The Path to Generic Endpoints using Shapeless

Maria Livia Chiorean

Me

Software Developer @ The Guardian

@MariaLiviaCh

Content Atoms

• Structured data
• Reusable content
• Simultaneous updates

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Atom Workshop

• We have 10 types of atoms
• Common components
• Shared services
• Built on Scala, Play and React

Generic API Endpoint

PATCH /api/:atomType/:id/:path

val atomData = MediaAtom(
     url = "gu.com",
     metadata = Some(Metadata( 
       commentsEnabled = Some(true), 
       channelId = Some("happy-friday"))))

val atomData = MediaAtom(
     title = "Tech time video",
     metadata = Some(Metadata( 
       commentsEnabled = Some(true), 
       channelId = Some("Scala"))))

/api/media/some-id/metadata.channelId

body: "Scala"

Shapeless

• Library for generic programming in Scala
• Leverages the similarities between types

case class Employee(name: String,         age: Int, manager: Boolean)​
case class IceCream(name: String, numCherries: Int,  inCone: Boolean)​

String :: Int :: Boolean :: HNil

HList

Generic[IceCream].to(iceCream)

Generic[Employee].to(iceCream)

Second approach

Convert to nested maps

Update the field in the map

Type Classes

trait Greetings[A] {
  def message(creature: A): String
}

object Greetings {
    implicit def humanMessage: Greetings[Human] = new Greetings[Human] {
        override def message(human: Human): String = s"${human.name} says hello."
    }
    implicit def catMessage: Greetings[Cat] = new Greetings[Cat] {
        override def message(cat: Cat): String = s"${cat.name} says meow."
    }

    implicit class GreetingsOps[A](creature: A) {
        def greet(implicit greetings: Greetings[A]) = {
          greetings.message(creature)
        }
    }
}

Human("Maria").greet // "Maria says hello."
Cat("Mistoffelees").greet // "Mistoffelees says meow."
Dog("Pollicle").greet // error: could not find implicit value for parameter message

Fiddle Code

Class to map

trait ToMapRec[L <: HList] {
  def apply(l: L): Map[String, Any]
}

object ToMapRec {
    implicit def hconsToMapRecOption[K <: Symbol, V, R <: HList, T <: HList]
    (implicit
     wit: Witness.Aux[K],
     gen: LabelledGeneric.Aux[V, R],
     tmrT: Lazy[ToMapRec[T]],
     tmrH: Lazy[ToMapRec[R]]
    ): ToMapRec[FieldType[K, Option[V]] :: T] = ???
}

Class to map

trait ToMapRec[L <: HList] {
  def apply(l: L): Map[String, Any]
}
...

implicit def hconsToMapRecOption[K <: Symbol, V, R <: HList, T <: HList]
(implicit
 wit: Witness.Aux[K],
 gen: LabelledGeneric.Aux[V, R],
 tmrT: Lazy[ToMapRec[T]],
 tmrH: Lazy[ToMapRec[R]]
): ToMapRec[FieldType[K, Option[V]] :: T] = new ToMapRec[FieldType[K, Option[V]] :: T] {
 override def apply(l: FieldType[K, Option[V]] :: T): Map[String, Any] = {

   tmrT.value(l.tail) + (wit.value.name -> l.head.map(elem => tmrH.value(gen.to(elem))))

 }
}
...

val atomMap = atomData.toMap

val atomDataMap = Map(
  "metadata" -> Some(Map(
    "commentsEnabled" -> Some(false), 
    "channelId" -> Some("happy-friday"))), 
  "url" -> "gu.com")

Final approach

Summary

• New and shiny is fun.

• Shapeless book: The Type Astronaut's Guide to Shapeless
• Code: github.com/marialivia16/scrooge-shapeless-maps

Thank you.