thinky-loader

A general purpose model loader for Thinky ORM for RethinkDB. See also migrating from sails-hook-thinky section below.

Why

Rethinkdb is awesome and Thinky is a great ORM for it. But loading multiple model definition files and making them available in a large distributed Node.js applicaiton could be better.

Installation

npm install thinky-loader

or add to package.json

*Also make sure to include thinky in your package.json as the loader does not make any assumptions as to the version of thinky you're using.

Usage

thinky-loader configures the thinky orm and initializes the model files in the specified directory. Once initialized any controllers or services in your app can simply require('thinky-loader') to access instantiated thinky and model instances. It's basically just a singleton for thinky.

In a controller, for example:

let orm = require('thinky-loader');

// Post has been loaded and can be referenced at orm.models
orm.models.Post.getJoin().then(function(posts) {
     console.log(posts);
 });

// Customer has been loaded and can be referenced at orm.models
// The instance of thinky is available at orm.thinky
orm.models.Customer.orderBy({
    index: orm.thinky.r.desc("createdAt")
}).run().then(function(customers) {
     console.log(customers);
});
                  

Configuration

It is recommended that you carve out a directory for your thinky model definitions, for example data-models/thinky and keep each model in a separate file. The loader will look in the specified directory and load each model definition.

In a bootstapping or initialization file (could be your app.js!):

let orm = require('thinky-loader');

let ormConfig = {
                debug     : false, 
                modelsPath: 'data-models/thinky',
                thinky    : {
                        rethinkdb: {
                                host        : 'db-0',
                                port        : 28015,
                                authKey     : "",
                                db          : "master",
                                timeoutError: 5000,
                                buffer      : 5,
                                max         : 1000,
                                timeoutGb   : 60 * 60 * 1000
                        }
                }
        };

// returns a promise when configured
orm.initialize(ormConfig) // you can also optionally pass an instance of thinky: [orm.initialize(ormConfig, thinky)] for additional configuration.
.then(() => console.log('Ready!'))
.catch(() => console.log('Darn!'));

Model file configuration

Create a file for each thinky model with the contents below. The model definition should mirror the same schema definition format you would normally use in thinky.

module.exports = function()
{
    let thinky = this.thinky; // access to thinky instance
    let type   = this.thinky.type; // access to thinky type
    let models = this.models; // access to other models (for creating relationships)

    return {

        tableName: "Car",
        schema: {
            id: type.string(),
            type: type.string(),
            year: type.string(),
            idOwner: type.string()
        },
        options  : {
            enforce_extra: "none"
        },


        // set up any relationships, indexes or function definitions here
        init: function(model) {
            model.belongsTo(models.Person, "owner", "idOwner", "id"); // note the reference to another model `Person`
            
            model.ensureIndex("type");
            
            model.define("isDomestic", function() {
                return this.type === 'Ford' || this.type === 'GM';
            });
        }

    };
};

*Also see examples directory for sample model files.

Migrating from sails-hook-thinky

thinky-loader is the recommended replacement for sails-hook-thinky. It provides a standard loader for Sailsjs and non-Sailsjs projects and removes the use of global variables the are common within Sailsjs.

Anyone using sails-hook-thinky can perform the following steps to migrate over:

1. Remove sails-hook-thinky and add thinky-loader in your package.json
2. Make sure thinky is in your package.json
3. Update your thinky configuration with the example configuration above
4. Add orm.initialize(ormConfig) to your bootstrap.js file. This loader will no longer load automatically on startup like a hook. This is really for the best...
5. Update your model definition files to the new format
6. Models and thinky are no longer available as global variabels. You'll need to add let orm = require('thinky-loader'); to any file the requires orm access and reference your model instances directly via orm.models.<NAME>.