How do you insert / find rows related by foreign keys from different tables using Sequelize? - mysql

Question

I think I've done enough research on this subject and I've only got a headache.
Here is what I have done and understood: I have restructured my MySQL database so that I will keep my user's data in different tables, I am using foreign keys. Until now I only concluded that foreign keys are only used for consistency and control and they do not automatize or do anything else (for example, to insert data about the same user in two tables I need to use two separate insert statements and the foreign key will not help to make this different or automatic in some way).
Fine. Here is what I want to do: I want to use Sequelize to insert, update and retrieve data altogether from all the related tables at once and I have absolutely no idea on how to do that. For example, if a user registers, I want to be able to insert the data in the table "A" containing some user information and in the same task insert in the table B some other data (like the user's settings in the dedicated table or whatever). Same with retrievals, I want to be able to get an object (or array) with all the related data from different tables fitting in the criteria I want to find by.
Sequelize documentation covers the things in a way that every thing depends on the previous one, and Sequelize is pretty bloated with a lot of stuff I do not need. I do not want to use .sync(). I do not want to use migrations. I have the structure of my database created already and I want Sequelize to attach to it.
Is it possible insert and retrieve several rows related at the same time and getting / using a single Sequelize command / object? How?
Again, by "related data" I mean data "linked" by sharing the same foreign key.

Answer 1

Is it possible insert and retrieve several rows related at the same
time and getting / using a single Sequelize command / object? How?
Yes. What you need is eager loading.
Look at the following example
const User = sequelize.define('user', {
username: Sequelize.STRING,
});
const Address = sequelize.define('add', {
address: Sequelize.STRING,
});
const Designation = sequelize.define('designation', {
designation: Sequelize.STRING,
});
User.hasOne(Address);
User.hasMany(Designation);
sequelize.sync({ force: true })
.then(() => User.create({
username: 'test123',
add: {
address: 'this is dummy address'
},
designations: [
{ designation: 'designation1' },
{ designation: 'designation2' },
],
}, { include: [Address, Designation] }))
.then(user => {
User.findAll({
include: [Address, Designation],
}).then((result) => {
console.log(result);
});
});
In console.log, you will get all the data with all its associated models that you want to include in the query