Modelize

Modelize is a simple ORM written in JavaScript.

License

Apache License (version 2)

Prerequisites

Modelize requires version 0.6.x of Node.js or higher. If you want to run the tests or work on model, you'll want Vows.

Installing with NPM

npm install modelize

Adapters

Modelize currently implements an in-memory store. More adapters will follow, a socket.io binding is also planned.

Defining models

Modelize uses a simple syntax for defining a model. It will look like this:

var UserModel = new Modelize('User', function() {
    this.adapter('memory');
    this.property('username', 'string', { required: true });
    this.property('password', 'string', { required: true });
    this.property('firstName', 'string', { defaultValue: 'John' });
    this.property('lastName', 'string', { defaultValue: 'Doe' });
});

The following data types are currently supported:

• string
• number
• array
• object

Creating instances

Now you can create instances of your new fancy User model. It is easy too:

var user = UserModel.create({
    username: 'jdoe',
    password: 'fancymodels',
    lastName: 'Smith'
});

Getting and setting properties

Just use the following syntax:

// Getting properties
console.log(user.username());
console.log(user.password());
 
// Setting properties
user.password('modelize');

If you try to get a property which was not initialized yet, it will return the default value or undefined if there is none.

Saving & Deleting of model instances

Remember: You must initialize/set all required properties before saving the model. Otherwise Modelize will throw an error.

user.save(); // Saves the model instance into the store
user.password('nodejs');
user.save(); // Updates the model instance in the store
user.remove(); // Removes the model instance from the store

Querying

Modelize offers a simple API for finding and sorting existing items/instances. Please remember, that an instance can only be found, if instance.save() was called.

The API is (as you might expect for a NodeJS library) asynchronous and the methods for querying are static methods on each model constructor.

Shared instances

Instances are always shared to save memory usage and keep the usage simple. This means:

var user1 = UserModel.create({
    lastName: 'Doe'
});
var user2 = UserModel.create({
    lastName: 'Doe'
});
 
UserModel.find({lastName: 'Doe'}, function(err, data) {
    // data[0] is the same instance as user1
    // data[1] is the same instance as user2
 
    user1.lastName('Smith');
    console.log(user1.lastName() == data[0].lastName()) // Is true
});

Finding a single item

Use the findOne method to find a single item. You can specify a set of query parameters in the form of an object-literal. In the case of multiple results, it will only return the first one. If no result can be found, the return value is undefined.

UserModel.findOne({username: 'jdoe'}, function(err, user) {
    if(err) throw err;
    if(user === undefined) throw new Error('User not found!');
    console.log(user);
});

Collection of items

Use the find method to find lots of items. Pass it a set of query parameters in the form of an object-literal, where each key is a field to compare and the value is a simple value for comparison. (equal to)

UserModel.find({lastName: 'Smith'}, function(err, data) {
    if(err) throw err;
    // Data is now array filled with all results found
});

If you want to compare an object, you can also give a set of query parameters like this: {stats: {experience: 37, age: 19}}

Modelize Javascript ORM - © 2012-2013 P. Mathis (pmathis@snapserv.net)