ExSeq

About

ExSeq uses Sequelize models to generate a REST API using the Express web framework. The following documentation always reflects the most recent release version of ExSeq.

Installation

$ npm install @sphericalelephant/exseq

Features

CRUD API generation, including partial updates.
Unopinionated authorization integration via Express middlewares.
Supports all association types provided by Sequelize.
OpenAPI support

Getting Started

Creating Routes For Models

const exseq = require('exseq');
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

app.use(bodyParser.json({}));

const apiData = exseq([
  {model: Car, opts: {}},
  {model: Tire, opts: {}},
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});

apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

// simple response handler
app.use((req, res, next) => {
  if (res.__payload) { // res.__payload is created by exseq
    return res.status(res.__payload.status).send({
      result: res.__payload.result, message: res.__payload.message
    });
  }
  res.status(404).send();
});
// simple error handler
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
  if (!err.status) {
    return res.status(500).send({message: err.stack});
  }
  return res.status(err.status).send({message: err.result});
});

Exseq Options (opts)

Option	Description
dataMapper	The instance of the dataMapper to use. Currently only Sequelize is supported.
rawDataResponse	If set to true, ExSeq will attach the result of instance.get() to res.__payload.result, otherwise instance is attached.
middleware
middleware.associationMiddleware
openapi
idRegex	The regular expression that is used to determin the correctness of an id. Uses express' route param regex. Specify the regex as a string, without enclosing ()
whitelistedOperators	Used to whitelist operators, format is: {or: true, and: true...}, by default, all operators are whitelisted. Please beware that if you provide a whitelist, all operators not included on this whitelist are forbidden by default. ExSeq will take care of translating $or to or and vice versa

Error Objects

Error Objects created by ExSeq can be identified using the follwing code.

if (err.isCreatedError) {
  // this is an ExSeq generated error
}

ExSeq errors contain the following additional attributes.

Atrribute	Data Type	Description
success	boolean	For errors this is always false, used for reply message consistency
status	integer	HTTP status code
result	Error	The error that caused the current ExSeq error
isCreatedError	boolean	A flag indicating if the current Error is an ExSeq generated Error or not

Notes On Security

Operator Whitelisting

Starting from ExSeq XXX, operator whitelisting is supported. It is recommended to use the whitelist in order to mitigate (d)dos attacks, and only allow certain operators for routes can only be accessed by trusted roles. ReDos attacks are only one possible concern.

Reporting Security Issues

If you discover any security issues with ExSeq or one of its dependencies please don't hestiate to send an E-Mail to office[you know what to put here]sphericalelephant.com.

Route Options (opts)

Option	Description
route	Overrides the default label for the first route segment
authorizeWith.options.useParentForAuthorization	Use the access rules of the source entity instead of the target entity, when using the source entity route to access the target entity. This flag is may only be set in the target entitiy configuration. Example: A TIRE belongsTo a CAR (or a CAR hasMany TIRES) When using /car/:id/tire/:tireId to access a tire, the user access to CAR is checked to see if the user canaccess a TIRE. This option may only be used in target entites that have either a HasOne or BelongsTo relation
authorizeWith.options.authorizeForChildren	Enables the use of the source authorization middleware for target entites. This setting must be set in the source entity. It causes all authorization request to go through the source authorization middleware. A target must only use a single source for authorization!
authorizeWith.rules	Contains authorization definition
exposed	A nested Object containing information on route exposure. Blacklist.
createRoutes	A flag indicating that routes for this model should be created, defaults to "true". This setting is relevant if OpenAPI spec must be generated but some models need to be excluded from explicitly being exposed.
filterReferenceAttributes	A flag controlling the POST /entity/ behaviour, if set to true, all reference ids (association ids) will be stripped from the reply (default)
queryOptions.defaultLimit	The default limit of returned results for GET /source, POST /source/search and POST /source/:id/target, if set to Symbol.for('NONE'), limit and offset are ignored
queryOptions.maxLimit	The maximum value that can be specified as a limit for pagination, NONE by default
queryOptions.whitelistedOperators	Used to override the global whiteListedOperators option on a per model basis, see opts.whitelistedOperators for details

Examples

Define a custom name for a source:

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  {model: Person, opts: {route: 'User'}}
])

apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
}, {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});

Control Route exposure:

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  {
    model: Car, opts: {
      exposed: {
        '/': {
          // forcefully excluding POST /, all
          // other routes / methods are exposed!
          post: false
        }
      }
    }
  }
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});

Control Operator Whitelist:

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  {
    model: Car, opts: {}
  }
], {
  // only $and, and, $or and or are allowed now
  whitelistedOperators: {or: true, $and: true}
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});

Authorization rules:

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const isEntityOwner = (req, res, next) => {
  // handle authorization here
};
const isUser = (req, res, next) => {
  // handle authorization here
}
const deny = (req, res, next) => {
  const err = new Error();
  err.status = 401;
  return next(err);
}
const apiData = exseq([
  {
    model: Car, opts: {
      authorizeWith: {
        rules: {
          CREATE: isUser,
          READ: isEntityOwner,
          UPDATE: isEntityOwner,
          UPDATE_PARTIAL: isEntityOwner,
          DELETE: deny,
          SEARCH: isUser,
          // OTHER can be used to handle all cases that
          // have not been explicitly handled by any other
          // rule.
          // OTHER: deny
        }
      }
    }
  }
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});
apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

authorizeForChildren - All Tire routes are authorized by the Car rules.

