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MongoDB

Install

npm install --save @bluelibs/mongo-bundle @bluelibs/nova

Prepare

Purpose

At BlueLibs, we love MongoDB. So easy to develop on it, their query language makes a lot of sense, and it is close to us, JS developers, we can even write JS code that gets executed even at database-level. We like it for a lot of things, however, the database on itself doesn't have a reliable relationship fetching mechanism ($lookup is very slow), forcing developers to denormalize data and putting them to face other issue with this.

The problem with relational data has been solved by Nova, and we have achieved speeds faster than RAW SQL, test code can be found here.

Nova will not make everything perfect, but it makes fetching relational data a breeze. This bundle offers beautiful integration with Nova so we can use it in our collections.

Basic Setup

import { MongoBundle } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
kernel.addBundle(  new MongoBundle({    uri: "mongodb://localhost:27017/test",
    // Optional if you have other options in mind    // https://mongodb.github.io/node-mongodb-native/3.6/api/MongoClient.html#.connect    options: MONGO_CONNECTION_OPTIONS,  }));

Get started with our MongoBundle Essential Boilerplate;

Collections

A collection is in fact a service. Thus making it accessible via the container. We define our collections as extensions of Collection in which we can customise things such as: collectionName, indexes, model.

import { Collection } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
// We can optionally create a type and have full typesafetytype User = {  firstName: string;  lastName: string;};
class UsersCollection extends Collection<User> {  static collectionName = "users";
  static indexes = [    {      key: { firstName: 1 },      // Other options can be found here in IndexSignature:      // https://github.com/DefinitelyTyped/DefinitelyTyped/blob/0543eca60008efb636775a21aec7b7f5e798682a/types/mongodb/index.d.ts#L3408    },  ];}
note

We've opted for static definition instead of the abstract approach of methods (getCollectionName()) because static variables can be manipulated with ease, so for example if you have a collection from a bundle, and you would simply want to rename the collection name, or add another index, relation, or behavior, doing this is trivial. We understand that the abstract methods can hold certain advantages however because of the freedom these static variables offer, we stuck to it.

As with everything in BlueLibs's world, you get the instance via the container, for that you'd have to work within your application bundle.

const usersCollection = container.get(UsersCollection);
// You have access to the classic MongoDB Node CollectionusersCollection.collection;

You have access to directly perform the more popular mutation operations:

  • insertOne
  • insertMany
  • updateOne
  • updateMany
  • deleteOne
  • deleteMany
  • count
  • aggregate
  • find
  • findOne
  • findOneAndUpdate
  • findOneAndDelete

Events

Our Collection services have a neat integration with the EventManager. We dispatch events before and after important things happen: "insert", "update", "remove". These events can be imported from this package:

Types

All events contain context of type IExecutionContext which can be extendable. We use the context to pass meta information about our database mutation, for example we want to pass an userId to be able to have Blameable behavior automatic.

- BeforeInsertEvent  - document  - options: MongoDB.InsertOneOptions;- AfterInsertEvent  - document  - _id: any; # When performing .insertMany() this will be triggered numerous times  - options: MongoDB.InsertOneOptions;- BeforeUpdateEvent  - filter: MongoDB.Filter<T>;  - update: MongoDB.UpdateFilter<T>;  - fields: IGetFieldsResponse;  - isMany: boolean;  - options: MongoDB.UpdateOptions;- AfterUpdateEvent  - filter: MongoDB.Filter<T>;  - update: MongoDB.UpdateFilter<T>;  - fields: IGetFieldsResponse;  - isMany: boolean;  - result: MongoDB.UpdateResult | MongoDB.ModifyResult<T>;  - options: MongoDB.UpdateOptions;- BeforeDeleteEvent  - filter: MongoDB.Filter<T>;  - isMany: boolean;  - context: any;  - options: MongoDB.DeleteOptions | MongoDB.FindOneAndDeleteOptions;- AfterDeleteEvent  - filter: MongoDB.Filter<T>;  - isMany: boolean;  - context: any;  - result: MongoDB.DeleteResult | MongoDB.ModifyResult<T>;  - options: MongoDB.DeleteOptions | MongoDB.FindOneAndDeleteOptions;

Events accepts an optional generic representing the document, example: AfterUpdateEvent<User> so you can get better autocompletion when performing the changes.

note

If you want to bypass all events, the current solution is to use the native MongoDB Node collection, accessible via: postsCollection.collection, where postsCollection is retrieved from the container.

