Multiple Functions
In this section, we will walk through the process of refactoring the application to set ourselves up
better for bigger projects. Not all of these changes are ratatui
specific, and are generally good
coding practices to follow.
We are still going to keep everything in one file for this section, but we are going to split the previous functionality into separate functions.
Organizing imports
The first thing you might consider doing is reorganizing imports with qualified names.
use crossterm::{
event::{self, Event::Key, KeyCode::Char},
execute,
terminal::{disable_raw_mode, enable_raw_mode, EnterAlternateScreen, LeaveAlternateScreen},
};
use ratatui::{
prelude::{CrosstermBackend, Terminal, Frame},
widgets::Paragraph,
};
Typedefs and Type Aliases
By defining custom types and aliases, we can simplify our code and make it more expressive.
type Err = Box<dyn std::error::Error>;
type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, Err>;
If you use the popular anyhow
then instead of these two lines:
type Err = Box<dyn std::error::Error>;
type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, Err>;
you can simply import Result
from anyhow
:
use anyhow::Result;
You will need to run cargo add anyhow
for this to work.
App
struct
By defining an App
struct, we can encapsulate our application state and make it more structured.
struct App {
counter: i64,
should_quit: bool,
}
counter
holds the current value of our counter.should_quit
is a flag that indicates whether the application should exit its main loop.
Breaking up main()
We can extract significant parts of the main()
function into separate smaller functions, e.g.
startup()
, shutdown()
, ui()
, update()
, run()
.
startup()
is responsible for initializing the terminal.
fn startup() -> Result<()> {
enable_raw_mode()?;
execute!(std::io::stderr(), EnterAlternateScreen)?;
Ok(())
}
shutdown()
cleans up the terminal.
fn shutdown() -> Result<()> {
execute!(std::io::stderr(), LeaveAlternateScreen)?;
disable_raw_mode()?;
Ok(())
}
ui()
handles rendering of our application state.
fn ui(app: &App, f: &mut Frame<'_>) {
f.render_widget(Paragraph::new(format!("Counter: {}", app.counter)), f.size());
}
update()
processes user input and updates our application state.
fn update(app: &mut App) -> Result<()> {
if event::poll(std::time::Duration::from_millis(250))? {
if let Key(key) = event::read()? {
if key.kind == event::KeyEventKind::Press {
match key.code {
Char('j') => app.counter += 1,
Char('k') => app.counter -= 1,
Char('q') => app.should_quit = true,
_ => {},
}
}
}
}
Ok(())
}
You’ll notice that in the update()
function we make use of pattern matching for handling user
input. This is a powerful feature in rust; and enhances readability and provides a clear pattern for
how each input is processed.
You can learn more about pattern matching in the official rust book.
run()
contains our main application loop.
fn run() -> Result<()> {
// ratatui terminal
let mut t = Terminal::new(CrosstermBackend::new(std::io::stderr()))?;
// application state
let mut app = App { counter: 0, should_quit: false };
loop {
// application render
t.draw(|f| {
ui(&app, f);
})?;
// application update
update(&mut app)?;
// application exit
if app.should_quit {
break;
}
}
Ok(())
}
Each function now has a specific task, making our main application logic more organized and easier to follow.
fn main() -> Result<()> {
startup()?;
let status = run();
shutdown()?;
status?;
Ok(())
}
You may be wondering if we could have written the main
function like so:
fn main() -> Result<()> {
startup()?;
run()?;
shutdown()?;
Ok(())
}
This works fine during the happy path of a program.
However, if your run()
function returns an error, the program will not call shutdown()
.
And this can leave your terminal in a messed up
state for your users.
Instead, we should ensure that shutdown()
is always called before the program exits.
fn main() -> Result<()> {
startup()?;
let result = run();
shutdown()?;
result?;
Ok(())
}
Here, we can get the result of run()
, and call shutdown()
first and then unwrap()
on the result.
This will be a much better experience for users.
We will discuss in future sections how to handle the situation when your code unexpectedly panics.
Conclusion
By making our code more organized, modular, and readable, we not only make it easier for others to understand and work with but also set the stage for future enhancements and extensions.
Here’s the full code for reference:
use anyhow::Result;
use crossterm::{
event::{self, Event::Key, KeyCode::Char},
execute,
terminal::{disable_raw_mode, enable_raw_mode, EnterAlternateScreen, LeaveAlternateScreen},
};
use ratatui::{
prelude::{CrosstermBackend, Terminal},
widgets::Paragraph,
};
fn startup() -> Result<()> {
enable_raw_mode()?;
execute!(std::io::stderr(), EnterAlternateScreen)?;
Ok(())
}
fn shutdown() -> Result<()> {
execute!(std::io::stderr(), LeaveAlternateScreen)?;
disable_raw_mode()?;
Ok(())
}
// App state
struct App {
counter: i64,
should_quit: bool,
}
// App ui render function
fn ui(app: &App, f: &mut Frame<'_>) {
f.render_widget(Paragraph::new(format!("Counter: {}", app.counter)), f.size());
}
// App update function
fn update(app: &mut App) -> Result<()> {
if event::poll(std::time::Duration::from_millis(250))? {
if let Key(key) = event::read()? {
if key.kind == event::KeyEventKind::Press {
match key.code {
Char('j') => app.counter += 1,
Char('k') => app.counter -= 1,
Char('q') => app.should_quit = true,
_ => {},
}
}
}
}
Ok(())
}
fn run() -> Result<()> {
// ratatui terminal
let mut t = Terminal::new(CrosstermBackend::new(std::io::stderr()))?;
// application state
let mut app = App { counter: 0, should_quit: false };
loop {
// application update
update(&mut app)?;
// application render
t.draw(|f| {
ui(&app, f);
})?;
// application exit
if app.should_quit {
break;
}
}
Ok(())
}
fn main() -> Result<()> {
// setup terminal
startup()?;
let result = run();
// teardown terminal before unwrapping Result of app run
shutdown()?;
result?;
Ok(())
}
Here’s a flow chart representation of the various steps in the program:
graph TD MainRun[Main: Run]; CheckEvent[Main: Poll KeyPress]; UpdateApp[Main: Update App]; ShouldQuit[Main: Check should_quit?]; BreakLoop[Main: Break Loop]; MainStart[Main: Start]; MainEnd[Main: End]; MainStart --> MainRun; MainRun --> CheckEvent; CheckEvent -->|No KeyPress| Draw; CheckEvent --> |KeyPress Received| UpdateApp; Draw --> ShouldQuit; UpdateApp --> Draw; ShouldQuit -->|Yes| BreakLoop; BreakLoop --> MainEnd; ShouldQuit -->|No| CheckEvent;
What do you think happens if you modify the example above to change the polling to 0
milliseconds?
What would happen if you change the example to poll every 10 seconds?
Experiment with different “tick rates” and see how that affects the user experience. Monitor your CPU usage when you do this experiment. What happens to your CPU usage as you change the poll frequency?