tinystruct Development Patterns

Architecture and implementation patterns for building modules with the tinystruct Java framework – a lightweight system where CLI and HTTP are equal citizens.

When to Use

• Creating new Application modules by extending AbstractApplication.
• Defining routes and command-line actions using @Action.
• Handling per-request state via Context.
• Performing JSON serialization using the native Builder component.
• Configuring database connections or system settings in application.properties.
• Generating or re-generating the standard bin/dispatcher entry point via ApplicationManager.init().
• Debugging routing conflicts (Actions) or CLI argument parsing.

How It Works

The tinystruct framework treats any method annotated with @Action as a routable endpoint for both terminal and web environments. Applications are created by extending AbstractApplication, which provides core lifecycle hooks like init() and access to the request Context.

Routing is handled by the ActionRegistry, which automatically maps path segments to method arguments and injects dependencies. For data-only services, the native Builder component should be used for JSON serialization to maintain a zero-dependency footprint. The framework also includes a utility in ApplicationManager to bootstrap the project's execution environment by generating the bin/dispatcher script.

Examples

Basic Application (MyService)

public class MyService extends AbstractApplication {
    @Override
    public void init() {
        this.setTemplateRequired(false); // Disable .view lookup for data/API apps
    }

    @Override public String version() { return "1.0.0"; }

    @Action("greet")
    public String greet() {
        return "Hello from tinystruct!";
    }
}

Parameterized Routing (getUser)

// Handles /api/user/123 (Web) or "bin/dispatcher api/user/123" (CLI)
@Action("api/user/(\\d+)")
public String getUser(int userId) {
    return "User ID: " + userId;
}

HTTP Mode Disambiguation (login)

@Action(value = "login", mode = Mode.HTTP_POST)
public boolean doLogin() {
    // Process login logic
    return true;
}

Native JSON Data Handling (getData)

@Action("api/data")
public Builder getData() throws ApplicationException {
    Builder builder = new Builder();
    builder.put("status", "success");
    Builder nested = new Builder();
    nested.put("id", 1);
    nested.put("name", "James");
    builder.put("data", nested);
    return builder;
}

Configuration

Settings are managed in src/main/resources/application.properties.

# Database
driver=org.h2.Driver
database.url=jdbc:h2:~/mydb

# App specific
my.service.endpoint=https://api.example.com

Testing Patterns

Use JUnit 5 to test actions by verifying they are registered in the ActionRegistry.

@Test
void testActionRegistration() {
    Application app = new MyService();
    app.init();

    ActionRegistry registry = ActionRegistry.getInstance();
    assertNotNull(registry.get("greet"));
}

Red Flags & Anti-patterns

Symptom	Correct Pattern
Importing com.google.gson or com.fasterxml.jackson	Use org.tinystruct.data.component.Builder.
FileNotFoundException for .view files	Call setTemplateRequired(false) in init() for API-only apps.
Annotating private methods with @Action	Actions must be public to be registered by the framework.
Hardcoding main(String[] args) in apps	Use bin/dispatcher as the entry point for all modules.
Manual ActionRegistry registration	Prefer the @Action annotation for automatic discovery.

Technical Reference

Detailed guides are available in the references/ directory:

• Architecture & Config: Abstractions, Package Map, Properties
• Routing & @Action: Annotation details, Modes, Parameters
• Data Handling: Using the native Builder for JSON
• System & Usage: Context, Sessions, Events, CLI usage
• Testing Patterns: JUnit 5 integration and ActionRegistry testing

Reference Source Files (Internal)

• src/main/java/org/tinystruct/AbstractApplication.java: Core base class
• src/main/java/org/tinystruct/system/annotation/Action.java: Annotation & Modes
• src/main/java/org/tinystruct/application/ActionRegistry.java: Routing Engine
• src/main/java/org/tinystruct/data/component/Builder.java: JSON/Data Serializer