Listening

Inside every collection there is a localEventManager which is an instance of EventManager completely separated. When we emit events we emit them both to localEventManager and the global one. The reasoning for this is to have collection-specific events without having to be filtered:

postsCollection.on(BeforeInsertEvent, (event: BeforeInsertEvent<Post>) => {  // Handle it.});

And if you like to use the global EventManager:

eventManager.addListener(BeforeInsertEvent, (e) => {  // Using collection hook events, avoid polusion of listeners of global event manager  // But the events are still dispatched and recognizable.  if (e.collection instanceof PostsCollection) {    // ok, do your thang  }});

If you want to perform certain actions for elements once they have been updated or removed (events: AfterUpdateEvent and AfterDeleteEvent) the solution is to get the filter and extract the _id from there.

If you want to use the Listener pattern it will look something like:

import { PostsCollection, Post } from "./posts.collection";import { Listener, On } from "@bluelibs/core":import { BeforeInsertEvent } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
@Service()class DatabaseListener extends Listener {  @On(BeforeInsertEvent, {    filter: e => e.data.collection instanceof PostsCollection  })  onPostInserted(e: BeforeInsertEvent<Post>) {    // Do your thing, you can use property inject to get other services  }}
// And ofcourse don't forget to `warmup()` the listeners.

Context

Events also receive a context variable this is IExecutionContext and can be extended via:

declarations.ts
import "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
declare module "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle" {  export interface IExecutionContext {    // Now the context can receive an optional `companyId`    companyId?: ObjectId;  }}

Each CollectionEvent has the context inside its dataset (event.data.context). Which gives you power to act accordingly. For example, inside the Blameable behavior, we pass userId.

// Doing this, the `contextpostsCollection.insertOne(document, {  context: {    companyId,  },});// This is the `options` argument available for all mutations.

Nova Integration

We need a way to link collections and fetch data with blazing fast speeds. For this purpose, Nova comes to the rescue and we strongly recommend you read through it first to get all the concepts clarified.

Nova is extremely fast and gives us the freedom to think relational in NoSQL, enhancing our developer experience.

We also offer type-safety when making queries which enables us to work in a very scalable fashion.

Basics

// Fetch it from the containerconst usersCollection = container.get(UsersCollection);
usersCollection.query({  $: {    filters: {      // mongo filters      _id: someUserId    }    options: {      // limit, skip, sort    }  }  // Specify the fields you need, autocompleted if the Collection has as model passed as Generic.  firstName: 1,  lastName: 1,});
// use .queryOne() if you are expecting a single result based on filters and/or options

The way we define links for Nova is through the static variables: links, reducers, expanders:

class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static collectionName = "users";}
class Human {  firstName: string;  lastName: string;
  /**   * We mark with @reducer the fields which are computed on demand.   * @reducer   */  fullName: string;}
class HumansCollection extends Collection<Human> {  static collectionName = "posts";
  static links = {    user: {      collection: () => UsersCollection,      // Or if you want to benefit of dynamic linking:      // collection: (container) => container.get(USERS_COLLECTION_TOKEN);      field: "userId",    },  };
  // Nova reducers are a sort of virtually computed variables.  // Note: reducers include "container" in the context property of their params.  static reducers = {    fullName: {      // Here you specify what you depend on from the `Human` model to be able to compute it      // Being this specific,  inimises the amount of data fetched.      dependency: {        firstName: 1,        lastName: 1,      },      // Reducers accept a context that is from the Query (more details in Nova documentation)      reduce(user: User, { context }}) {        // Get access to container if reducing this is to be delegated to a service        const container = context.container;      }    }  };
  // Nova expanders. Rarely to be used.  static expanders = {};}

Now you can query freely:

const humansCollection = container.get(HumansCollection);
humansCollection.query({  // You can query any field including reducers and expanders  fullName: 1,  user: {    _id: 1,  },});
note

Keep in mind that links are attached on .collection (the raw MongoDB Node collection) under the Collection class from @bluelibs/mongo-bundle, so if you want to use the methods of query() or lookup() from Nova, ensure that you use the proper collection otherwise you will get errors.

