usergrid

usergrid-nodejs

Node.js SDK 2.0 for Usergrid

Version 2.0 of this SDK is currently a work in progress; documentation and implementation are subject to change.

Note: This Node.js SDK 2.0 for Usergrid is not backwards compatible with 0.1X versions of the SDK. If your application is dependent on the 0.1X set of Node.js APIs, you will need to continue using the 0.1X version (see below for installation instructions).

Current Release

• Pre-release: 2.0 Release Candidate 2, available here or on npm
• Stable: 0.10.11

2.X Bugs

Please open an issue

Known Issues

• Native support for push notifications is slated for RC3. Workaround is to send a regular POST request to 'devices/<device_ID>/notifications'
• There is no clean way to require submodules (e.g. UsergridClient or UsergridEntity) modules without referencing the full path to ../lib/<class>.
• Any other functionality that is missing or expected, please open an issue.

Installation

To install the latest stable 0.1X build:

npm install usergrid

(Or add "usergrid": "~0.10.11" to your package.json)

To install the 2.0 release candidates, install from npm, specifying the version ~2.0.0-rc:

npm install usergrid@~2.0.0-rc

(Or add "usergrid": "~2.0.0-rc" to your package.json)

If you want access to the latest development build (you will need to run npm install to keep it up to date):

npm install brandonscript/usergrid-nodejs

Usage

Note: This section is a work in progress. In its current release candidate state, this SDK is only recommended for developers familiar with Usergrid, Node.js, and ideally Mocha tests. It is not recommended for production applications. For additional advanced/comprehensive usage, see /tests.

The Usergrid Node.js SDK is built on top of request. As such, it behaves almost as a drop-in replacement. Where you would expect a standard error-first callback from request, the same is true of the Usergrid SDK methods. Where you would expect a response object as the second parameter in the callback, the same is true for the Usergrid SDK.

Initialization

There are two different ways of initializing the Usergrid Node.js SDK:

1. The singleton pattern is both convenient and enables the developer to use a globally available and always-initialized shared instance of Usergrid.

   var Usergrid = require('usergrid')
   Usergrid.init({
       orgId: '<org-id>',
       appId: '<app-id>'
   })
       
   // or you can load from a config file; see config.sample.json
       
   var Usergrid = require('usergrid')
   Usergrid.init() // defaults to use config.json
   

Config File: Optionally, you can use a config file to provide the usergrid credentials for your app. The usergrid module crawls your App file structure to find files named usergrid.json or a config.json. If there are multiple files with one of these names present at different locations under the app, only one of them will be used and the others are ignored. This may cause use of an unintended backend. Please make sure you have only one of these files present in the root and subdirectories of your app.

1. The instance pattern enables the developer to manage instances of the Usergrid client independently and in an isolated fashion. The primary use-case for this is when an application connects to multiple Usergrid targets.

   var UsergridClient = require('./node_modules/usergrid/lib/client')
   var client = new UsergridClient(config)
   

Note: Examples in this readme assume you are using the Usergrid shared instance. If you've implemented the instance pattern instead, simply replace Usergrid with your client instance variable. See /tests for additional examples.

RESTful operations

When making any RESTful call, a type parameter (or path) is always required. Whether you specify this as an argument, in an object as a parameter, or as part of a UsergridQuery object is up to you.

GET()

To get entities in a collection:

Usergrid.GET('collection', function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    // entities is an array of UsergridEntity objects
})

To get a specific entity in a collection by uuid or name:

Usergrid.GET('collection', '<uuid-or-name>', function(error, usergridResponse, entity) {
    // entity, if found, is a UsergridEntity object
})

To get specific entities in a collection by passing a UsergridQuery object:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats')
                             .gt('weight', 2.4)
                             .contains('color', 'bl*')
                             .not
                             .eq('color', 'blue')
                             .or
                             .eq('color', 'orange')
                             
// this will build out the following query:
// select * where weight > 2.4 and color contains 'bl*' and not color = 'blue' or color = 'orange'
    
Usergrid.GET(query, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entities is an array of UsergridEntity objects matching the specified query
})

POST() and PUT()

POST and PUT requests both require a JSON body payload. You can pass either a standard JavaScript object or a UsergridEntity instance. While the former works in principle, best practise is to use a UsergridEntity wherever practical. When an entity has a uuid or name property and already exists on the server, use a PUT request to update it. If it does not, use POST to create it.

