A bare metal ODM for MongoDB
The v5.x implementation of Iridium is not yet finished. While the API is relatively final there are still major architectural changes being made on a daily basis as we prepare v5 for stable release. Until then, we recommend you stick with Iridium v4.x in your applications, the documentation below covers the v4.x API and will be updated to match the v5.x API when we are ready for release.
Iridium isn't your traditional JavaScript ORM, it's the ORM I've always wanted and I hope you'll enjoy using it as much as I do. With Iridium, your models are simply JavaScript classes (if you're using ES6 or TypeScript) which means that you don't need to learn a new DSL just to define your database structure and that your favourite editor will be able to understand your code and provide useful suggestions.
Iridium was designed to alleviate many of the issues often present in modern ORMs, especially those designed for NoSQL datastores like MongoDB. Namely, these include a high level of bloat and an excessive amount of documentation - vastly raising the barrier to entry. On the flip side of the coin, they also tend to abstract core database functionality away from the developer to the extent that they end up jumping through unnecessary hoops just to get the results they're looking for.
Iridium hopes to solve these issues by providing a bare bones ORM targeted at power users, and those looking for an exceptionally low overhead. It provides much of the indispensable functionality found in ORMs without the fluff.
Iridium is available using npm, which means you can install it locally using npm install iridium or add it to your project's package.json file to have it installed automatically whenever you run npm install.
We make use of the Semantic Versioning guidelines for our versioning system, as such we highly recommend you stick to a single major version of Iridium when developing an application. This can easily be handled through your package.json file by doing the following.
{
// ...
"dependencies": {
"iridium": "4.x"
}
}
var iridium = require('iridium');
var database = new iridium({
database: 'demo'
});
database.register('User', new iridium.Model(database, 'user', {
firstname: String,
lastname: String,
since: Date,
clown: Boolean,
houses: [{
address: String,
colour: /Red|White|Blue|Green|Pink/
}]
}));
database.connect(function(err, db) {
if(err) throw err;
// at this point database == db
db.User.create({
firstname: 'Billy',
lastname: 'Bob',
since: new Date(),
clown: true,
houses: [
{ address: 'The middle of nowhere', colour: 'Red' }
]
}, function(err, user) {
if(err) throw err;
console.log(JSON.stringify(user));
});
});
Since Iridium claims to be ultra-lightweight, we thought we'd share some benchmarks with you - keep in mind that in the interest of fairness we are doing our best to compare apples with apples here, so when benchmarking against the MongoDB native driver we are running Iridium queries with { wrap: false }, which disables wrapping of documents in Instance objects - though they still pass through the validation and preprocessing frameworks, and trigger hooks.
Keep in mind that benchmarks only tell half of the story, performance will vary depending on how your application is configured, the system you run it on (these benchmarks were conducted on an ANCIENT laptop that was lying around) and a number of other factors.
As you can see, with wrap: false, Iridium is within a few milliseconds of the native MongoDB driver in many queries, despite adding an additional layer of security (validation) and ease of use (preprocessing). You can view the source code for this benchmark under benchmarks/mongodb.js.
> MongoDB 10000 Inserts { w: 1 }
> => 652ms
> Iridium 10000 Inserts { w: 1, wrap: false }
> => 725ms
> MongoDB find()
> => 230ms
> Iridium find() { wrap: false }
> => 311ms
> MongoDB remove()
> => 216ms
> Iridium remove()
> => 213ms
The Iridium core (that sounds WAY cooler than I intended when I came up with the name) is where you create a database connection and register any models to be used by the database. Registration of models is optional, however it makes accessing them easier.
When using Iridium, you are required to instantiate a core with a settings object which describes the database server you want to connect to. This is done by calling the core's constructor and passing an object similar to the following.
{
host: 'localhost', // Optional
port: 27018, // Optional
username: '', // Optional
password: '', // Optional
database: 'iridium'
}
Alternatively, you can pass in a standard MongoDB URI like mongodb://username:password@localhost:27018/iridium in place of the configuration object, allowing Iridium to easily be used with MongoS.
Once you've got a core, you need to connect it to the database. This is done by calling the core's connect method and giving it a callback function.
