TypeORM v0.3.0 Release Notes

Release Date: 2022-03-17 // about 2 years ago
  • ๐Ÿ”„ Changes in the version includes changes from the next branch and typeorm@next version. They were pending their migration from 2018. Finally, they are in the master branch and master version.

    ๐Ÿ”‹ Features

    • compilation target now is es2020. This requires Node.JS version 14+

    • TypeORM now properly works when installed within different node_modules contexts (often happen if TypeORM is a dependency of another library or TypeORM is heavily used in monorepo projects)

    • Connection was renamed to DataSource. Old Connection is still there, but now it's deprecated. It will be completely removed in next version. New API:

    export const dataSource = new DataSource({
        // ... options ...
    })
    
    // load entities, establish db connection, sync schema, etc.
    await dataSource.connect()
    

    Previously, you could use new Connection(), createConnection(), getConnectionManager().create(), etc. ๐Ÿ‘€ They all deprecated in favour of new syntax you can see above.

    ๐Ÿ†• New way gives you more flexibility and simplicity in usage.

    • ๐Ÿ†• new custom repositories syntax:
    export const UserRepository = myDataSource.getRepository(UserEntity).extend({
        findUsersWithPhotos() {
            return this.find({
                relations: {
                    photos: true
                }
            })
        }
    })
    

    Old ways of custom repository creation were dropped.

    • โž• added new option on relation load strategy called relationLoadStrategy. Relation load strategy is used on entity load and determines how relations must be loaded when you query entities and their relations from the database. Used on find* methods and QueryBuilder. Value can be set to join or query.

      • join - loads relations using SQL JOIN expression
      • query - executes separate SQL queries for each relation

    0๏ธโƒฃ Default is join, but default can be set in ConnectionOptions:

    createConnection({
        /* ... */
        relationLoadStrategy: "query"
    })
    

    Also, it can be set per-query in find* methods:

    userRepository.find({
        relations: {
            photos: true
        }
    })
    

    And QueryBuilder:

    userRepository
        .createQueryBuilder()
        .setRelationLoadStrategy("query")
    

    For queries returning big amount of data, we recommend to use query strategy, because it can be a more performant approach to query relations.

    • โž• added new findOneBy, findOneByOrFail, findBy, countBy, findAndCountBy methods to BaseEntity, EntityManager and Repository:
    const users = await userRepository.findBy({
        name: "Michael"
    })
    

    Overall find* and count* method signatures where changed, read the "breaking changes" section for more info.

    • ๐Ÿ†• new select type signature in FindOptions (used in find* methods):
    userRepository.find({
        select: {
            id: true,
            firstName: true,
            lastName: true,
        }
    })
    

    Also, now it's possible to specify select columns of the loaded relations:

    userRepository.find({
        select: {
            id: true,
            firstName: true,
            lastName: true,
            photo: {
                id: true,
                filename: true,
                album: {
                    id: true,
                    name: true,
                }
            }
        }
    })
    
    • ๐Ÿ†• new relations type signature in FindOptions (used in find* methods):
    userRepository.find({
        relations: {
            contacts: true,
            photos: true,
        }
    })
    

    To load nested relations use a following signature:

    userRepository.find({
        relations: {
            contacts: true,
            photos: {
                album: true,
            },
        }
    })
    
    • ๐Ÿ†• new order type signature in FindOptions (used in find* methods):
    userRepository.find({
        order: {
            id: "ASC"
        }
    })
    

    ๐Ÿ‘ Now supports nested order by-s:

    userRepository.find({
        order: {
            photos: {
                album: {
                    name: "ASC"
                },
            },
        }
    })
    
    • ๐Ÿ†• new where type signature in FindOptions (used in find* methods) now allows to build nested statements with conditional relations, for example:
    userRepository.find({
        where: {
            photos: {
                album: {
                    name: "profile"
                }
            }
        }
    })
    

    Gives you users who have photos in their "profile" album.

    • FindOperator-s can be applied for relations in where statement, for example:
    userRepository.find({
        where: {
            photos: MoreThan(10),
        }
    })
    

    Gives you users with more than 10 photos.

    • boolean can be applied for relations in where statement, for example:
    userRepository.find({
        where: {
            photos: true
        }
    })
    

    ๐Ÿ’ฅ BREAKING CHANGES

    • minimal Node.JS version requirement now is 14+

    • โฌ‡๏ธ drop ormconfig support. ormconfig still works if you use deprecated methods, ๐Ÿ‘ however we do not recommend using it anymore, because it's support will be completely dropped in 0.4.0. If you want to have your connection options defined in a separate file, you can still do it like this:

    import ormconfig from "./ormconfig.json"
    
    const MyDataSource = new DataSource(require("./ormconfig.json"))
    

    Or even more type-safe approach with resolveJsonModule in tsconfig.json enabled:

    import ormconfig from "./ormconfig.json"
    
    const MyDataSource = new DataSource(ormconfig)
    

    ๐Ÿ‘€ But we do not recommend use this practice, because from 0.4.0 you'll only be able to specify entities / subscribers / migrations using direct references to entity classes / schemas (see "deprecations" section).