To create a new entity in a collection (POST):

var entity = new UsergridEntity({
    type: 'restaurant',
    restaurant: 'Dino's Deep Dish,
    cuisine: 'pizza'
})
    
// or
    
var entity = {
    type: 'restaurant',
    restaurant: 'Dino's Deep Dish,
    cuisine: 'pizza'
}
    
Usergrid.POST(entity, function(error, usergridResponse, entity) {
    // entity should now have a uuid property and be created
})
    
// you can also POST an array of entities:

var entities = [
    new UsergridEntity({
        type: 'restaurant',
        restaurant: 'Dino's Deep Dish,
        cuisine: 'pizza'
    }), 
    new UsergridEntity({
        type: 'restaurant',
        restaurant: 'Pizza da Napoli',
        cuisine: 'pizza'
    })
]
    
Usergrid.POST(entities, function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    //
})

To update an entity in a collection (PUT request):

var entity = new UsergridEntity({
    type: 'restaurant',
    restaurant: 'Pizza da Napoli',
    cuisine: 'pizza'
})
    
Usergrid.POST(entity, function(error, usergridResponse, entity) {
    entity.owner = 'Mia Carrara'
    Usergrid.PUT(entity, function(error, usergridResponse, entity) {
        // entity now has the property 'owner'
    })
})
    
// or update a set of entities by passing a UsergridQuery object
    
var query = new UsergridQuery('restaurants')
                             .eq('cuisine', 'italian')
                             
// this will build out the following query:
// select * where cuisine = 'italian'
    
Usergrid.PUT(query, { keywords: ['pasta'] }, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    /* the first 10 entities matching this query criteria will be updated:
       e.g.:
       [
           {
               "type": "restaurant",
               "restaurant": "Il Tarazzo",
               "cuisine": "italian",
               "keywords": [
                   "pasta"
               ]
           },
           {
               "type": "restaurant",
               "restaurant": "Cono Sur Pizza & Pasta",
               "cuisine": "italian",
               "keywords": [
                   "pasta"
               ]
           }
        ]
    */
})

DELETE()

DELETE requests require either a specific entity or a UsergridQuery object to be passed as an argument.

To delete a specific entity in a collection by uuid or name:

Usergrid.DELETE('collection', '<uuid-or-name>', function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // if successful, entity will now be deleted
})

To specific entities in a collection by passing a UsergridQuery object:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats')
                             .eq('color', 'black')
                             .or
                             .eq('color', 'white')
                             
// this will build out the following query:
// select * where color = 'black' or color = 'white'
    
Usergrid.DELETE(query, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // the first 10 entities matching this query criteria will be deleted
})

Entity operations and convenience methods

UsergridEntity has a number of helper/convenience methods to make working with entities more convenient. If you are not utilizing the Usergrid shared instance, you must pass an instance of UsergridClient as the first argument to any of these helper methods.

reload()

Reloads the entity from the server

entity.reload(function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entity is now reloaded from the server
})

save()

Saves (or creates) the entity on the server

entity.aNewProperty = 'A new value'
entity.save(function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entity is now updated on the server
})

remove()

Deletes the entity from the server

entity.remove(function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entity is now deleted on the server and the local instance should be destroyed
})

Authentication, current user, and authMode

appAuth and authenticateApp()

Usergrid can use the app client ID and secret that were passed upon initialization and automatically retrieve an app-level token for these credentials.

Usergrid.setAppAuth('<client-id>', '<client-secret>')
Usergrid.authenticateApp(function(error, usergridResponse, token) {
    // Usergrid.appAuth is created automatically when this call is successful
})

currentUser and authenticateUser()

Usergrid has a special currentUser property. By default, when calling authenticateUser(), .currentUser will be set to this user if the authentication flow is successful.

