Lightning Component Polymorphism is not working:

Question

I am trying to use Bob Buzzard approach to get Lightning Component Polymorphism working, so I have method

myAction: function(component) {
    component.getConcreteComponent().getDef().getHelper().callHelperMethod();
}

however, I receive an error

TypeError: Action failed: c:MyComponent$controller$myAction [component.getConcreteComponent(...).getDef is not a function] Callback failed: apex://c:MyComponentController/ACTION$myAction

Why getDef is no longer available in Lightning? I can see that it is still present in Aura framework code

Answer 1

I ended up using

if ( !component.isConcrete() ) return;

code in the parent component helper.

So my parent component looks like this

<aura:component extensible="true">
    <aura:handler name="init" value="{!this}" action="{!c.doInit}"/>
    <aura:attribute name="importantAttribute" type="Object"/>
    <aura:handler name="change" value="{!v.importantAttribute}" action="{!c.myAction}"/>
</aura:component>

my parent component controller

({
    doInit: function(component, event, helper) {
        // do a lot of stuff and set importantAttribute
    },

    myAction: function(component, event, helper) {
        helper.callImportantMethod(component);
    }
})

my parent component helper

({
    callImportantMethod: function(component) {
        if ( !component.isConcrete() ) return;
        // Execute Important logic in parent
    }, //other important methods
})

So my child component looks like this

<aura:component extends="c:ParentComponent">
    <aura:handler name="change" value="{!v.importantAttribute}" action="{!c.myAction}"/>
</aura:component>

my child component controller

({
    myAction: function(component, event, helper) {
        helper.callImportantMethod(component);
    }
})

my child component helper

({
    callImportantMethod: function(component) {
        // Execute DIFFERENT Important logic in child
    }, //other important methods
})