Models can be registered with the Iridium core to provide quick access from anywhere with access to the database instance. It has the added benefit of enabling IntelliSense for these models when accessed from the database object.
You are required to give each model a name by which they may be accessed, convention states that these names should begin with a capital letter to indicate that they are constructors.
db.register('MyModel', require('./models/MyModel.js'));
db.MyModel.get(function(err, instance) {
});
You can also chain register calls to quickly load all your different models using a single line of code.
db.register('Model1', require('./models/Model1.js')).register('Model2', require('./models/Model2.js')).connect(function(err, db) {
if(err) throw err;
});
We've tried to keep the Iridium API as similar to the original MongoDB Native Driver's API as possible, while still keeping it extremely easy to use. The following are a bunch of TypeScript definitions showing the different overloads available to you for Iridium's methods.
If you don't understand TypeScript then it's easiest to think of it this way. You can use any method available from the MongoDB Native Driver using (usually) the same arguments, except the callbacks are entirely optional and a promise is always returned. On methods which select items, you can simply provide the _id field's value to have it automatically converted and wrapped, so doing something like users.find('spartan563') is entirely fine.
interface FindFunction {
(): promise;
(callback: function): promise;
(identifier: any): promise;
(identifier: any, callback: function): promise;
(identifier: any, options: object, callback: function): promise;
(conditions: object): promise;
(conditions: object, callback: function): promise;
(conditions: object, options: object, callback: function): promise;
}
interface InsertFunction {
(document: object): promise;
(document: object, callback: function): promise;
(document: object, options: object): promise;
(document: object, options: object, callback: function): promise;
(documents: [object]): promise;
(documents: [object], callback: function): promise;
(documents: [object], options: object): promise;
(documents: [object], options: object, callback: function): promise;
}
interface UpdateFunction {
(conditions: object, changes: object): promise;
(conditions: object, changes: object, callback: function): promise;
(conditions: object, changes: object, options: object): promise;
(conditions: object, changes: object, options: object, callback: function): promise;
}
interface EnsureIndexFunction {
(index: object): promise;
(index: object, options: object): promise;
(index: object, callback: function): promise;
(index: object, options: object, callback: function): promise;
}
var find: FindFunction;
var findOne: FindFunction;
var get: FindFunction = findOne;
var insert: InsertFunction;
var create: InsertFunction = insert;
var update: UpdateFunction;
var count: FindFunction;
var remove: FindFunction;
var aggregate: function;
var ensureIndex: EnsureIndexFunction;
Iridium has been designed to make it as easy as possible to create and manage your models. To support this, models are designed to be stored within their own files - separating them from one another and keeping things logical.
Each model file should export a function which accepts a reference to an Iridium Core instance, and returns the result of a model construction call.
var Model = require('iridium').Model;
module.exports = function(db) {
var schema = {
name: String,
email: /.+@.+\.\w+/
};
var options = {
methods: {
},
virtuals: {
},
preprocessors: [],
hooks: {
}
};
return new Model(db, 'collectionName', schema, options);
};
Iridium now (as of v2.11.0) uses skmatc(pronounced schematic) for schema validation, it allows you to quickly and easily write complex schemas in a readable manner and provides a powerful extensibility framework which you can use if you require more complex validation logic.
var schema = {
username: /\w[\w\d_]{7,}/,
email: String,
dateOfBirth: Date,
sessions: [{
id: String,
started: Date,
valid: Boolean
}]
};
Methods allow you to provide instance specific functionality in the form of callable methods on a model's instances. These methods have access to the instance, and allow you to call them directly as 1st class members.
var options = {
methods: {
checkPassword: function(password) {
return hash(password) == this.passwordHash;
}
}
};
Virtuals work similarly to methods, however they represent Getter/Setter properties which also behave as first class members. The idea is that they allow you to access information which can be gathered from an instance but which you do not necessarilly wish to store in the database.
var options = {
virtuals: {
forAPI: function() {
return {
id: this.id,
name: this.name
};
},
password: {
get: function() { return this.passwordHash; },
set: function(value) { this.passwordHash = hash(value); }
}
}
};
As you can see, virtuals can either be pure getters (in which case they should not make any changes to the instance) or Getter/Setter pairs, allowing instance values to be modified.