Usergrid.authenticateUser({
    username: '<username>',
    password: '<password>'
}, function(error, usergridResponse, token) {
    // Usergrid.currentUser is set to the authenticated user and the token is stored within that context
})

If you want to utilize authenticateUser without setting as the current user, simply pass a false boolean value as the second parameter:

Usergrid.authenticateUser({
    username: '<username>',
    password: '<password>'
}, false, function(error, usergridResponse, token) {
    
})

authMode

Auth-mode is used to determine what the UsergridClient will use for authorization.

By default, Usergrid.authMode is set to UsergridAuth.AUTH_MODE_USER, whereby if a non-expired UsergridUserAuth exists in UsergridClient.currentUser, this token is used to authenticate all API calls.

If instead Usergrid.authMode is set to UsergridAuth.AUTH_MODE_NONE, all API calls will be performed unauthenticated.

If instead Usergrid.authMode is set to UsergridAuth.AUTH_MODE_APP, all API calls will be performed using the client credentials token, if they're available (i.e. authenticateApp() was performed at some point).

usingAuth()

At times it is desireable to have complete, granular control over the authentication context of an API call. To facilitate this, the passthrough function .usingAuth() allows you to pre-define the auth context of the next API call.

// assume Usergrid.authMode = UsergridAuth.AUTH_MODE_NONE
    
Usergrid.usingAuth(Usergrid.appAuth).POST('roles/guest/permissions', {
    permission: "get,post,put,delete:/**"
}, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // here we've temporarily used the client credentials to modify permissions
    // subsequent calls will not use this auth context
})

User operations and convenience methods

UsergridUser has a number of helper/convenience methods to make working with user entities more convenient. If you are not utilizing the Usergrid shared instance, you must pass an instance of UsergridClient as the first argument to any of these helper methods.

create()

Creating a new user:

var user = new UsergridUser({
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password'
})
    
user.create(function(error, usergridResponse, user) {
    // user has now been created and should have a valid uuid
})

login()

A simpler means of retrieving a user-level token:

var user = new UsergridUser({
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password'
})
    
user.login(function(error, usergridResponse, token) {
    // user is now logged in
})

logout()

Logs out the selected user. You can also use this convenience method on Usergrid.currentUser.

user.logout(function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // user is now logged out
})

logoutAllSessions()

Logs out all sessions for the selected user and destroys all active tokens. You can also use this convenience method on Usergrid.currentUser.

user.logoutAllSessions(function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // user is now logged out from everywhere
})

resetPassword()

Resets the password for the selected user.

user.resetPassword({
    oldPassword: '2cool4u',
    newPassword: 'correct-horse-battery-staple',
}, function(error, response, success) {
    // if it was done correctly, the new password will be changed
    // 'success' is a boolean value that indicates whether it was changed successfully
})

UsergridUser.CheckAvailable()

This is a class (static) method that allows you to check whether a username or email address is available or not.

UsergridUser.CheckAvailable(client, {
    email: 'email'
}, function(err, response, exists) {
   // 'exists' is a boolean value that indicates whether a user already exists
})
    
UsergridUser.CheckAvailable(client, {
    username: 'username'
}, function(err, response, exists) {
   
})
    
UsergridUser.CheckAvailable(client, {
    email: 'email',
    username: 'username', // checks both email and username
}, function(err, response, exists) {
    // 'exists' returns true if either username or email exist
})

Querying and filtering data

UsergridQuery initialization

The UsergridQuery class allows you to build out complex query filters using the Usergrid query syntax.