Using bare-bones Nova:

import { lookup, query } from "@bluelibs/nova";
const postsCollection = container.get(PostsCollection);const results = query(  // NOTE! The .collection is the raw one, where the links are actually attached.  postsCollection.collection,  {    $: {      pipeline: [        lookup(postsCollection.collection, "user"),        // Note that we use .collection, because that's where links are attached.      ],    },  },  // This is the context to pass to reducers.  {    // And if you have container aware reducers you have to pass the context here:    container,  });

If you want to benefit of JIT bson-decoding for your data you can add it through jitSchema static variable. This speeds up the data fetching speeds by ~50% (the more data you fetch, the faster it gets).

warning

Keep in mind that if you forget to update the jitSchema you won't be able to receive the data not defined in schema from MongoDB, making you wonder what is going on, we advise using this only when you actually need it. Prematurue optimisation is not healthy.

Example for a collection that contains only name: string:

class PostsCollection extends Collection {  // optional for absolute performance, import { t } from "@bluelibs/nova"  // Documentation is here: https://deepkit.io/documentation/type  // This only applies to Nova query-ing  static jitSchema = t.schema({    name: t.string,  });}

GraphQL

Nova Query has an intuitive GraphQL transformation, which allows you to transform the AbstractSourceTree, which is the "query" transformed in a OOP-model, to a Nova query body so you can return only what is requested + collection-linked. This is the magical part.

note

This part is related to GraphQL Bundle. Ensure that you are comfortable with it first.

const resolvers = {  Query: {    posts(_, args, ctx, ast) {      const postsCollection = ctx.container.get(PostsCollection);
      return postsCollection.queryGraphQL(ast, {        // These are the AstToQueryOptions presented in the link above as: Nova Query        filters: {          isApproved: true,        },      });
      // for single element finds, use: postsCollection.queryOneGraphQL()    },  },};

The query you can make from your client would be similar to a GraphQL Query:

## This is how you would define it in GraphQL Servertype Query {  posts: Post[]}
type User {  name: String!}
type Post {  title: String!  user: User!}
# Now the query from frontend would look like:query {  posts {    title    user {      name    }  }}

Behind the scenes, Nova will transform the request into its own "request-fetching language", and if you keep the same name in GraphQL API for the defined links in the Collection classes, then it will work as magic.

Ofcourse, you would need to secure this and restrict these behaviors, to do so take a look at intersect option inside Nova's documentation for GraphQL.

Behaviors

The nature of the behavior is simple, it is a function that receives the collection object when the collection initialises. And you can listen to events on the collection and make it behave.

Let's create a behavior that logs the insertions of a document:

function logInsertions(collection) {  // You container access via collection.container if you need custom services, etc.  collection.on(BeforeInsertEvent, (e: BeforeInsertEvent) => {    // This listener is local only, it only applies to this collection    const service = collection.container.get(DocumentLoggerService);    service.log(e.data.document);  });}
class GovernmentFilesCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [logInsertions];}

If for example, your behavior can get configurable based on some options then the approach would be like this:

function logInsertions(options) {  return (collection) => {    // do your thing here based on options    // options.name  };}
class GovernmentFilesCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [    logInsertions({      name: "government",    }),  ];}

So ultimately, the behavior array is an array of functions.

