Add many existing records at the same time (hasMany-belongsTo relationship)

This example shows how to associate multiple existing records at once to a record using a simple smart action.

Requirements

• An admin backend running on forest-express-sequelize

• Relationship One-To-Many between two collections (in this example an organisation hasMany companies <-> a company belongsTo an organisation)

How it works

Directory: /forest

Create a new smart action in the forest file of the collection with the hasMany relationship (organizations in this example).

This smart action will be usable on a single record (type: 'single'). We will create two fields in the smart action form, one will be used for the search on the referenced collection and the second will be used to see the selection made by the operator.

const { collection } = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const { companies } = require('../models');

collection('organizations', {
  actions: [{
    name: 'Associate companies',
    type: 'single',
    fields: [
      {
        field: 'search',
        type: 'String',
        reference: 'companies',
        isRequired: false,
        hook: 'onSearchChange',
      },
      {
        field: 'selection',
        type: ['String'],
        isReadOnly: true,
        isRequired: true,
        hook: 'onSelectionChange',
      },
    ],
    hooks: {
      change: {
        onSearchChange: async ({ fields }) => {
          // Retrieve fields
          const selection = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'selection');
          const search = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'search');


          if(!!search.value){
            // Retrieve the company name by querying the DB
            const { name: searchValue } = (await companies.findByPk(search.value)) || {};
  
            // Adding company names when searching matches
            if (searchValue) {
              const allAddedValues = [...(selection.previousValue || []), searchValue]; // ...() spread the array
              
              // Unique array values using a set
              selection.value = [...new Set(allAddedValues)];
              // Allow user to interact with selection field
              selection.isReadOnly = false;
              
              // Reset search value
              search.value = '';
            }
          }

          return fields;
        },
        onSelectionChange: async ({ fields }) => {
          // This hooks is needed to allow company removal from selection
          const selectionField = fields.find((field) => field.field === "selection");

          // Enable or disable user interactions
          if (selectionField.value?.length > 0) {
            selectionField.isReadOnly = false;
          } else {
            selectionField.isReadOnly = true;
          }

          return fields;
        },
      },
    },
  }],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Directory: /routes

When the user validates the action, this route is called. We will use the selection to retrieve all companies' ids and then updates all companies organizationId field to create the associations. In addition, once the smart action has been successfully runned, it refreshs the relationship to properly display newly added associations.

const express = require('express');
const { PermissionMiddlewareCreator } = require('forest-express-sequelize');

const { companies, objectMapping: { Op } } = require('../models');

const router = express.Router();
const permissionMiddlewareCreator = new PermissionMiddlewareCreator('organizations');

// Associate companies smart action route
router.post('/actions/associate-companies', permissionMiddlewareCreator.smartAction(), async (req, res) => {
  const { body: { data: { attributes } } } = req;
  const companyNames = attributes.values['selection'];

  // Retrieve all companies ids using the company names sent by the action form
  const companyIds = (await companies.findAll({
    where: { name: { [Op.in]: companyNames } },
    attributes: ['id']
  })).map((company) => company.id);

  // Retrieve organization id from the request
  const organizationId = attributes.ids[0];

  // Update the companies to add the belongsTo association
  await companies.update({ organizationId: organizationId }, { where: { id: companyIds }});

  // Send success toasted and refresh the related data in the Summary
  res.send({
    success: 'Companies have been added!',
    refresh: { relationships: ['companies'] },
  });
});

module.exports = router;