Feature: Convert RecordId from Class to JSON-object while maintaining JSON-structure

[OTheNonE]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

I have a problem regarding using surrealdb.js on the server and having to send data from the server to the client. I want to send the RecordId of an record to the client in a JSON format instead of a tb:id-string. Though when trying to do this, i stumble upon the following problems:

• It is not possible to send classes from server to client.
• When using jsonify, the RecordId is converted into a string of the form tb:id.

Therefore, i have no simple way of returning data from the server to the client while maintaining the JSON-object in the recordId.

Describe the solution

It would be nice to have a utility function or a method implemented on the class that could convert the recordId class into JSON and maintain the JSON-structure:

const rid = new RecordId("recording", { city: "London", data: 123 });
const rid_json = rid.toJSONObject()
rid_json.city // "London"

// Send the rid_json:
fetch("https://example.com/abc", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(rid_json),
})

Alternative methods

Write my own utility function, or also store the data elsewhere than in the recordId.

SurrealDB version

surreal 1.5.3

SurrealDB.js version

1.0.0-beta-12

Contact Details

[email protected]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[kearfy]

Heya! You should be able to simply obtain the id part by selecting the id property from the RecordId. The jsonify utility simply outputs the JSON-like value that SurrealDB would

[akkie]

I also have this problem with SvelteKit. Only POJOs can be returned from load functions. Would be great if the SDK would have a function that converts the record ID to a POJO. In the meantime here is a workaround:

function convertRecordIds<T>(obj: T): T {
  if (obj instanceof RecordId) {
    return { tb: obj.tb, id: obj.id } as T;
  } else if (Array.isArray(obj)) {
    return obj.map(convertRecordIds) as unknown as T;
  } else if (typeof obj === 'object' && obj !== null) {
    return Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(obj).map(([key, value]) => [key, convertRecordIds(value)])) as T;
  } else {
    return obj;
  }
}

And a function which converts it back:

export function convertToRecordId<T>(obj: T): T {
  if (typeof obj === 'object' && obj !== null && 'tb' in obj && 'id' in obj) {
    return new RecordId(obj.tb as string, obj.id as RecordIdValue) as T;
  } else if (Array.isArray(obj)) {
    return obj.map(convertToRecordId) as unknown as T;
  } else if (typeof obj === 'object' && obj !== null) {
    return Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(obj).map(([key, value]) => [key, convertToRecordId(value)])) as T;
  } else {
    return obj;
  }
}

Types could be optimized, but it will do the job for now.

[akkie]

One thought regarding the jsonify function and an opposite function surrealify. Could we add an additional param to jsonify which acts as a register for keys and types that were transformed? Then the surrealify function could use that register to convert the data back into the source format.

jsonify({
    rid: new RecordId("person", "tobie"),
    foo: {
       bar: new Duration("1d2h"),
       baz: [
           new Uuid("92b84bde-39c8-4b4b-92f7-626096d6c4d9"),
           new Uuid("da3f72a2-261b-468a-b3f6-374cbcbb15b6")
       ]
    }
}, '__register');

{
    rid: "person:tobie",
    foo: {
        bar: "1d2h",
        baz: [
            "92b84bde-39c8-4b4b-92f7-626096d6c4d9",
            "da3f72a2-261b-468a-b3f6-374cbcbb15b6"
        ]
    },
    __register: {
        "rid": "RecordId",
        "foo.bar": "Duration",
        "foo.baz[0]": "Uuid",
        "foo.baz[1]": "Uuid",
    }
}

And then the surrealify could use that register:

surrealify({
    rid: "person:tobie",
    foo: {
        bar: "1d2h",
        baz: [
            "92b84bde-39c8-4b4b-92f7-626096d6c4d9",
            "da3f72a2-261b-468a-b3f6-374cbcbb15b6"
        ]
    },
    __register: {
        "rid": "RecordId",
        "foo.bar": "Duration",
        "foo.baz[0]": "Uuid",
        "foo.baz[1]": "Uuid",
    }
}, '__register');

to create

{
    rid: new RecordId("person", "tobie"),
    foo: {
       bar: new Duration("1d2h"),
       baz: [
           new Uuid("92b84bde-39c8-4b4b-92f7-626096d6c4d9"),
           new Uuid("da3f72a2-261b-468a-b3f6-374cbcbb15b6")
       ]
    }
}

[AlbertMarashi]

I wrote my own Surreal wrapper to convert record IDs into non-class form. I also use this for SvelteKit.

import {
    RecordId as BaseRecordId, Surreal as BaseSurreal, type Prettify, type QueryParameters, type RecordIdValue
} from "surrealdb"

export interface RecordId<Tb extends string = string> {
    tb: Tb
    id: string
}

export function new_record<Tb extends string>(tb: Tb, id: string): RecordId<Tb> {
    return {
        tb,
        id
    }
}

export class Surreal extends BaseSurreal {
    async query<T extends unknown[]>(...args: QueryParameters): Promise<Prettify<T>> {
        if (args[1] instanceof Array) return this.convert_to_record_id(await super.query(...args)) as unknown as Promise<Prettify<T>>
        if (args[1]) args[1] = this.convert_to_record_id_class(args[1]) as Record<string, unknown>
        return this.convert_to_record_id(await super.query(...args)) as unknown as Promise<Prettify<T>>
    }

    private convert_to_record_id(value: unknown): unknown {
        if (value instanceof BaseRecordId) {
            return {
                tb: value.tb,
                id: this.convert_to_record_id(value.id),
            }
        }

        // if (Array.isArray(value)) return value.map(this.convert_to_record_id)
        if (value instanceof Date) return value
        if (typeof value === "object" && value !== null) {
            for (const [key, val] of Object.entries(value)) {
                (value as Record<string, unknown>)[key] = this.convert_to_record_id(val)
            }
            return value
        }
        return value
    }

    private convert_to_record_id_class(value: unknown): unknown {
        if (value instanceof BaseRecordId) return value
        if (Array.isArray(value)) return value.map(this.convert_to_record_id_class)
        if (value instanceof Date) return value
        if (typeof value === "object" && value !== null ) {
            if (is_record_id(value)) return new BaseRecordId(value.tb, this.convert_to_record_id(value.id) as RecordIdValue)
            const obj: Record<string, unknown> = {}
            for (const [key, val] of Object.entries(value)) {
                obj[key] = this.convert_to_record_id_class(val)
            }
            return obj
        }
        return value
    }
}

function is_record_id_value(id: unknown): id is RecordIdValue {
    if (typeof id === "string") return true
    if (typeof id === "number") return true
    if (typeof id === "boolean") return true
    if (typeof id === "bigint") return true
    if (Array.isArray(id)) return true
    if (typeof id === "object" && id !== null) return true
    return false
}

function is_record_id(value: unknown): value is RecordId<string> {
    if (
        typeof value === "object"
        && value !== null
        && "tb" in value
        && typeof value.tb === "string"
        && "id" in value
        && is_record_id_value(value.id)
    ) {
        return true
    }
    return false
}

[phisch]

Stumbled on that same issue when sending a query result from a back-end to a front-end. Expected to be able to access the tb and id fields on the front-end.