Timestampable

This would enter automatic createdAt, updatedAt, unless you explicitely provide the information yourself in the input (useful when migrating an existing dataset to a new one and conserving the actual value). You can also customise how the fields are named.

import { Behaviors, Collection } from "@bluelibs/nova";
class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [    Behaviors.Timestampable({      // optional config      fields: {        // mention the actual field names to be saved        createdAt: "createdAt",        updatedAt: "updatedAt",      },    }),  ];}
note

When the document is created for the first time, we also store updatedAt to the exact date of createdAt.

Blameable

The blameable behavior stores who created or updated the document by reading userId from the context passed, unless you explicitely provide the information yourself in the input. context is a special option we allow in all mutations (insert/update/delete) that is designed to work well with behaviors or other event listeners.

class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [    Behaviors.Blameable({      // optional config      fields: {        createdBy: "createdBy",        updatedBy: "updatedBy",      },      // If this is true, you always have to provide a { userId } in the context, may it be null      // userId is typically null when the system does the operation (like in a cronjob)      throwErrorWhenMissing: true,    }),  ];}
const usersCollection = container.get(UsersCollection);await usersCollection.insertOne(  {    firstName: "John",    lastName: "Smithsonian",  },  {    context: {      userId: "XXX", // or null, but not undefined.    },  });
note

When the document is created for the first time, we also store updatedBy to the same user as createdBy. Because in theory creation is also an update, we understand there can be mixed feelings about this. If you want to identify whether this document has had any changes, we recommend creating an isTouched boolean variable and update it after the BeforeUpdateEvent from @bluelibs/mongo-bundle. And inside the event you can do this for all collections or filter for the ones you need. Otherwise, you have the possibility to avoid this behavior by passing keepInitialUpdateAsNull: true as option in your collection file. If keepInitialUpdateAsNull is set to true, then the updatedAt field will be set to null and updated only on updates.The same goes for the Timestampable behavior with the keepInitialUpdateAsNull: true option.

Validate

This behavior leverages the ValidateBundle. We use it when we want to ensure that what we insert is valid, so it performs validation against the model on insert, and upon update it does the following inside a transaction:

  1. Applies the mutation
  2. Gets the full document
  3. Performs validation

In case of exception the transaction throws and is canceled. This might not be indicated to be applied on collections that get frequent updates, however this is a very secure way of ensuring data consistency because update operations might have unpredictable impact, for example, let's say we have a validation where a number must be under 100, but then we have an update modifier that does {$inc: 1}. We cannot know the impact this may have, hence this solution.

class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [    Behaviors.Validate({      model: User, // This is the standard @Schema() described model      // These are the options from ValidateBundle      // options?: ValidateOptions;      // cast?: boolean;      // castOptions?: any;    }),  ];}

Softdeletable

This behavior is used when you want to delete documents, but still keep them in the database for future reference. So imagine the situation where you have a lot of tasks, and when you delete a user, instead of deleting it you flag it as isDeleted, so when other people view the task they might also see who the user was, but when you are searching for users, that user should no longer appear.

class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static behaviors = [    Behaviors.Softdeletable({      fields: {        isDeleted: "isDeleted",        deletedAt: "deletedAt",        deletedBy: "deletedBy", // if userId is passed in the context it will be stored      },    }),  ];}
const usersCollection = container.get(UsersCollection);
// You can use deleteOne() or deleteMany()await usersCollection.deleteOne(  { _id: userIdToDelete },  {    context: {      userId: byUserId,    },  });
const user = await usersCollection.findOne({ _id: userId }); // nullconst user = await usersCollection.find({ _id: userId }).toArray(); // []// This is the same for query, queryOne, queryGraphQL, queryGraphQLOne
// Updating won't work still.await usersCollection.updateOne(  { _id: userId },  {    $set: {},  });
// If you do want to find, update the user, specify inside the filters { isDeleted: true }const user = await usersCollection.findOne({ _id: userId, isDeleted: true }); // will return the user object

We automatically apply an index on isDeleted so you do not have to worry about performance.

