJsonApi, they are all integrated into Ash using extensions. In this guide we will build a simple extension for Ash.Resource that adds timestamps to your resource. We'll also show some simple patterns that can help ensure that all of your resources are using your extension.

Creating an extension

What we call an "extension" is typically one or more Spark.Dsl.Extension, and then any additional code that is used by that extension. For example, AshGraphql has a domain extension called AshGraphql.Domain, a resource extension called AshGraphql.Resource, and code to connect a GraphQL schema to your resources.

DSL Extension

Here we create a DSL extension called MyApp.Extensions.Base, and configure a single transformer, called MyApp.Extensions.Base.AddTimestamps

defmodule MyApp.Extensions.Base do
  use Spark.Dsl.Extension, transformers: [MyApp.Extensions.Base.AddTimestamps]
end

Transformers

Transformers are all run serially against a map of data called dsl_state, which is the data structure that we build as we use the DSL. For example:

attributes do
  attribute :name, :string
end

Would, under the hood, look something like this:

%{
  [:attributes] => %{entities: [
      %Ash.Resource.Attribute{name: :name, type: :string}
    ]
  },
  ...
}

A transformer exposes transform/1, which takes the dsl_state and returns either {:ok, dsl_state} or {:error, error}

defmodule MyApp.Extensions.Base.AddTimestamps do
  use Spark.Dsl.Transformer
  alias Spark.Dsl.Transformer

  def transform(dsl_state) do
    dsl_state
    # Ash.Resource.Builder has utilities for extending resources
    |> Ash.Resource.Builder.add_new_create_timestamp(:inserted_at)
    |> Ash.Resource.Builder.add_new_update_timestamp(:updated_at)
  end
end

This transformer builds adds a create_timestamp called :inserted_at and an update_timestamp called :updated_at, unless they already exist.

Make the extension configurable

So far we've covered transformers, and using them to modify resources, but now lets say we want to make this behavior opt-out. Perhaps certain resources really shouldn't have timestamps, but we want it to be the default. Lets add a "DSL Section" to our extension.

defmodule MyApp.Extensions.Base do
  @base %Spark.Dsl.Section{
    name: :base,
    describe: """
    Configure the behavior of our base extension.
    """,
    examples: [
      """
      base do
        timestamps? false
      end
      """
    ],
    schema: [
      timestamps?: [
        type: :boolean,
        doc: "Set to false to skip adding timestamps",
        default: true
      ]
    ]
  }



  use Spark.Dsl.Extension,
    transformers: [MyApp.Extensions.Base.AddTimestamps],
    sections: [@base]
end

defmodule MyApp.Extensions.Base.Info do
  use Spark.InfoGenerator, extension: MyApp.Extensions.Base, sections: [:base]

  # This will define `base_timestamps?/1`.
end

Now we can use this configuration in our transformer, like so:

  def transform(dsl_state) do
    # Introspection functions can take a `dsl_state` *or* a module
    if MyApp.Extensions.Base.Info.base_timestamps?(dsl_state) do
      dsl_state
      |> Ash.Resource.Builder.add_new_create_timestamp(:inserted_at)
      |> Ash.Resource.Builder.add_new_update_timestamp(:updated_at)
    else
      {:ok, dsl_state}
    end
  end

And now we have a configurable base extension! For more information on writing DSLs, see Spark. Spark is still lacking in documentation, unfortunately, as its something that mostly the adventurous/power users work with, and they often learn by way of examples, looking at Ash extensions. We would like to rectify this in the future. Please reach out if you're interested in assisting with that effort!

Ordering of transformers

In this case, this transformer can run in any order. However, as we start adding transformers and/or modify the behavior of this one, we may need to ensure that our transformer runs before or after specific transformers. As of the writing of this guide, the best way to look at the list of transformers is to look at the source of the extension, and see what transformers it has and what they do. The Resource DSL for example.

If you need to affect the ordering, you can define before?/1 and after?/1 in your transformer, i.e

# I go after every transformer
def after?(_), do: true

# except I go before `SomeOtherTransformer`
def before?(SomeOtherTransformer), do: true
def before?(_), do: false

Using your extension

Now it can be used in a resource:

defmodule MyApp.Tweet do
  use Ash.Resource,
    extensions: [MyApp.Extensions.Base]

  base do
    # And you can configure it like so
    timestamps? false
  end
end

Your extension will automatically support autocompletion if using ElixirLS, showing inline documentation and type-aware auto complete as you type. For more, see Development Utilities