Proposal: normalization of mixin names

[fabien]

So we can access mixins like: TimeStamps, time-stamps, timestamps? Since mixins can be loaded from a dir, time-stamps.js will currently end up as TimeStamps for example. This is fine, but LDL and other definitions should not be case-sensitive like that I think.

See also: #205

[fabien]

@raymondfeng I'd like to tackle this - thoughts?

[raymondfeng]

We do name normalization for models in app.model(), see https://github.com/strongloop/loopback/blob/master/lib/application.js#L147. Even personally I would like to only use the name provided by LDL, I'm fine if you do the same thing for mixins as we do for models.

[fabien]

I would prefer to just normalize the name on definition, and then again each time a mixin is to be applied. I don't think it adds much overhead (it's a run-once thing), and it keeps the list of mixins clean.

Is that OK with you? That means I'd store it camelized, and refer to it that way later (this should handle: TimeStamps, time-stamps, time_stamps, but not timestamps).

[raymondfeng]

Can you give me an example LDL and what keys will be used to access it via mixins?

[fabien]

The keys or (Model.mixin()) calls for a mixin defined in mixins/time-stamps.js would be:

1. TimeStamps
2. time-stamps
3. time_stamps

In LDL:

"mixins": {
  "time-stamps": true
}

[raymondfeng]

So basically we'll normalize time-stamps into the following names and store the same entry under three keys in the mixin registry?

1. TimeStamps
2. time-stamps
3. time_stamps

[fabien]

Correct about the normalization effects, yes. However, why store three keys? I prefer the registry to store a canonical key (the camelized one) and then normalize the keys on each lookup. To me the registry is not public, only the methods using it are.

[raymondfeng]

If you provide a method to access the registry instead of the property accessor, there is no need to store under 3 keys. In the app.model() case, we often access the model as app.models.modelName.

[superkhau]

@fabien @raymondfeng Is this still relevant?

[loay]

Closing due to inactivity. If the discussion needs to go further, please feel free to open the case. Thanks.