service

The Service API exposes a simple service registry leveraged by various parts of SilverBullet. See Service.

service.define

service.define(spec)

Defines a service that can be discovered by selector.

Parameters:

• spec (table) — Selector, match rule, and run callback.

Example:

service.define { selector = "greeter", match = {}, run = function(name) return "Hello " .. name end }

service.discover

service.discover(selector, data)

Discovers matching services sorted by descending priority.

Parameters:

• selector (string) — Service selector.
• data — Value passed to match callbacks.

Returns:

• table — Matching service descriptors.

service.invoke

service.invoke(match, data)

Invokes a previously discovered service match.

Parameters:

• match (table) — Service match returned by service.discover.
• data — Value passed to the service.

Returns:

• Value — Service result.

service.invokeBestMatch

service.invokeBestMatch(selector, data)

Discovers and invokes the highest-priority matching service.

Parameters:

• selector (string) — Service selector.
• data — Value used for matching and invocation.

Returns:

• Value — Best matching service result.

Example:

local greeting = service.invokeBestMatch("greeter", "Pete")

Architecture

Services are built on top of Events. When a service is defined, it registers two event listeners:

1. discover:<<selector>> for service discovery
2. service:<<guid>> for invocation

Discovery broadcasts on the event bus and collects all matches, sorted by priority. Invocation calls the specific service’s run callback.

Example

service.define {
  selector = "greeter-service",
  match = {},
  run = function(name)
    return "Hello " .. name
  end
}
 
service.define {
  selector = "greeter-service",
  match = function(name)
    if name == "Pete" then
      return {priority=10}
    else
      return nil
    end
  end,
  run = function(name)
    return "Hello Pete, so happy to see you!"
  end
}

To invoke: ${service.invokeBestMatch(“greeter-service”, “Pete”)} and ${service.invokeBestMatch(“greeter-service”, “Hank”)}