The first parameter of the UsergridQuery builder pattern should be the collection (or type) you intend to query. You can either pass this as an argument, or as the first builder object:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats')
// or
var query = new UsergridQuery().type('cats')
var query = new UsergridQuery().collection('cats')

You then can layer on additional queries:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats')
            .gt('weight', 2.4)
            .contains('color', 'bl*')
            .not
            .eq('color', 'white')
            .or
            .eq('color', 'orange') 

You can also adjust the number of results returned:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').eq('color', 'black').limit(100)
// returns a maximum of 100 entiteis

And sort the results:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').eq('color', 'black').asc('name')
// sorts by 'name', ascending

And you can do geo-location queries:

var query = new UsergridQuery('devices').locationWithin(<distanceInMeters>, <latitude>, <longitude>)

Using a query in a request

Queries can be passed as parameters to GET, PUT, and DELETE requests:

Usergrid.GET(query, function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    //
})
    
Usergrid.PUT(query, { aNewProperty: "A new value" }, function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    //
})
    
Usergrid.DELETE(query, function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    //
})

While not a typical use case, sometimes it is useful to be able to create a query that works on multiple collections. Therefore, in each one of these RESTful calls, you can optionally pass a 'type' string as the first argument:

Usergrid.GET('cats', query, function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    //
})

List of query builder objects

type('string')

The collection name to query

collection('string')

An alias for type

eq('key', 'value') or equal('key', 'value')

Equal to (e.g. where color = 'black')

contains('key', 'value')

Contains a string (e.g. where color contains 'bl*')

gt('key', 'value') or greaterThan('key', 'value')

Greater than (e.g. where weight > 2.4)

gte('key', 'value') or greaterThanOrEqual('key', 'value')

Greater than or equal to (e.g. where weight >= 2.4)

lt('key', 'value') or lessThan('key', 'value')

Less than (e.g. where weight < 2.4)

lte('key', 'value') or lessThanOrEqual('key', 'value')

Less than or equal to (e.g. where weight <= 2.4)

not

Negates the next block in the builder pattern, e.g.:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').not.eq('color', 'black')
// select * from cats where not color = 'black'

and

Joins two queries by requiring both of them. and is also implied when joining two queries without an operator. E.g.:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').eq('color', 'black').eq('fur', 'longHair')
// is identical to:
var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').eq('color', 'black').and.eq('fur', 'longHair')  

or

Joins two queries by requiring only one of them. or is never implied. E.g.:

var query = new UsergridQuery('cats').eq('color', 'black').or.eq('color', 'white')

When using or and and operators, and joins will take precedence over or joins. You can read more about query operators and precedence here.

locationWithin(distanceInMeters, latitude, longitude)

Returns entities which have a location within the specified radius. Arguments can be float or int.

asc('key')

Sorts the results by the specified property, ascending

desc('key')

Sorts the results by the specified property, descending

sort('key', 'order')

Sorts the results by the specified property, in the specified order (asc or desc).

limit(int)

The maximum number of entities to return

cursor('string')

A pagination cursor string

fromString('query string')

A special builder property that allows you to input a pre-defined query string. All other builder properties will be ignored when this property is defined. For example:

var query = new UsergridQuery().fromString("select * where color = 'black' order by name asc")

UsergridResponse object

UsergridResponse implements several Usergrid-specific enhancements to request. Notably:

ok

You can check usergridResponse.ok, a bool value, to see if the response was successful. Any status code < 400 returns true.

Usergrid.GET('collection', function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    if (usergridResponse.ok) {
        // woo!
    }
})

entity, entities, user, users, first, last

Depending on the call you make, you will receive either an array of UsergridEntity objects, or a single entity as the third parameter in the callback. If you're querying the users collection, these will also be UsergridUser objects, a subclass of UsergridEntity.

• .first returns the first entity in an array of entities; .entity is an alias to .first. If there are no entities, both of these will be undefined.
• .last returns the last entity in an array of entities; if there is only one entity in the array, this will be the same as .first and .entity, and will be undefined if there are no entities in the response.
• .entities will either be an array of entities in the response, or an empty array.
• .user is a special alias for .entity for when querying the users collection. Instead of being a UsergridEntity, it will be its subclass, UsergridUser.
• .users is the same as .user, though behaves as .entities does by returning either an array of UsergridUser objects or an empty array.

