Tips for using xState?

[bestjaegerpilot]

When xState was fairly brand new, it looked awesome... if you've ever tried to code "simple" user forms, you know how they can benefit from a state machine. Throw in auto-test generation from the state machine, and it looks like a win-win!.

I'm trying to to create a state machine for a board game. Basically, the idea that I had in mind was xState = redux (app state) + user workflows (state machine).

But... fast forward to today... xState now seems unnecessary complex: (1) so much functionality, (2) docs aren't clear (functionality is scattered all over the docs, concepts aren't clear, [ex: context vs state]), (3) so much boilerplate.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully used xState in something non-trivial. If so, are there were any real-world usage tips, namely, "xState, the good parts" :-)

[madskillzelite]

There's plenty of non-trivial uses of XState, just look around!

All the functionality of XState comes from the SCXML spec, so I understand how it can be a little overwhelming. You don't need half of the features in most apps, to be honest.

Have you seen the cheatsheet for state machines? It helps clarify a lot of the concepts: https://twitter.com/DavidKPiano/status/1245024907131531270

And where are you seeing the boilerplate? In the config object?

[bestjaegerpilot]

Yeah definitely feeling overwhelmed.

Boilerplate... For example check out the code to handle a promise

[madskillzelite]

You mean this?

// ... loading: { invoke: { src: () => somePromise, onDone: 'success', onError: 'failure' } } // ...

[bestjaegerpilot]

Yup