Derived attribute absent in JSON response in Sails.js - json

Question

I'm writing an API for users in an example app. The api/models/User-file looks as follows:
module.exports = {
attributes: {
firstName: {
type: 'string',
required: true
},
lastName: {
type: 'string',
required: true
},
fullName: function () {
return this.firstName + ' ' + this.lastName;
}
}
};
However, when I find all my users, the derived attribute is nowhere to be found in the response:
[
{
"firstName": "Marlon",
"lastName": "Brando",
"createdAt": "2015-09-13T10:05:15.129Z",
"updatedAt": "2015-09-13T10:05:15.129Z",
"id": 8
},
{
"firstName": "Bjoern",
"lastName": "Gustavsson",
"createdAt": "2015-09-13T10:05:36.221Z",
"updatedAt": "2015-09-13T10:05:36.221Z",
"id": 10
},
{
"firstName": "Charlie",
"lastName": "Sheen",
"createdAt": "2015-09-13T10:06:59.999Z",
"updatedAt": "2015-09-13T10:06:59.999Z",
"id": 11
}
]
Am I missing something, or is it simply not possible to derive attributes like this?

Answer 1

When you are set attributes in Model with function it doesn't mean that it will be executed in resulting attribute. It means that you can call this function in your code. For instance, I have exactly your User model. I can make in my code smth like this:
// api/controllers/UserController.js
module.exports = {
index: function(req, res) {
User
.create({firstName: req.param('firstName'), lastName: req.param('lastName')})
.then(function(user) {
console.log(user.fullName());
return user;
})
.then(res.ok)
.catch(res.negotiate);
}
};
If you want to make it like a dynamic attribute, then you should take a look at toJSON method in your model. You can override it and implement your own logic. I think it will looks like this in your case:
// api/models/User.js
module.exports = {
attributes: {
firstName: {
type: 'string'
},
lastName: {
type: 'string'
},
fullName: function() {
return [this.firstName, this.lastName].join(' ');
},
toJSON: function() {
var obj = this.toObject();
obj.fullName = this.fullName();
return obj;
}
}
};
I didn't check this code but think that should work. You can play around with toJSON method and see what you got. Ping me in comments if code doesn't work.