If you are using Softdeletable behavior, and you are also using Nova links, ensure to add the filters { isDeleted: { $ne: true } } to the links pointing towards the soft deletable collection, otherwise, when fetching with Nova those will be returned. Sometimes you do want them to be returned because of consistency, it very much depends on your usecase:

class UsersCollection extends Collection {  static links = {    comments: {      collection: () => CommentsCollection,      filters: {        isDeleted: { $ne: true },      },    },  };}

Models

If we need to have logicful models then it's easy.

import { Collection, ObjectId } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
class User {  _id: ObjectId;  firstName: string;  lastName: string;
  get fullName() {    return this.firstName + " " + this.lastName;  }}
// You can also use it as a typeclass UsersCollection extends Collection<User> {  static collectionName = "users";  static model = User;}
// This will work with any finding queriesconst user = usersCollection.queryOne({  firstName: 1,  lastName: 1,});
user instanceof User;
user.fullName; // will automatically map it to User model class

Now, if you want to query only for fullName, because that's what you care about, you'll have to use expanders. Expanders are a way to say "I want to compute this value, not Nova, so when I request this field, I need you to actually fetch me these other fields and I'll take care of the rest."

class UsersCollection extends Collection<User> {  static collectionName = "users";  static model = User;
  static expanders = {    fullName: {      firstName: 1,      lastName: 1,    },  };}
const user = await usersCollection.queryOne({  // fullName is an "expander"  fullName: 1,});
user instanceof User;
user.firstName; // will existuser.lastName; // will existuser.fullName; // will not exist.

However, you can also leverage Nova to do this computing via reducers for you like this:

class User {  _id: ObjectID;  firstName: string;  lastName: string;  fullName: string; // no more computing}
class UsersCollection extends Collection<User> {  static collectionName = "users";  static model = User;
  static reducers = {    fullName: {      dependency: {        firstName: 1,        lastName: 1,      },      reduce({ firstName, lastName }) {        return this.firstName + " " + this.lastName;      },    },  };}
const user = usersCollection.queryOne({  fullName: 1,});
user instanceof User;
user.firstName; // will NOT existuser.lastName; // will NOT existuser.fullName; // will be what you requested

Default Values

You have two ways to benefit of default values, one is via model:

class User {  constructor(data: Partial<User> = {}) {    Object.assign(this, data);  }  name: string;  status: string = StatusEnum.IN_PROGRESS;}
const user = new User({  name: "John",});
usersCollection.insertOne(user);

Or via setDefaults method inside the collection, which is only applied on insertOne and insertMany. This is useful for when you have business logic, or async logic for storing defaults.

class UsersCollection extends Collection<User> {  async setDefaults(data: Partial<User>, context?: IExecutionContext) {    // Mutate "data".  }}

Transactions

If you want to ensure that all your updates are run and if an exception occurs you would like to rollback. For example, you have event listeners that you never want to fail, or you do multiple operations in which you must ensure that all run and if something bad happens you can revert.

const dbService = container.get(DatabaseService);
await dbService.transact((session) => {  await usersCollection.insertOne(document, { session });  await postsCollection.updateOne(filter, modifier, { session });});

The beautiful thing is that any kind of exception will result in transaction revertion. If you want to have event listeners that don't fail transactions, you simply wrap them in such a way that their promises resolve.

note

If you have event listeners inside the transaction and they perform custom operations, you can access the session variable from the event data.

If you want to do a query with Nova, you can also pass the session as the second argument to the body:

await dbService.transact((session) => {  await usersCollection.insertOne(document, { session });  // works with query, queryOne, queryGraphQL, queryOneGraphQL  await usersCollection.queryOne(    {      // your request body    },    session  );});

Deep Sync

The deep synchronisation is a mechanism which allows us to deeply persist data and automatically link collections, for example:

const usersCollection = container.get(UsersCollection);
// Works with classes or plain objects, doesn't really matterconst user = new User({  name: "John",  // assuming a 1:1 relationship here regardless of being direct or indirect  gameProfile: new UserGameProfile({    score: 0,  }),});
usersCollection.deepSync(user, options); // The options such as `context` and others are passed to the insert/update as options.usersCollection.deepSync([user]); // works with arrays too
user._id; // existsuser.gameProfile._id; // exists

If you are using Blameable behavior, or want to pass other options:

usersCollection.deepSync(user, {  context: { userId: "USER_ID_WHO_PERFORMS_SYNC" },});
Transactions

If you want to perform the deepSync with transactions, ensure you pass { session } inside the options argument.

