Is it possible to load-file in a namespace context?

Question

I do not know if my title is clear but I would like to use a function which loads a file using namespaces aliases without requiring all libarires in every namespace of the stack. To make it clearer, here is a fake code :

My file to load ("whatever.clj") :

{:my-fn (fn [a b] (ml/explode a b))}

The namespace where the reader is defined :

(ns my-project.reader
  (:require [my-lib.core :as ml]))

(defn load-definition-and-apply
  [a b]
  (let [{:keys [my-fn]} (load-file "whatever.clj")]
    (my-fn a b)))

So if I run load-definition-an-apply from my-project.reader, it will work since ml/explode is defined. But now imagine that I use load-definition-and-apply from elsewhere :

(ns my-project.processing
  (:require [my-project.reader :as rd]))

(rd/load-definition-and-apply 1 2)

Will not work because ml alias is not found from my-project.processing during load-file. This is the same when I wrap the code around other process.
The solution is to do :

(ns my-project.processing
  (:require [my-lib.core :as ml]
            [my-project.reader :as rd]))

(rd/load-definition-and-apply 1 2)

Which is ok for one library but I actually imported several. Is there a clean way to do not import in every namespace of the tower the required libraries to read files and just call it for the namespace where the load-file is really conceptually "performed" (here : my-project.reader) ?

I do not want to put in on the clj files to load too because it is designed to be simple for the user.

Thanks

Look at binding or in-ns or along those lines. I've done it and if no-one answers I will, just don't have time right now. — Frank C.

Joseph Yourine Joseph Yourine · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-19T08:56:10

As Frank C. stated

(ns my-project.processing
  (:require [my-project.reader :as rd]))

(binding [*ns* (the-ns 'my-project.reader)]
  (rd/load-definition-and-apply 1 2))

Is it possible to load-file in a namespace context?

2 Answers