Examples:

Usergrid.GET('collection', function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    // third param is an array of entities because no specific entity was referenced
    // you can also access:
    //     usergridResponse.entities
    //     usergridResponse.first    
    //     usergridResponse.entity (the first entity)      
    //     usergridResponse.last		 
})
    
Usergrid.GET('collection', '<uuid or name>', function(error, usergridResponse, entity) {
    // third param is a single entity object
    // you can also access:
    //     usergridResponse.entity
    //     usergridResponse.first  
    //     usergridResponse.last                
})
    
Usergrid.GET('users', function(error, usergridResponse, users) {
    // third param is an array of users because no specific user was referenced
    // you can also access:
    //     usergridResponse.users
    //     usergridResponse.user (the first user)          
    //     usergridResponse.last 
})
    
Usergrid.GET('users', '<uuid, username, or email>', function(error, usergridResponse, user) {
    // third param is a single user object
    // you can also access:
    //     usergridResponse.user
})

Connections

Connections can be managed using Usergrid.connect(), Usergrid.disconnect(), and Usergrid.getConnections(), or entity convenience methods of the same name.

connect

Create a connection between two entities:

Usergrid.connect(entity1, 'relationship', entity2, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entity1 now has an outbound connection to entity2
})

getConnections

Retrieve outbound connections:

client.getConnections(UsergridClient.Connections.DIRECTION_OUT, entity1, 'relationship', function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    // entities is an array of entities that entity1 is connected to via 'relationship'
    // in this case, we'll see entity2 in the array
})

Retrieve inbound connections:

client.getConnections(UsergridClient.Connections.DIRECTION_IN, entity2, 'relationship', function(error, usergridResponse, entities) {
    // entities is an array of entities that connect to entity2 via 'relationship'
    // in this case, we'll see entity1 in the array
})```
    
### disconnect

Delete a connection between two entities:

```js
Usergrid.disconnect(entity1, 'relationship', entity2, function(error, usergridResponse) {
    // entity1's outbound connection to entity2 has been destroyed
})

Assets

Assets can be uploaded and downloaded either directly using Usergrid.POST or Usergrid.PUT, or via UsergridEntity convenience methods. Before uploading an asset, you will need to initialize a UsergridAsset instance.

UsergridAsset init

Loading a file system image via fs.readFile():

var asset = new UsergridAsset('myImage')
fs.readFile(_dirname + '/image.jpg', function(error, data) {
    asset.data = data
})

Loading a file system image from a read stream (fs.createReadStream()):

var asset = new UsergridAsset('myImage')
fs.createReadStream(_dirname + '/image.jpg').pipe(asset).on('finish', function() {
    // now contains Buffer stream at asset.data
})

You can also access asset.contentType and asset.contentLength once data has been loaded into a UsergridAsset.

.POST and .PUT

POST binary data to a collection by creating a new entity:

var asset = new UsergridAsset('myImage')
fs.createReadStream(_dirname + '/image.jpg').pipe(asset).on('finish', function() {
    client.POST('collection', asset, function(error, assetResponse, entityWithAsset) {
        // asset is now uploaded to Usergrid
    })
})

PUT binary data to an existing entity via attachAsset():

var asset = new UsergridAsset('myImage')
fs.createReadStream(_dirname + '/image.jpg').pipe(asset).on('finish', function() {
    // assume entity already exists; attach it to the entity:
    entity.attachAsset(asset)
    client.PUT(entity, asset, function(error, assetResponse, entityWithAsset) {
        // asset is now uploaded to Usergrid
    })
})

UsergridEntity convenience methods

entity.uploadAsset() is a convenient way to upload an asset that is attached to an entity:

var asset = new UsergridAsset('myImage')
fs.createReadStream(_dirname + '/image.jpg').pipe(asset).on('finish', function() {
    // assume entity already exists; attach it to the entity:
    entity.attachAsset(asset)
    entity.uploadAsset(function(error, assetResponse, entityWithAsset) {
        // asset is now uploaded to Usergrid
    })
})

entity.downloadAsset() allows you to download a binary asset:

entity.uploadAsset(function(error, assetResponse, entityWithAsset) {
    // access the asset via entityWithAsset.asset
})```