Variants

A variant captures a named cluster of attribute, association, or transient changes that you can layer onto a factory on demand.

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .fname: 'Greg';

    .variant: 'admin', {
      .role: 'admin';
    };
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user').role;            # Str (no role)
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin').role;   # 'admin'

Variants apply through every build strategy — build, create, build-stubbed, and attributes-for — and through the *-list / *-pair helpers.

Applying variants at build time

Pass variant names as positional arguments to any build strategy:

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin');
ORM::Factory.create('user', 'admin');
ORM::Factory.build-stubbed('user', 'admin');
ORM::Factory.attributes-for('user', 'admin');

The same positional form works for the list helpers:

ORM::Factory.build-list('user', 3, 'admin');
ORM::Factory.create-pair('user', 'admin');

Multiple variants apply left-to-right

When several variants set the same attribute, the last one wins:

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .variant: 'admin', { .role: 'admin' };
    .variant: 'guest', { .role: 'guest' };
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin', 'guest').role;   # 'guest'
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'guest', 'admin').role;   # 'admin'

Non-overlapping attributes from each variant are preserved.

What a variant can contain

A variant block is a mini factory body. It can declare any of:

• Static or dynamic attributes that override the factory's defaults.

• Associations via .association: 'name', :factory<...>.

• Transient attributes via .transient: { ... }, which the rest of the variant (or the original factory body) can read.

• Callbacks via .after: 'build', { ... } / .before: 'create', { ... } / .after: 'create', { ... } / .after: 'stub', { ... }. Variant callbacks fire after the factory's own callbacks for the same event. See the Callbacks page.

define {
  .factory: 'user', { .fname: 'Greg' };

  .factory: 'post', {
    .title: 'Hello';

    .variant: 'authored', {
      .association: 'author', :factory<user>;
    };

    .variant: 'shouty', {
      .transient: { .salute: 'WORLD' };
      .greeting:  { "Hello, {.salute}" };
    };
  };
};

Variants referencing other variants

A variant can apply another variant by bare name. Cycles are detected and short-circuited, so two variants can safely reference each other:

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .variant: 'active', { .status: 'active' };
    .variant: 'admin',  { .active; .role: 'admin' };   # applies :active first
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin').status;   # 'active'
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin').role;     # 'admin'

Composing a factory entirely from variants

Reference variants by bare name in a factory body to layer them in at definition time:

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .fname: 'Greg';
    .variant: 'admin',  { .role: 'admin' };
    .variant: 'active', { .status: 'active' };

    .factory: 'admin-active-user', {
      .admin;
      .active;
    };
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('admin-active-user').role;     # 'admin'
ORM::Factory.build('admin-active-user').status;   # 'active'

The same form works for global variants, so a top-level trait can be reused across many factories.

Variant inheritance

A child factory inherits its parent's variants. Either pre-apply them in the child body, or pass them at build time:

define {
  .factory: 'person', {
    .fname: 'Greg';
    .variant: 'admin', { .role: 'admin' };
  };

  .factory: 'admin-person', :parent('person'), {
    .admin;                                         # pre-applied
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('admin-person').role;   # 'admin'

See the Inheritance page for the full chain rules.

Parameterised variants

Combine a variant with a transient default to give callers a knob:

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .variant: 'greeted', {
      .transient: { .salute: 'World' };
      .greeting:  { "Hello, {.salute}" };
    };
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'greeted').greeting;                 # 'Hello, World'
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'greeted', :salute<Greg>).greeting;  # 'Hello, Greg'

The transient is excluded from attributes-for and never reaches the model constructor.

Global variants

A variant declared at the top of a define block — without a surrounding factory — is global. Any factory can apply it, by name at build time or as a bare reference in its body:

define {
  .variant: 'flagged', { .flag: True };

  .factory: 'user', { .fname: 'Greg' };

  .factory: 'flagged-user', :class(User), {
    .fname: 'Greg';
    .flagged;
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'flagged').flag;   # True
ORM::Factory.build('flagged-user').flag;      # True

ORM::Factory.variants returns the registered global variants. Redefining a global variant raises X::ORM::Factory::DuplicateVariant; ORM::Factory.reload clears them along with everything else.

variants-for-enum

variants-for-enum declares one variant per value, each one setting the named attribute to its value:

define {
  .factory: 'user', {
    .variants-for-enum: 'role', <admin guest member>;
  };
};

ORM::Factory.build('user', 'admin').role;    # 'admin'
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'guest').role;    # 'guest'
ORM::Factory.build('user', 'member').role;   # 'member'

The value list is explicit; no ORM enum reflection is required.

Automatic enum variants

When a factory's class is an ORM::ActiveRecord model that declares an enum, the enum's values become variants automatically, with no variants-for-enum call. Given a model:

class Order is Model {
  submethod BUILD {
    self.enum: 'status', { pending => 0, shipped => 1, delivered => 2 };
  }
}

each enum value is a variant that sets the enum attribute to that value:

define {
  .factory: 'order', :class(Order), { };
};

ORM::Factory.build('order', 'shipped').status;     # 'shipped'
ORM::Factory.create('order', 'delivered').status;  # 'delivered'
ORM::Factory.variant-names-for('order');           # (delivered pending shipped)

An explicitly declared variant of the same name wins over the derived one. The behaviour is governed by the automatically-define-enum-variants toggle (on by default); see Configuration. It applies only to AR models with enums, so factories for other classes are unaffected.

Errors

• An unknown variant at build time raises X::ORM::Factory::UnknownVariant.

• Defining a variant twice in the same factory raises X::ORM::Factory::DuplicateVariant.

• Defining a global variant twice raises X::ORM::Factory::DuplicateVariant.

• A bare variant reference passed arguments raises X::ORM::Factory::UsageError — only attribute setters take arguments.