    ๐Ÿ‘ We won't be supporting all ormconfig extensions (e.g. json, js, ts, yaml, xml, env).

    • ๐Ÿšš support for previously deprecated migrations:* commands was removed. Use migration:* commands instead.

    • ๐Ÿ“š all commands were re-worked. Please refer to new CLI documentation.

    • ๐Ÿšš cli option from BaseConnectionOptions (now BaseDataSourceOptions options) was removed (since CLI commands were re-worked).

    • ๐Ÿ”€ now migrations are running before schema synchronization if you have both pending migrations and schema synchronization pending (it works if you have both migrationsRun and synchronize enabled in connection options).

    • aurora-data-api driver now is called aurora-mysql

    • aurora-data-api-pg driver now is called aurora-postgres

    • EntityManager.connection is now EntityManager.dataSource

    • Repository now has a constructor (breaks classes extending Repository with custom constructor)

    • ๐Ÿšš @TransactionRepository, @TransactionManager, @Transaction decorators were completely removed. These decorators do the things out of the TypeORM scope.

    • Only junction table names shortened.

    MOTIVATION: We must shorten only table names generated by TypeORM. It's user responsibility to name tables short if their RDBMS limit table name length since it won't make sense to have table names as random hashes. ๐Ÿ‘ It's really better if user specify custom table name into @Entity decorator. Also, for junction table it's possible to set a custom name using @JoinTable decorator.

    • findOne() signature without parameters was dropped. If you need a single row from the db you can use a following syntax:
    const [user] = await userRepository.find()
    

    This change was made to prevent user confusion. ๐Ÿ‘€ See this issue for details.

    • findOne(id) signature was dropped. Use following syntax instead:
    const user = await userRepository.findOneBy({
        id: id // where id is your column name
    })
    

    This change was made to provide a more type-safe approach for data querying. ๐Ÿ”จ Due to this change you might need to refactor the way you load entities using MongoDB driver.

    • findOne, findOneOrFail, find, count, findAndCount methods now only accept FindOptions as parameter, e.g.:
    const users = await userRepository.find({
        where: { /* conditions */ },
        relations: { /* relations */ }
    })
    

    To supply where conditions directly without FindOptions new methods were added: findOneBy, findOneByOrFail, findBy, countBy, findAndCountBy. Example:

    const users = await userRepository.findBy({
        name: "Michael"
    })
    

    This change was required to simply current find* and count* methods typings, ๐Ÿ‘Œ improve type safety and prevent user confusion.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ findByIds was deprecated, use findBy method instead in conjunction with In operator, for example:
    userRepository.findBy({
        id: In([1, 2, 3])
    })
    

    This change was made to provide a more type-safe approach for data querying.

    • findOne and QueryBuilder.getOne() now return null instead of undefined in the case if it didn't find anything in the database. Logically it makes more sense to return null.

    • findOne now limits returning rows to 1 at database level.

    NOTE: FOR UPDATE locking does not work with findOne in Oracle since FOR UPDATE cannot be used with FETCH NEXT in a single query.

    • where in FindOptions (e.g. find({ where: { ... })) is more sensitive to input criteria now.

    • FindConditions (where in FindOptions) was renamed to FindOptionsWhere.

    • ๐Ÿ‘ null as value in where used in find* methods is not supported anymore. Now you must explicitly use IsNull() operator.

    Before:

    userRepository.find({
        where: {
            photo: null
        }
    })
    

    After:

    userRepository.find({
        where: {
            photo: IsNull()
        }
    })
    

    This change was made to make it more transparent on how to add "IS NULL" statement to final SQL, because before it bring too much confusion for ORM users.

    • if you had entity properties of a non-primitive type (except Buffer) defined as columns, then you won't be able to use it in find*'s where. Example:

    Before for the @Column(/*...*/) membership: MembershipKind you could have a query like:

    userRepository.find({
        membership: new MembershipKind("premium")
    })
    

    now, you need to wrap this value into Equal operator:

    userRepository.find({
        membership: Equal(new MembershipKind("premium"))
    })
    

    This change is due to type-safety improvement new where signature brings.

    • ๐Ÿ‘ order in FindOptions (used in find* methods) doesn't support ordering by relations anymore. Define relation columns, and order by them instead.

    • ๐Ÿ‘ where in FindOptions (used in find* methods) previously supported ObjectLiteral and string types. Now both signatures were removed. ObjectLiteral was removed because it seriously breaks the type safety, and string doesn't make sense in the context of FindOptions. Use QueryBuilder instead.

    • MongoRepository and MongoEntityManager now use new types called MongoFindManyOptions and MongoFindOneOptions for their find* methods.

