A lightweight layer for working with JSON:API data.
npm install json-api-models --save
import { Store } from 'json-api-models';
const models = new Store();
// Sync a JSON:API response document to the store
models.sync({
data: {
type: 'humans',
id: '1',
attributes: { name: 'Toby' },
relationships: {
dog: { data: { type: 'dogs', id: '1' } },
},
},
included: [
{
type: 'dogs',
id: '1',
attributes: { name: 'Rosie' },
},
],
});
// Resource data is transformed into easy-to-consume models
const human = models.find('humans', '1');
human.name; // Toby
human.dog; // { type: 'dogs', id: '1', name: 'Rosie' }
Use the sync
method to load your JSON:API response document into the store. Both the primary data
and any included
resources will be synced. The return value will be a model, or an array of models, corresponding to the primary data.
const model = models.sync(document);
If any of the synced resources already exist within the store, the new data will be merged into the old model. The model instance will not change so references to it throughout your application will remain intact.
You can also sync an individual resource using the syncResource
method:
const model = models.syncResource({
type: 'users',
id: '1',
attributes: { name: 'Toby' },
});
Specific models can be retrieved from the store using the find
method. Pass it a type and an ID, a resource identifier object, or an array of resource identifier objects:
const model = models.find('users', '1');
const model = models.find({ type: 'users', id: '1' });
const models = models.find([
{ type: 'users', id: '1' },
{ type: 'users', id: '2' },
]);
Retrieve all of the models of a given type using the findAll
method:
const models = models.findAll('users');
Models are a superset of JSON:API resource objects, meaning they contain all of the members you would expect (type
, id
, attributes
, relationships
, meta
, links
) plus some additional functionality.
Getters are automatically defined for all fields, allowing you to easily access their contents. Relationship fields are automatically resolved to their related models (if present within the store):
model.name; // => model.attributes.name
model.dog; // => models.find(model.relationships.dog.data)
To easily retrieve a resource identifier object for the model, the identifier
method is available. This is useful when constructing relationships in JSON:API request documents.
model.identifier(); // { type: 'users', id: '1' }
Remove a model from the store using the forget
method, which accepts a resource identifier object. This means you can pass a model directly into it:
models.forget(user);
You can define custom model classes to add your own functionality. Custom models must extend the Model
base class. This is useful if you wish to add any custom getters or methods to models for a specific resource type, and also to define types for each resource field:
import { Model } from 'json-api-models';
class User extends Model<'users'> {
public declare name: string;
public declare age: number;
get firstName() {
return this.name.split(' ')[0];
}
}
Register your custom models with the store during construction:
const models = new Store({
users: User,
});
You can define typecasts for attributes on your custom models:
class User extends Model<'users'> {
public declare name: string;
public declare createdAt: Date;
protected casts = {
createdAt: Date,
};
}
This library is completely unopinionated about how you interact with your JSON:API server. It merely gives you an easy way to work with the resulting JSON:API data. An example integration with fetch
is demonstrated below:
const models = new Store();
function api(url, options = {}) {
options.headers = options.headers || {};
options.headers['Accept'] = 'application/vnd.api+json';
if (options.body) {
options.body = JSON.stringify(options.body);
options.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/vnd.api+json';
}
return fetch('http://example.org/api/' + url, options).then(
async (response) => {
if (response.status === 204) {
return { response };
} else {
const document = await response.json();
const data = models.sync(document);
return { response, document, data };
}
}
);
}
api('users/1').then(({ data }) => {
console.log(data.name);
});
When constructing API requests, remember that JSON:API resource objects contain links
that can be used instead of rebuilding the URL. Also, models contain an identifier
method that can be used to spread the type
and id
members into the document data
(required by the specification). Here is an example of a request to update a resource:
const user = models.find('users', '1');
api(user.links.self, {
method: 'PATCH',
body: {
data: {
...user.identifier(),
attributes: { name: 'Changed' },
},
},
});
Building query strings for your JSON:API requests can be tedious, and sometimes they may need to be constructed dynamically with merge logic for certain parameters. The Query
class takes care of this:
import { Query } from 'json-api-models';
const query = new Query({
include: 'foo',
'fields[users]': 'name',
});
query.append('include', 'bar');
query.append('fields[users]', 'age');
query.toString(); // include=foo,bar&fields[users]=name,age
query.delete('fields[users]');
query.set('include', 'replaced');
query.toString(); // include=replaced
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.