Instance methods
The instance created by createSafeActionClient has the following methods:
use
use(middlewareFn: MiddlewareFn) => new SafeActionClient()
use accepts a middleware function of type MiddlewareFn as argument and returns a new instance of the safe action client with that middleware function added to the stack, that will be executed after the last one, if any. Check out how to use middleware in the related section.
metadata
metadata(data: Metadata) => new SafeActionClient()
metadata expects an argument of the same type as the return value of the defineMetadataSchema optional initialization function. If you don't provide this function to the action client when you initialize it, metadata will be undefined.
metadata lets you specify useful data about the safe action you're executing. You can access it in the middlewareFn passed to use and in serverCodeFn passed to action/stateAction. If there's a mismatch between the metadata schema and the data you pass to metadata, the action will throw an error during execution. It returns a new instance of the safe action client.
schema
schema(inputSchema: S, utils?: { handleValidationErrorsShape?: HandleValidationErrorsShapeFn } }) => new SafeActionClient()
schema accepts an input schema of type Schema or a function that returns a promise of type Schema and an optional utils object that accepts an async handleValidationErrorsShape function. The schema is used to define the arguments that the safe action will receive, the optional handleValidationErrorsShape function is used to return a custom format for validation errors. If you don't pass an input schema, parsedInput and validation errors will be typed undefined, and clientInput will be typed void. It returns a new instance of the safe action client.
bindArgsSchemas
bindArgsSchemas(bindArgsSchemas: BAS, bindArgsUtils?: { handleBindArgsValidationErrorsShape?: HandleBindArgsValidationErrorsShapeFn }) => new SafeActionClient()
bindArgsSchemas accepts an array of bind input schemas of type Schema[] and an optional bindArgsUtils object that accepts an async handleBindArgsValidationErrorsShape function. The schema is used to define the bind arguments that the safe action will receive, the optional handleBindArgsValidationErrorsShape function is used to return a custom format for bind arguments validation errors. It returns a new instance of the safe action client.
outputSchema
outputSchema(outputSchema: S) => new SafeActionClient()
outputSchema accepts a schema of type Schema. That schema is used to define what the safe action will return. If you don't pass an output schema when you're defining an action, the return type will be inferred instead. If validation fails, an ActionOutputDataValidationError is internally thrown. You can catch it inside handleServerError and access the validationErrors property to get the validation errors. It returns a new instance of the safe action client.
action / stateAction
action(serverCodeFn: ServerCodeFn, utils?: SafeActionUtils) => SafeActionFn
stateAction(serverCodeFn: StateServerCodeFn, utils?: SafeActionUtils) => SafeStateActionFn
action/stateAction is the final method in the list. It accepts a serverCodeFn of type ServerCodeFn/StateServerCodeFn and an optional object with action utils, and it returns a new safe action function of type SafeActionFn/SafeStateActionFn, which can be called from your components. When an action doesn't need input arguments, you can directly use this method without passing a schema to schema method.
When the action is executed, all middleware functions in the chain will be called at runtime, in the order they were defined.
When to use action or stateAction
The only difference between action and stateAction is that useStateAction hook requires the usage of stateAction when defining a new Server Action function. Using stateAction changes the function signature: the first argument of the safe action will be prevResult, and the second one the client input, if a validation schema was passed to schema method.
Note that when you use stateAction, and also want to access prevResult in serverCodeFn, you must type the returned data type of the function, since it can't be inferred, due to TypeScript limitations. See an example of this in the useStateAction usage section.
serverCodeFn
serverCodeFn(
args: { parsedInput, bindArgsParsedInputs, ctx, metadata }
) => Promise<Data>;
serverCodeFn = (
args: { parsedInput, bindArgsParsedInputs, ctx, metadata },
utils: { prevResult }
) => Promise<Data>;
serverCodeFn is the async function of type ServerCodeFn/StateServerCodeFn that will be executed on the server side when the action is invoked. If input validation fails, or execution gets halted in a middleware function, the server code function will not be called.
In the case of a stateful safe action, serverCodeFn will also receive the prevResult as a property of the second argument (utils object) from the previous action execution, thanks to the useStateAction hook (that uses React's useActionState hook under the hood).