Fields

Fields are the primitive columns in your domain model, so all of the (non-foreign key) int, varchar, datetime, etc. columns.

For these columns, Joist automatically adds getters & setters to your domain model, i.e. an authors.first_name column will have getters & setters added to AuthorCodegen.ts:

// This code is auto-generated
class AuthorCodegen {
  get firstName(): string {
    return getField(this, "firstName");
  }

  set firstName(firstName: string) {
    setField(this, "firstName", firstName);
  }
}

Optional vs Required

Joist’s fields model null and not null appropriately, e.g. for a table like:

                     Table "public.authors"
    Column    |           Type           | Nullable
--------------+--------------------------+----------+
 id           | integer                  | not null |
 first_name   | character varying(255)   | not null |
 last_name    | character varying(255)   |          |

The Author domain object will type firstName as a string, and lastName as string | undefined:

class AuthorCodegen {
  get firstName(): string { ... }
  set firstName(firstName: string) { ... }
  get lastName(): string | undefined { ... }
  set lastName(lastName: string | undefined) { ... }
}

Using undefined instead of null

Joist uses undefined to represent nullable columns, i.e. in the Author example, the lastName type is string | undefined instead of string | null or string | null | undefined.

The rationale for this is simplicity, and Joist’s preference for “idiomatic TypeScript”, which for the most part has eschewed the “when to use undefined vs. null in JavaScript?” decision by going with “just use undefined.”

Type Checked Construction

The non-null Author.firstName field is enforced as required on construction:

// Valid
em.create(Author, { firstName: "bob" });
// Not valid
em.create(Author, {});
// Not valid
em.create(Author, { firstName: null });
// Not valid
em.create(Author, { firstName: undefined });

And for updates made via the set method:

// Valid
author.set({ firstName: "bob" });
// Valid, because `set` accepts a Partial
author.set({});
// Not valid
author.set({ firstName: null });
// Technically valid b/c `set` accepts a Partial, but is a noop
author.set({ firstName: undefined });

Partial Updates Semantics

While within internal business logic null vs. undefined is not really a useful distinction, when building APIs null can be a useful value to signify “unset” (vs. undefined which typically signifies “don’t change”).

For this use case, domain objects have a .setPartial that accepts null versions of properties:

// Partial update from an API operation
const updateFromApi = {
  firstName: null
};
// Allowed
author.setPartial(updateFromApi);
// Outputs "undeifned" b/c null is still translated to undefined
console.log(author.firstName);

Note that, when using setPartial we have caused our Author.firstName: string getter to now be incorrect, i.e. for a currently invalid Author, clients might observe firstName as undefined.

See Partial Update APIs for more details.

Protected Fields

You can mark a field as protected in joist-config.json, which will make the setter protected, so that only your entity’s internal business logic can call it.

The getter will still be public.

{
  "entities": {
    "Author": {
      "fields": {
        "wasEverPopular": { "protected": true }
      }
    }
  }
}

Field Defaults

Schema Defaults

If your database schema has default values for columns, i.e. an integer that defaults to 0, Joist will immediately apply those defaults to entities as they’re created, i.e. via em.create.

This gives your business logic immediate access to the default value that would be applied by the database, but without waiting for an em.flush to happen.

Dynamic Defaults

If you need to use async, cross-entity business logic to set field defaults, you can use the config.setDefault method:

/** Example of a synchronous default. */
config.setDefault("notes", (b) => `Notes for ${b.title}`);

/** Example of an asynchronous default. */
config.setDefault("order", { author: "books" }, (b) => b.author.get.books.get.length);

Any setDefault without a load hint (the 1st example) must be synchronous, and will be applied immediately upon creation, i.e. em.create calls, just like the schema default values.

Any setDefault with a load hint (the 2nd exmaple) can be asynchronous, and will not be applied until em.flush(), because the async nature means we have to wait to invoke them.

Info

We could probably add an async em.assignDefaults, similar to em.assignNewIds, to allow code to trigger async default assignment, without kicking off an em.flush.

Hooks

You can also use beforeCreate hooks to apply defaults, but setDefault is preferred because it’s the most accurate modeling of intent, and follows our general recommendation to use hooks sparingly.