Getting Started with JSData

js-data

Inspired by Ember Data, JSData is the model layer you've been craving. It consists of a convenient framework-agnostic, in-memory store for managing your data, which uses adapters to communicate with various persistence layers.

The most commonly used adapter is the http adapter, which is perfect for communicating with your RESTful backend. localStorage, localForage, firebase and other adapters are already available. On the server you could hook up to the SQL adapter (Postgres/MySQL/MariaDB/SQLite3) and add in the Redis adapter as a caching layer for your read endpoints. More adapters are coming, and you're free to implement your own. See Adapters.

Unlike some libraries, JSData does not require the use of getters and setters, and doesn't decorate your data with a bunch of cruft. JSData's internal change detection (via observe-js or Object.observe in supporting browsers) allows for powerful use cases and an easy avenue for implementing your own 3-way data-binding.

Supporting relations, computed properties, support for Node and the Browser, model lifecycle control and a slew of other features, JSData is the tool for giving your data the respect it deserves.

Written in ES6 and built for modern web development, JSData will save you thousands of lines of code and make you cooler.

Support is handled via the Slack channel or the Mailing List.

Looking for contributors!

JSData is getting popular and becoming a lot of work for me. I could use help with tests, documentation, demos/examples, and adapters. Contact me if you want to help! jason dot dobry at gmail dot com

Documentation TODOs

offline/multi-adapter guide
example pagination solution
what else do you want to know?

Quick Start

Read the Installation Guide.

Bower

bower install --save js-data js-data-http

Load js-data-http.js after js-data.js.

// you can also require "js-data" if you're using AMD/CommonJS
// e.g. var JSData = require('js-data'); var DSHttpAdapter = require('js-data-http');
var store = new JSData.DS();

// register and use http by default for async operations
store.registerAdapter('http', new DSHttpAdapter(), { default: true });

// simplest model definition, just pass the name instead of an options hash
// this is the same as "store.defineResource({ name: 'user' })"
var User = store.defineResource('user');


// Usually you'll define a resource by passing options
var Comment = store.defineResource({
  name: 'comment',
  relations: {
    belongsTo: {
      user: {
        // "join" field, name of field on a comment
        // that is the primary key of the parent user
        localKey: 'userId',
        
        // name of the field on the comment where the 
        // parent user will be attached to the comment
        // by js-data
        localField: 'user' 
      }
    }
  }
});

var user;

// Example CRUD operations with default configuration
// See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsfind
User.find(1)
  .then(function (_user) {
    _user; // { id: 1, name: 'John' }

    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsis
    User.is(_user); // true
    Comment.is(_user); // false

    // The user is in the store now
    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsget
    User.get(_user.id); // { id: 1, name: 'John' }

    user = _user;

    // No need for another GET request, will resolve immediately
    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsfind
    return User.find(1);
  })
  .then(function (_user) {
    user === _user; // true

    // PUT /user/1 {name:"Johnny"}
    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsupdate
    return User.update(user.id, { name: 'Johnny' });
  })
  .then(function (_user) {
    // identity mapping at play
    user === _user; // true
    user === User.get(_user.id); // true

    user; // { id: 1, name: 'Johnny' }

    user.name = 'Billy';

    // PUT /user/1 {id:1,name:"Billy"}
    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dssave
    return User.save(1);
  })
  .then(function (_user) {
    // identity mapping at play
    user === _user; // true
    user === User.get(_user.id); // true

    user; // { id: 1, name: 'Billy' }

    // DELETE /user/1
    // See http://www.js-data.io/docs/dsdestroy
    return User.destroy(1);
  })
  .then(function () {
    // The user has also been removed from the in-memory store
    User.get(1); // undefined
  });

Node.js

npm install --save js-data js-data-redis (Using the redis adapter in the example.)

var JSData = require('js-data');
var DSRedisAdapter = require('js-data-redis')
var store = new JSData.DS();

// register and use redis by default for async operations
store.registerAdapter('redis', new DSRedisAdapter(), { default: true });

// simplest model definition
var User = store.defineResource('user');

User.find(1).then(function (user) {
  user; // { id: 1, name: 'John' }
});

API

Community & Links

Slack Channel
Mailing List - Ask your questions!
Announcements
Issues - Found a bug? Feature request? Submit an issue!
GitHub - View the source code for js-data.
Contributing Guide
CHANGELOG.md

Contributing

First, support is handled via the Mailing List. Ask your questions there.

When submitting issues on GitHub, please include as much detail as possible to make debugging quick and easy.

good - Your versions of Angular, JSData, etc, relevant console logs/error, code examples that revealed the issue
better - A plnkr, fiddle, or bin that demonstrates the issue
best - A Pull Request that fixes the issue, including test coverage for the issue and the fix

Github Issues.

Pull Requests

Contribute to the issue that is the reason you'll be developing in the first place
Fork js-data
git clone https://github.com/<you>/js-data.git
cd js-data; npm install; bower install;
npm run all
Write your code, including relevant documentation and tests
Submit a PR and we'll review

📘
License
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2014-2015 Jason Dobry
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.