# Values

A value is associated with a key in a Kiwi store. Each value has a static type. For example, the store contains a key called name which should contain the name of the application. To store this we need a string value. Hence the key name will be associated with a value of type that stores string data.

# Pluggable types

Kiwi's type system is extendable, i.e., different value types can be plugged in as per requirement. Even the standard value types defined in the values package are implemented as third party types.

So if you want to store a hashmap, the package github.com/sdslabs/kiwi/values/hash defines a Kiwi value type that can store data as a hash map. This can be plugged in simply by importing the package:

import _ "github.com/sdslabs/kiwi/values/hash"

// ...

if err := store.AddKey("key_name", "hash"); err != nil {
  // handle error
}

# Actions

A value can be interacted with using different actions. An action is nothing but a string telling the store about what to do with the value associated with the key you want to interact with.

Each value type defines it's own actions. Say, you want to insert into the hash map, so you would Do an "INSERT" action.

_, err := store.Do("key_name", "INSERT", "key", "val")
if err != nil {
  // handle error
}

Tip

Each value type defined in the Kiwi package exposes actions and type names as constants. So rather than blank importing, you can import the complete package and use them such as:

import "github.com/sdslabs/kiwi/values/hash"

// ...

if err := store.AddKey("key_name", hash.Type); err != nil { // hash.Type = "hash"
  // handle error
}

_, err := store.Do("key_name", hash.Insert, "key", "val") // hash.Insert = "INSERT"
if err != nil {
  // handle error
}

# JSON

Each value is JSON compatible, i.e., they can be loaded from or converted into JSON. This property is what makes a store importable and exportable from and into JSON respectively.

import "github.com/sdslabs/kiwi"

// ...

jsonRawData, err := store.ToJson("my_key")
if err != nil {
  // handle error
}

if err := store.FromJSON("my_key", jsonRawData); err != nil {
  // handle error
}

← Store Stdkiwi →