re-frame-10x/docs/HyperlinkedInformation/ReplayButton.md

This document explains the operation of the "Replay" button, and how to use a HotPlay Loop.

By using the backwards and forwards arrows, re-frame-trace allows you to navigate through Epochs. At any one time, you can be inspecting a single Epoch, which we'll term "The Observed Epoch".

When you click the "Replay" button, you are asking re-frame-trace to perform an "Action Replay" of "The Observed Epoch", and this happens in two Steps:

1. the value in app-db is reset to the value it had immediately prior to "The Observed Epoch"
2. the event which caused "The Observed Epoch" is re-dispatched

Further Notes:

• In Step 1, the reset of app-db will trigger subscriptions and views to rerun, as the application returns to the "prior state" but none of this trace is captured. It is all ignored.
• All trace arising in Step 2 forms a normal, new Epoch. The (original) Observed Epoch is still there untouched.
• The new Epoch (Step 2) is added to the end of the existing Epoch list. It is the newest, most recent Epoch.
• The user is auto-navigated to view this new epoch. So the user immediately sees the results for this new Epoch - the timings etc.

Useful?

Hell, yes, massively. There's a productive development process we call "A HotPlay Loop" which works like this:

• A. You observe an Epoch (in re-frame-trace) to see if an event was correctly processed
• B. You notice a problem, and you edit (correct) the event handler (or subscription handler, view, etc).
• C. Figwheel will re-compile and Hotload your correction
• D: You click the Replay button
• E: Back to A

The initials of this process are OEHR, which doesn't exactly roll off the tounge like REPL. So we just call it "The HotPlay Loop" (Hotload and Replay).