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View Source Code Interface

One of the ways that we interact with our resources is via hand-written code. The general pattern for that looks like building a query or a changeset for a given action, and dispatching it to the api using things like `MyApi.read/3` and `MyApi.create/3`. This, however, is just one way to use Ash, and is designed to help you build tools that work with resources, and to power things like `AshPhoenix.Form`, `AshGraphql.Resource` and `AshJsonApi.Resource`. When working with your resources in code, we generally want something more idiomatic and simple. For example, on a resource called `Helpdesk.Support.Ticket`:

    code_interface do
      define_for Helpdesk.Support

      define :open_ticket, args: [:subject]
    end

This simple setup now allows you to open a ticket with `Helpdesk.Support.Ticket.open_ticket(subject)`. You can cause it to raise errors instead of return them with `Helpdesk.Support.Ticket.open_ticket!(subject)`. For information on the options and additional inputs these defined functions take, look at the generated function documentation, which you can do in iex with `h Helpdesk.Support.Ticket.open_ticket`. For more information on the code interface, read the DSL documentation: code_interface.

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using-the-code-interface

Using the code interface

If the action is an update or destroy, it will take a record or a changeset as its first argument. If the action is a read action, it will take a starting query as an opt in the last argument.

All functions will have an optional last argument that accepts options. Those options are:

#{Spark.OptionsHelpers.docs(Ash.Resource.Interface.interface_options(nil))}

For reads:

- `:query` - a query to start the action with, can be used to filter/sort the results of the action.

For creates:

- `:changeset` - a changeset to start the action with

They will also have an optional second to last argument that is a freeform map to provide action input. It must be a map. If it is a keyword list, it will be assumed that it is actually `options` (for convenience). This allows for the following behaviour:

    # Because the 3rd argument is a keyword list, we use it as options
    Api.register_user(username, password, [tenant: "organization_22"])
    # Because the 3rd argument is a map, we use it as action input
    Api.register_user(username, password, %{key: "val"})
    # When all arguments are provided it is unambiguous
    Api.register_user(username, password, %{key: "val"}, [tenant: "organization_22"])

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