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  {
    model: Car, opts: {
      authorizeWith: {
        rules: {
          READ: isUser,
          OTHER: deny
        },
        options: {
          authorizeForChildren:  [{
            child: Tire,
            authorizeForChild: true
          }]
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {model: Tire, opts: {}}
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});
apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

useParentForAuthorization - All Car related Tire routes are authorized by the Car rules.

const exseq = require('exseq');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  {
    model: Car, opts: {
      authorizeWith: {
        rules: {
          READ: isUser,
          OTHER: deny
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    model: Tire, opts: {
      options: {
        useParentForAuthorization: true
      }
    }
  }
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
})
apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

Generated Routes

Source- and Targetmodels

When generating routes, ExSeq differentiates beteen the source and the target model. The source model is the model whose association method is called, the target model is the one passed to the association method as a parameter:

const SourceModel = require('./source-model');
const TargetModel = require('./target-model');

SourceModel.belongsTo(TargetModel);

// or

SourceModel.hasMany(TargetModel);

Route Structure / Route Table

The label of the first segment of the route is determined by source.name or by opts.route if specified. The label of the target model segment is determined by association.options.name.singular, meaning that it will take any aliases into account.

Method	Relation	Route	Permission	Description
GET	N/A	/source	READ	Obtain all instances of source
GET	N/A	/source/count	READ	Obtains the count of all source entities.
POST	N/A	/source	CREATE	Create a new source instance
POST	N/A	/source/bulk	CREATE	Creates multiple new source instances
POST	N/A	/source/search	SEARCH	Search the source table
GET	N/A	/source/:id	READ	Obtain the specified source instance
PUT	N/A	/source/:id	UPDATE	Replace all values of the source instance
PATCH	N/A	/source/:id	UPDATE_PARTIAL	Replace selected values of the source instance
DELETE	N/A	/source/:id	DELETE	Delete the specified source instance
GET	HasOne / BelongsTo	/source/:id/target	READ	Get all target instances of source
POST	HasOne / BelongsTo	/source/:id/target	CREATE	Create a new target instance and associate it with source
PUT	HasOne / BelongsTo	/source/:id/target	UPDATE	Replaces all values of the target instance
PATCH	HasOne / BelongsTo	/source/:id/target	UPDATE_PARTIAL	Replaces selected values of the target instance
DELETE	HasOne / BelongsTo	/source/:id/target	DELETE	Remove the association
GET	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target	READ	Obtains an array of all associated target instances
GET	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId	READ	Obtains a single target instance
GET	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/count	READ	Obtains the count of all target entities
POST	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target	CREATE	Creates and associates a new target instance
POST	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/search	SEARCH	Search items in the target table that are related to source
PUT	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId	UPDATE	Replaces all values of the target instance
PATCH	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId	UPDATE_PARTIAL	Replaces selected values of the target instance
DELETE	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId	DELETE	Deletes the specified target instance
POST	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId/link	ASSOCIATE	Link existing source and target instances
DELETE	HasMany / BelongsToMany	/source/:id/target/:targetId/unlink	ASSOCIATE	Unlink existing source and target instances

Response Headers

Route	Relation	Header	Info
/source/search	HasMany / BelongsToMany	X-Total-Count	Contains the count of all results for the search query
/source/:id/target/search	HasMany / BelongsToMany	X-Total-Count	Contains the count of all results for the search query

GET / POST Parameters

Method	Parameter	Description	Type	Example
GET	a	Allows attribute filtering	"\|" separated list of Strings	/source/?a=name\|birthdate\|email
POST (search)	i	Items per page (pagination)	Integer	`{"i": 10, "p":2}`
POST (search)	p	Page (pagination), starts at 0	Integer	`{"i": 10, "p":2}`
POST (search)	f	Sort by field	String	`{"f": "name"}`
POST (search)	o	Sort order	Enum(ASC/DESC)	`{"f": "name", "o":"ASC"}`
POST (search)	s	Sequelize Search Query	JSON	`{s: {value: 1}}`

Search

ExSeq supports searching in accordance to Sequelize Querying. Please make sure to use the backwards compatible operator notation and not the symbol notation, as shown in the example below. Alternatively, you may use the string representation of the symbol.

Backwards compatible:

{
  "value": {
    "$like": "%foo%"
  }
}

Symbol string representation:

{
  "value": {
    "like": "%foo%"
  }
}

Symbol (will not work due to JSON.stringify "limitations"):

{
  "value": {
    [Op.like]: "%foo%"
  }
}

Note: When using the include attribtue to query data, be aware that the associated models can be fetched without explicit authorization.