If you have no need for accessing the original database value - and it can be converted between forms losslessly, it may be preferable to make use of the preprocessor framework, as it will remove the overhead of calling a conversion function on each property access.
Hooks allow you to implement custom behaviour on certain events, one of the most common being the creation of a new instance. A good example of their use is the creation of a new user, where you usually receive their requested password directly. By using a hook, you can automatically convert their password into a hashed form upon creation, and save yourself the headache.
var options = {
hooks: {
creating: function() {
if(this.password) {
this.passwordHash = hash(this.password);
delete this.password;
}
}
}
};
Other uses include the creation of default properties on models, using the creating hook to set the defaults if they are not present.
Keep in mind that all hooks support a done callback if you wish to perform any kind of asynchronous operation before completing. This allows web requests, file system operations or even other database operations to be performed safely from within the hook.
this is set to the contents of the object being stored - allowing modification of the object prior to its insertion into the database.Model.update()) with this set to the instance of the object being updated and the first argument always being the object changeset (MongoDB update syntax), allowing you to perform custom updates each time an object is saved.this is set to the database document received - and will not have undergone any preprocessing yet.Are you a fan of using EventEmitters? Are you too cool for school? No worries, we've got you covered. You can consume events on both models and instances using Node.js' standard event consumption functions, they behave much the same as their hook cousins with the exception that there is no way to safely manipulate the object (their call order is non-deterministic).
// Called for all validation, hook and database errors
model.on('error', function error(err) { });
// Called when an object is being created in the database
model.on('creating', function creating(document) { });
// Called when an object is being saved to the database
model.on('saving', function saving(instance, changes) { });
// Called when an object is retrieved from the database/cache
model.on('retrieved', function retrieved(instance) { });
// Called when a new instance becomes ready
model.on('ready', function ready(instance) { });
instance.on('error', function error(err) { });
instance.on('creating', function creating(document) { });
instance.on('saving', function saving(instance, changes) { });
instance.on('retrieved', function retrieved(instance) { });
instance.on('ready', function ready(instance) { });
An instance represents a database object retrieved by Iridium, and will inherit behaviour from the model it was created to represent. In addition to this, an instance has access to a few functions for performing operations which pertain directly to that instance, including the following.
// Saves any changes made to the instance (only affects properties in the schema, or already retrieved from the DB)
Instance.save().then(function complete(instance) { }, function error(err) { });
Instance.save(function callback(err, instance) {});
// Executes the requested MongoDB changes on the current instance ({ $push: { sessions: 'session_key' }} etc.)
Instance.save(mongoChanges).then(function complete(instance) { }, function error(err) { });
Instance.save(mongoChanges, function callback(err, instance) {});
// Used for manipulating specific array elements, you can use extraConditions to select the array element to manipulate
// For example Instance.save({ array: { $elemMatch: { id: 1 }}}, { $inc: { 'array.$.hits': 1 }});
Instance.save(extraConditions, mongoChanges).then(function complete(instance) { }, function error(err) { });
Instance.save(extraConditions, mongoChanges, function callback(err,instance) {})
// Updates the instance's data to match the latest available data from the database
Instance.update().then(function complete(instance) { }, function error(err) { });
Instance.update(function callback(err, instance) {});
// Removes the instance from the database
Instance.remove().then(function complete() { }, function error(err) { });
Instance.remove(function callback(err) {});
The Instance object has a number of helper properties and functions available which prove useful in common use cases. These include the document virtual property which returns the underlying document which the Instance represents - allowing you to easily perform JSON serialization. Keep in mind that this document will have passed through the preprocessing framework. This property will be transparently overridden by Instances who's schema defines a document property.