The presence of an _id inside deep synchronisation will transform the operation in an update if there are any non-relation fields in the first place:

usersCollection.deepSync({  _id: "XXX", // Will perform no-update since there isn't anything to update.  gameProfile: {    _id: "YYY", // Will perform an update of {$set: {score: 10}}    score: 10,  },});

Therefore, existence of an _id merely represents the fact that the element already exists. If there is an _id and that element does not exist in the database, the update will have 0 modified elements, it will not create a new one.

If you are looking to bypass event listeners and perform inserts or updates on the native MongoDB collection:

usersCollection.deepSync(  object,  {},  {    // This does direct operations (inserts, updates) on the raw collection    direct: true,  });

Objects & Circular Deps

Support for complex-like ORM solutions, including recurrent links with circular deps.

// assuming the relationship: Comment { userId, postId }, Post { userId }, Userconst user = new User();const post1 = new Post();const post2 = new Post();user.posts.push(post1, post2);const comment1 = new Comment();post1.push(comment1);comment1.user = user;
usersCollection.deepSync(user);

Even if user isn't added in the database yet, it will know it's the same reference and properly re-use it through your deep-sync graph.

The synchronisation works with any type of links direct or inversed. The most important aspect to understand that there's never a full override of linked data, there's only addition. If a Post stores links to Tag via tagsIds, and you perform this operation:

postsCollection.deepSync({  _id: "POST_ID",  tags: [{ name: "Test" }], // This will just add another tag to the post.});

Note, this will not override tagsIds, regard deepSync as a sort of append-only mechanism especially for many relationships.

Operators

We have a new concept that lets us play with linking data without thinking about where the data is stored, or whether I'm from an inversed link or direct link.

const operator = postsCollection.getLinkOperator("tags");
await operator.clean(postId, { delete: true }); // removes tags and delets themawait operator.link(postId, [tagId1, tagId2], {  // in case of a many link, it will override all the unneded things  override: true,  // in case override is true, it automatically delets the orphaned elements (which are no longer linked )  deleteOrphans: true,}); // overrides
await operator.unlink(postId, [tagId1, tagId2], {  // Not only it unlinks it but also will delete tagId1, tagId2 from database  delete: true,});

Operators don't just work with _ids they work with full objects:

const tag1 = new Tag({ name: "Tag 1" });const tag2 = new Tag({ name: "Tag 2" });
await operator.link(postId, [tag1, tag2]);// tag1._id is now defined// tag2._id is now defined

Migrations

Migrations allow you to version and easily add new changes to database while staying safe. Migrations are added in the prepare() phase of your bundles.

const migrationService = this.container.get(MigrationService);migrationService.add({  version: 1,  name: "Do something",  async up(container) {    // Setup defaults for a certain collection  },  async down(container) {    // Revert the up() function, in case something goes wrong and you want to rollback  },});

By default migrations are run by default to latest version right after MongoBundle gets initialised.

const migrationService = this.container.get(MigrationService);
new MongoBundle({  uri: "...",  // Take control and disable auto migration  automigrate: false,});
// Control it from heremigrationService.migrateToLatest();migrationService.migrateTo(version);

The way we handle migrations is that we store in migrations collection a status object containing:

export interface IMigrationStatus {  version: number; // The current version  locked: boolean;  lockedAt?: Date;  lastError?: {    fromVersion: number;    message: string;  };}

Localization / I18N

We are storing i18n data in a separate field called {fieldName}_i18n which is an object containing the language as key and the value as the translation.

import { I18NType } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
class Post {  title: string;  title_i18n: I18NType<string>;
  content: string;  content_i18n: I18NType<string>;}

The I18NType looks something like this:

export type I18NType<T = string> = Array<{  locale: string;  value: T;}>;