Search examples

{
  "s": {
    "value": {
      "like": "%foo%"
    }
  }
}

{
  "s": {
    "value": {
      "like": "%foo%"
    },
    "include": [{
      "model": "OtherModel",
      "where": {
        "otherValue": {
          "like": "%bar%"
        }
      }
    }]
  }
}

{
  "s": {
    "value": {
      "like": "%foo%"
    },
    "include": [{
      "model": "OtherModel",
      "where": {
        "otherValue": {
          "like": "%bar%"
        }
      }
    }]
  },
  "f": "OtherModel.otherValue",
  "o": "ASC"
}

Foreign Key Authorization

Starting from 1.3.0, ExSeq features body foreign key support and unopinionated foreign key based authorization. To enable foreign key authorization support instantiate ExSeq as shown below.

const exseq = require('exseq');
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

app.use(bodyParser.json({}));

const apiData = exseq([
  {model: Car, opts: {}},
  {model: Tire, opts: {}},
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize,
  middleware: {
    associationMiddleware: {
      fieldName: 'someField'
    }
  }
})
apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

If enabled, the middleware will attach in instance of AssociationInformation to the req object, using fieldName as a key. If fieldName has not been provided, the default key associationInformation is used.

You can now use the following code to obtain information about the relationships of a model, either by using the model or a valid foreign key.

const authorizationMiddleware = (req, res, next) => {
  const information = req
    .associationInformation
    .getAssociationInformation(req.params.fk);
  // TODO: handle authorization here!
};

The information returned by getAssociationInformation will look as follows.

For hasOne, hasMany and belongsTo:

[{
  source: HasManySource,
  target: HasManyTarget,
  associationType: 'HasMany',
  fk: 'HasManySourceId',
  as: 'HasManyTarget'
}]

For belongsToMany:

[{
  source: BelongsToManySource,
  target: BelongsToManyTarget,
  associationType: 'BelongsToMany',
  through: BelongsToManyThrough,
  sourceFk: 'BelongsToManySourceId',
  targetFk: 'BelongsToManyTargetId',
  as: 'BelongsToManyTarget'
}]

OpenAPI support

Starting from 2.0.0, ExSeq supports OpenAPI 3.0.2. The OpenAPI document can be found in apiData.exspec;

const apiData = exseq([
  ...
]);
app.get('/my-api-docs', (req,res,next) => {
  res.status(200).send(apiData.exspec);
});

Demo Project

The demo project is located in ./demo/, install all dependencies and run:

cd demo
node .

You can now access the OpenAPI specification and Swagger UI at:

http://localhost:3000/swagger-ui/

and

localhost:3000/swagger.json

Update Instructions

1.x.x to 2.x.x

Return Type Change

Calling exseq does not return an array of routing information any more.

Change your 1.x.x code:

exseq([
  ...
]).forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

To:

const apiData = exseq([
  ...
]);

apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

2.x.x to 3.x.x

Added compulsory ExSeq setting

Calling exseq now requires the opts.dataMapper option to be present. Currently, the only supported datamapper is Sequelize.

Change your 2.x.x code:

const apiData = exseq([
  ...
]);

apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

To:

const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

const apiData = exseq([
  ...
], {
  dataMapper: Sequelize
});

apiData.routingInformation.forEach((routing) => {
  app.use(routing.route, routing.router);
});

Route and Route Authorization Changes

The /source/:id/target/:targetId/unlink route is now used with the DELETE method and NOT the POST method.

The /source/:id/target/:targetId/unlink and /source/:id/target/:targetId/link route are now secured by ASSOCIATE and not by CREATE.

Data reply

ExSeq was inconsistent in attaching instance or instance.get() to res.__payload.result. Version 3.x.x attaches instance.get() for all routes by default. Use rawDataResponse to adjust this behaviour.

License

MIT

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README.md

README.md

ExSeq

About

Installation

Features

Getting Started

Creating Routes For Models

Exseq Options (opts)

Error Objects

Notes On Security

Operator Whitelisting

Reporting Security Issues

Route Options (opts)

Examples

Generated Routes

Source- and Targetmodels

Route Structure / Route Table

Response Headers

GET / POST Parameters

Search

Search examples

Foreign Key Authorization

OpenAPI support

Demo Project

Update Instructions

1.x.x to 2.x.x

Return Type Change

2.x.x to 3.x.x

Added compulsory ExSeq setting

Route and Route Authorization Changes

Data reply

License

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

ExSeq

About

Installation

Features

Getting Started

Creating Routes For Models

Exseq Options (opts)

Error Objects

Notes On Security

Operator Whitelisting

Reporting Security Issues

Route Options (opts)

Examples

Generated Routes

Source- and Targetmodels

Route Structure / Route Table

Response Headers

GET / POST Parameters

Search

Search examples

Foreign Key Authorization

OpenAPI support

Demo Project

Update Instructions

1.x.x to 2.x.x

Return Type Change

2.x.x to 3.x.x

Added compulsory ExSeq setting

Route and Route Authorization Changes

Data reply

License