You will also find the select and first methods which can be used to filter an array or map for items which match certain criteria. They are based on lodash's _.filter and _.first methods and by default will bind this to the Instance on which they are called.
console.log(JSON.stringify(Instance.document));
var session = Instance.first(Instance.sessions, function test(session) {
return session.id == 'abcdef...';
});
var comments = Instance.select(Instance.comments, function test(comment) {
return comment.by = 'username';
});
In v2.9.4 we added a powerful new differential query generator (codename Omnom) which allows you to easily make changes to your instances in code, and have Iridium handle the task of converting those changes to the most efficient query possible when you want to store those changes in MongoDB.
Omnom allows you to do many things without needing to worry about how they are persisted to the database. These are some of the things that Omnom is well suited to handling.
Unfortunately, there are a few limitations imposed by the way MongoDB handles queries - so when working with Iridium and Omnom we recommend you try to avoid doing the following.
Our caching framework allows basic queries to be served against a high performance cache, offloading requests from your database server and allowing you to more easily develop high performance applications that scale well to user demand.
Your cache will only be tried for Model.get and Model.findOne requests for which the cache's valid() function returns true, allowing you to implement any basic cache structure you wish - including compound caches should you wish.
By default Iridium doesn't cache anything, implementing a no-op cache, but you can easily configure your own caching plugin on a per-model basis by following this example.
function MemoryCache() {
this.cache = {};
}
// Tells Iridium whether it can use the cache for objects that match these conditions
MemoryCache.prototype.valid = function valid(conditions) {
return conditions && conditions._id;
};
MemoryCache.prototype.store = function store(conditions, document, callback) {
// Conditions are null when storing on an insert, otherwise they represent the conditions
// that resulted in the object being retrieved from the database.
var id = JSON.stringify(document._id);
this.cache[id] = document;
callback();
};
MemoryCache.prototype.fetch = function fetch(id, callback) {
var id = JSON.stringify(conditions._id);
callback(this.cache[id]);
};
MemoryCache.prototype.drop = function drop(conditions, callback) {
var id = JSON.stringify(conditions._id);
if(this.cache[id]) delete this.cache[id];
callback();
};
The preprocessing framework allows Iridium to convert values from a form better suited to your database into a form more suitable for your application in an entirely transparent manner. This is acomplished through the use of a number of preprocessors which run when retrieving an object from the database, their order is reversed when pushing an object to the database.
It has been moved into its own module, Concoction, which can be used outside of Iridium - and allows you to easily extend or replace it if you wish. For more information on Concoction, visit its project page.
The transforms framework provides a low-level means to convert from one value type to another by means of up/down conversion functions. The up functions are used to convert the value before it is sent UPstream to the database, while down functions are used to convert the database value into the DOWNstream value used by your application.
var Concoction = require('concoction');
var model = new Model(db, 'modelName', modelSchema, {
preprocessors: [new Concoction.Convert({
property: {
apply: function apply(value) { return convertedValueForDatabase; },
reverse: function reverse(value) { return convertedValueFromDatabase }
}
})]
});
The renames framework allows you to access properties in a manner better suited to your application while keeping the same schema on the database side. This comes in handy when using the _id field for fields such as a user's username.
var Concoction = require('concoction');
var model = new Model(db, 'modelName', modelSchema, {
preprocessors: [new Concoction.Rename({
_id: 'id'
})]
});
Iridium allows you to use plugins which extend the functionality provided by a number of Iridium's components. These plugins can add extra functions for models and instances as well has allowing hooks to be added automatically. Plugins are imported using the db.register(plugin) method overload (similar to the way models are loaded), and are declared using the following layout.
module.exports = {
newModel: function newModel(db, collection, schema, options) {
this.collection = collection.toLowerCase();
this.schema._id = String,
this.options.preprocessors = [];
},
newInstance: function newInstance(model, document, isNew) {
Object.defineProperty(this, 'id', {
get: function() { return document._id; },
enumerable: false
});
}
};
I'd also like to thank dresende and dxg from the node-orm2 project for getting me introduced to Node and giving me many of the ideas for how a good ORM should be structured. If you're looking for an easy to use and more fully featured ORM with support for SQL and NoSQL databases, I'd seriously suggest giving node-orm2 a try.
FAQs
A custom lightweight ORM for MongoDB designed for power-users
The npm package iridium receives a total of 130 weekly downloads. As such, iridium popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that iridium demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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