In the database we're storing title_i18n and content_i18n fields as:

{  "title_i18n": [    {      "locale": "en",      "value": "Hello World"    },    {      "locale": "fr",      "value": "Bonjour le monde"    }  ],  "content_i18n": [    {      "locale": "en",      "value": "This is a post"    },    {      "locale": "fr",      "value": "Ceci est un post"    }  ]}

Now use it naturally:

await postsCollection.insert(  {    title: "Hello",  },  {    context: { locale: "en" },  });// works with updates too limited to $set.
// you can also pass the i18n directly especially if you want to insert multiple locales at onceawait postsCollection.insert({  title_i18n: [    { locale: "en", value: "Hello" },    { locale: "fr", value: "Bonjour" },  ],});
const post = await postsCollection.queryOne({  // You can also pass context as the 3rd argument to queryOne or directly in the QueryBody  $context: {    locale: "fr",  },  $: {    filters: {      _id: postId,    },  },  title: 1,  // Works with nested collections as well.});
// If you don't specify locale it will default to the default one
console.log(post.title); // Hello

How to configure Translatable behavior into your collection to enable this functionality:

import Business from "../business.ts";import { Behaviors } from "@bluelibs/mongo-bundle";
class PostsCollection extends Collection<Post> {  static collectionName = "posts";  static model = Post;
  static behaviors = [    Behaviors.Translatable({      defaultLocale: Business.DEFAULT_LOCALE, // the default locale      locales: Business.LOCALES, // available locales      fields: ["title", "content"], // fields that are watched for translation    }),  ];}

Nova Integration

The fields title become reducers that draw their data from the i18n fields. When a request is made to fetch data and the fields are translatable, we expand the request graph to also contain the i18n fields.

// This will automatically expand the request to also include the i18n fieldspostsCollection.queryOne({  title: 1,  content: 1,});
// PostsCollection will automatically expand the request to also include the i18n fields and do proper cleanups.

GraphQL Integration

type I18N {  locale: String!  value: String!}
type Post {  title: String  title_i18n: [I18N]  content: String  content_i18n: [I18N]}

When performing a request from the frontend, you should have a context reducer which will automatically add the locale to the context.

query PostsFind {  PostsFind {    title    content  }}

When performing the finds pass the locale to the context of the Collection to automatically transform the fields.

Limitations

Our solution only works with strings for ease of use. If you want to store numbers or booleans, you will have to take care of the data serialisation/deserialisation yourself. (JSON should work nicely)

It only works with top level fields currently. If you want to translate a field inside an object, it is currently not possible, we suggest you move it to the top level or decouple it in a separate collection.

Currently we fetch all the i18n data when performing a find or an update. This is not ideal, but it is the easiest way to implement it. We will improve it in the future.

Only works with $set operator for updating. We will improve it in the future.

We try not to override default Mongo behavior via find() and findOne() we do not apply any translation magic. If you want to translate the fields, you will have to use queryOne() and query(). As the fields get transformed into Nova reducers behind the scenes.

Meta

Summary

The MongoBundle helps by offering having type-safety everywhere, to event-driven approach for working with documents, behaviors, integration with Nova, easy-to-use transactions and migrations. It provides a foundation for scalable code and is ofcourse used by the infamous X-Framework.

Boilerplates

Create a MongoDB Atlas free instance of a database and you can use, make it open to all IPs and create a solid username and password and get the Mongo URI. You will most likely add it inside src/constants.ts file in the boilerplates.

Challenges

  • How do you link two collections, what variables do you use inside the Collection? (1p)
  • If you have a collection "tags" and another collection "posts" and posts have many tags and 2 posts can have the same tag, how do you link them together? (1p)
  • How and when do I pass the userId if I want to benefit of blameable behavior? (1p)
  • If you want to ensure absolute data-consistency at database-level what behavior would you use? (2p)
  • Management calls. They must change the field in the database from "price" to "smallestPrice". What do you use to make that change? (2p)
  • What is a reducer and what is the difference between reducer and links? (1p)