    • ๐Ÿšš primary relation (e.g. @ManyToOne(() => User, { primary: true }) user: User) support is removed. You still have an ability to use foreign keys as your primary keys, however now you must explicitly define a column marked as primary.

    Example, before:

    @ManyToOne(() => User, { primary: true })
    user: User
    

    Now:

    @PrimaryColumn()
    userId: number
    
    @ManyToOne(() => User)
    user: User
    

    Primary column name must match the relation name + join column name on related entity. If related entity has multiple primary keys, and you want to point to multiple primary keys, you can define multiple primary columns the same way:

    @PrimaryColumn()
    userFirstName: string
    
    @PrimaryColumn()
    userLastName: string
    
    @ManyToOne(() => User)
    user: User
    

    This change was required to simplify ORM internals and introduce new features.

    • prefix relation id columns contained in embedded entities (#7432)

    • find by Date object in sqlite driver (#7538)

    • ๐Ÿ“œ issue with non-reliable new Date(ISOString) parsing (#7796)

    ๐Ÿ—„ DEPRECATIONS

    • ๐Ÿ‘ all CLI commands do not support ormconfig anymore. You must specify a file with data source instance instead.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ entities, migrations, subscribers options inside DataSourceOptions accepting string directories support is deprecated. You'll be only able to pass entity references in the future versions.

    • 0๏ธโƒฃ all container-related features (UseContainerOptions, ContainedType, ContainerInterface, defaultContainer, ๐Ÿ—„ useContainer, getFromContainer) are deprecated.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ EntityManager's getCustomRepository used within transactions is deprecated. Use withRepository method instead.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ Connection.isConnected is deprecated. Use .isInitialized instead.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ select in FindOptions (used in find* methods) used as an array of property names is deprecated. Now you should use a new object-literal notation. Example:

    ๐Ÿ—„ Deprecated way of loading entity relations:

    userRepository.find({
        select: ["id", "firstName", "lastName"]
    })
    

    ๐Ÿ†• New way of loading entity relations:

    userRepository.find({
        select: {
            id: true,
            firstName: true,
            lastName: true,
        }
    })
    

    This change is due to type-safety improvement new select signature brings.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ relations in FindOptions (used in find* methods) used as an array of relation names is deprecated. Now you should use a new object-literal notation. Example:

    ๐Ÿ—„ Deprecated way of loading entity relations:

    userRepository.find({
        relations: ["contacts", "photos", "photos.album"]
    })
    

    ๐Ÿ†• New way of loading entity relations:

    userRepository.find({
        relations: {
            contacts: true,
            photos: {
                album: true
            }
        }
    })
    

    This change is due to type-safety improvement new relations signature brings.

    • ๐Ÿ— join in FindOptions (used in find* methods) is deprecated. Use QueryBuilder to build queries containing manual joins.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ Connection, ConnectionOptions are deprecated, new names to use are: DataSource and DataSourceOptions. To create the same connection you had before use a new syntax: new DataSource({ /*...*/ }).

    • ๐Ÿ—„ createConnection(), createConnections() are deprecated, since Connection is called DataSource now, to create a connection and connect to the database simply do:

    const myDataSource = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    await myDataSource.connect()
    
    • ๐Ÿ—„ getConnection() is deprecated. To have a globally accessible connection, simply export your data source and use it in places you need it:
    export const myDataSource = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    // now you can use myDataSource anywhere in your application
    
    • getManager(), getMongoManager(), getSqljsManager(), getRepository(), getTreeRepository(), getMongoRepository(), createQueryBuilder() are all deprecated now. Use globally accessible data source instead:
    export const myDataSource = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    export const Manager = myDataSource.manager
    export const UserRepository = myDataSource.getRepository(UserEntity)
    export const PhotoRepository = myDataSource.getRepository(PhotoEntity)
    // ...
    
    • ๐Ÿ—„ getConnectionManager() and ConnectionManager itself are deprecated - now Connection is called DataSource, and each data source can be defined in exported variable. If you want to have a collection of data sources, just define them in a variable, simply as:
    const dataSource1 = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    const dataSource2 = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    const dataSource3 = new DataSource({ /*...*/ })
    
    export const MyDataSources = {
        dataSource1,
        dataSource2,
        dataSource3,
    }
    
    • ๐Ÿ—„ getConnectionOptions() is deprecated - in next version we are going to implement different mechanism of connection options loading

    • ๐Ÿ—„ AbstractRepository is deprecated. Use new way of custom repositories creation.

    • ๐Ÿ—„ Connection.name and BaseConnectionOptions.name are deprecated. Connections don't need names anymore since we are going to drop all related methods relying on this property.

    • ๐Ÿšš all deprecated signatures will be removed in 0.4.0

    EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES NOT PORTED FROM NEXT BRANCH

    • observers - we will consider returning them back with new API in future versions
    • alternative find operators - using $any, $in, $like and other operators in where condition.