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Managing Data In A Business Object Behavior

Read, create, update and delete information in a business object behavior

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Written by David Knapp
Updated 3 years ago
5 min read

Business object behaviors add business logic to your object. Beyond simple cases like setting defaults or last modified, the logic usually needs to reference and update other information. This page shows you how to do that.

Reading Information

Before we get into all the details, here is an example of reading information:

let filter = {
	where: {
		supplierId: supplier.id
	},
	include: {
		contacts: {}
	}
};

let locations = await Location.find(filter, options);

Here are the highlights:

  • filter.where narrows the locations to the ones for a specific supplier
  • filter.include pulls the contacts for those locations in as well
  • await says to wait for the Location.find operation to complete and then put the results in locations
  • options passes the current context (see Using Options in Business Object Behaviors for more details)

Read Methods

Each business object have 5 methods to read information:

Method Inputs Outputs Description
find filter instances Find a list of instances that match a where filter
findOne filter instance or undefined Find the first instance that matches a where filter
findById id, filter instance or undefined Find an instance using its id
count where filter number Count the number of instances that match a where filter
exists where filter boolean See if any instances match a where filter

Remember that all of these methods are available in autocomplete while editing so you don't have to memorize this stuff :).

Filter

The filter is a powerful way to define what information should be read. It is an object that can contain the following keys:

Filter Key Type Description
where object Defines the items that should be included (see Where Filter below for more details). If there is no where filter key, all instances will be returned.
fields object or array of strings

Defines the fields to be returned. It can be one of:

  • an array of strings: ['name', 'code']
  • an object indicating which fields to include: {name: true, code: true}
  • an object indicating which fields to exclude: {base64Content: false}

If there is no fields filter key, all properties will be returned.

limit number Defines the maximum number of instances to return. If there is no limit, all matching instances are returned.
offset number Defines the number of matching instances to skip (to support pagination).
include object Defines what related instances should be returned along with the matches (see Include Filter below for more details).

Where Filter

The where filter object is an implicit "and" of conditions (this example finds suppliers with name "Dave" and code "47"):

{ name: 'Dave', code: 47 }

You can specify "or" conditions like this:

{
  or: [
    {name: 'Dave'},
    {name: 'Steve'}
  ]
}

The conditions in the examples above are implicitly equivalence. You can also use operators like this:

{
  weight: {
    gt: 1500
  }
}

Here is the full list of where filter operators:

Operator Key Example Description
gt
{ weight: { gt: 1500 }}
Greater than
lt
{ weight: { lt: 1500 }}
Less than
gte
{ weight: { gte: 1500 }}
Greater than or equal to
lte
{ weight: { lte: 1500 }}
Less than or equal to
between
{ weight: { between: [750,1500] }}
Between
neq
{ status: { neq: 'Draft' }}
Not equal to
like
{ name: { like:'%Dave%' }}
Like
nlike
{ name: { nlike:'%Dave%' }}
Not like
ilike
{ name: { ilike:'%dave%' }}
Case insensitive like
nilike
{ name: { nilike:'%dave%' }}
Case insensitive not like
inq
{ status: { inq: ['Draft', 'Published']}}
In
ninq
{ status: { ninq: ['Draft', 'Published']}}
Not in

Include Filter

The include filter lets you define related items that should be included in the results. This example reads a location and includes the supplier (a belongs to relationship) and the contacts (a has many relationship):

let filter = {
  include: {
    supplier:{},
    contacts:{}
  }
}

let location = await Location.findById(47, filter);

debug('location.supplier.name',location.supplier.name);

debug('location.contacts[0].firstName',location.contacts[0].firstName);

An include is actually a nested filter where you can apply all the filter keys. This example reduces the fields returned for supplier and filters and orders the contacts:

let filter = {
  include: {
    supplier: {
      fields: {code: false}
    },
    contacts: {
      where: {
        status: 'Active'
      },
      order: 'lastName, firstName'
    }
  }
}

Create Information

Here is a simple example of creating an object:

let supplier = await Supplier.create({ name: 'Dave', code: 47 });

Here are the three different methods to create objects:

Method Inputs Outputs Description
create object instance Create a single instance
createAll array of data array of instances Create a set of instances
createWIthChildren array of data array of instances Create a set of instances with related data

The last one is super cool because you can create a whole tree of information:

let data = [
  {
    name: 'WATD',
    code: 47,
    locations: [
      {
        name: 'Madison',
        contacts: [
          {
            firstName: 'Dave',
            lastName: 'Knapp'
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }, {
    name: 'Nick Co',
    code: 74,
    locations: [
      {
        name: 'Detroit',
        contacts: [
          {
            firstName: 'Nick',
            lastName: 'Laughton'
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

Update Information

Updating information is super easy too:

let updatedSupplier = await Supplier.updateById(47, {status: 'Active'}, options);

There are two methods for performing updates:

Method Inputs Output Description
updateById id, data updated instance Update a single instance
updateAll where filter, data Array of updated instances Update instances that match the where filter

Delete Information

Delete is also super easy:

let result = await Supplier.deleteById(47, options);

There are two methods for deleting information:

Method Inputs Outputs Description
deleteById id none Delete an instance
deleteAll where filter none Delete instances that match the where filter
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