Nestjs Typeorm paginate

Please vote on your prefered method of querying! Take+Skip vs Limit+Offset

Pagination helper method for TypeORM repositories or queryBuilders with strict typings

Install

1$ yarn add nestjs-typeorm-paginate

or

1$ npm i nestjs-typeorm-paginate

Usage

Service

Repository

1import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
2import { Repository } from 'typeorm';
3import { InjectRepository } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
4import { CatEntity } from './entities';
5import {
6  paginate,
7  Pagination,
8  IPaginationOptions,
9} from 'nestjs-typeorm-paginate';
10
11@Injectable()
12export class CatService {
13  constructor(
14    @InjectRepository(CatEntity)
15    private readonly repository: Repository<CatEntity>,
16  ) {}
17
18  async paginate(options: IPaginationOptions): Promise<Pagination<CatEntity>> {
19    return paginate<CatEntity>(this.repository, options);
20  }
21}

QueryBuilder

1import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
2import { Repository } from 'typeorm';
3import { InjectRepository } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
4import { CatEntity } from './entities';
5import {
6  paginate,
7  Pagination,
8  IPaginationOptions,
9} from 'nestjs-typeorm-paginate';
10
11@Injectable()
12export class CatService {
13  constructor(
14    @InjectRepository(CatEntity)
15    private readonly repository: Repository<CatEntity>,
16  ) {}
17
18  async paginate(options: IPaginationOptions): Promise<Pagination<CatEntity>> {
19    const queryBuilder = this.repository.createQueryBuilder('c');
20    queryBuilder.orderBy('c.name', 'DESC'); // Or whatever you need to do
21
22    return paginate<CatEntity>(queryBuilder, options);
23  }
24}

Controller

1import { Controller, DefaultValuePipe, Get, ParseIntPipe, Query } from '@nestjs/common';
2import { CatService } from './cat.service';
3import { CatEntity } from './cat.entity';
4import { Pagination } from 'nestjs-typeorm-paginate';
5
6@Controller('cats')
7export class CatsController {
8  constructor(private readonly catService: CatService) {}
9  @Get('')
10  async index(
11    @Query('page', new DefaultValuePipe(1), ParseIntPipe) page: number = 1,
12    @Query('limit', new DefaultValuePipe(10), ParseIntPipe) limit: number = 10,
13  ): Promise<Pagination<CatEntity>> {
14    limit = limit > 100 ? 100 : limit;
15    return this.catService.paginate({
16      page,
17      limit,
18      route: 'http://cats.com/cats',
19    });
20  }
21}

If you use ParseIntPipe on the query params (as in the example), don't forget to also add DefaultValuePipe. See issue 517 for more info.

the route property of the paginate options can also be the short version of an absolute path , In this case, it would be /cats instead of http://cats.com/cats

Example Response

1{
2  "items": [
3    {
4      "lives": 9,
5      "type": "tabby",
6      "name": "Bobby"
7    },
8    {
9      "lives": 2,
10      "type": "Ginger",
11      "name": "Garfield"
12    },
13    {
14      "lives": 6,
15      "type": "Black",
16      "name": "Witch's mate"
17    },
18    {
19      "lives": 7,
20      "type": "Purssian Grey",
21      "name": "Alisdaya"
22    },
23    {
24      "lives": 1,
25      "type": "Alistair",
26      "name": "ali"
27    },
28    ...
29  ],
30  "meta": {
31    "itemCount": 10,
32    "totalItems": 20,
33    "itemsPerPage": 10,
34    "totalPages": 5,
35    "currentPage": 2
36  },
37  "links" : {
38    "first": "http://cats.com/cats?limit=10",
39    "previous": "http://cats.com/cats?page=1&limit=10",
40    "next": "http://cats.com/cats?page=3&limit=10",
41    "last": "http://cats.com/cats?page=5&limit=10"
42  }
43}

items: An array of SomeEntity

meta.itemCount: The length of items array (i.e., the amount of items on this page) meta.totalItems: The total amount of SomeEntity matching the filter conditions meta.itemsPerPage: The requested items per page (i.e., the limit parameter)

meta.totalPages: The total amount of pages (based on the limit) meta.currentPage: The current page this paginator "points" to

links.first: A URL for the first page to call | "" (blank) if no route is defined links.previous: A URL for the previous page to call | "" (blank) if no previous to call links.next: A URL for the next page to call | "" (blank) if no page to call links.last: A URL for the last page to call | "" (blank) if no route is defined

Do note that links.first may not have the 'page' query param defined

Find Parameters

1@Injectable()
2export class CatService {
3  constructor(
4    @InjectRepository(CatEntity)
5    private readonly repository: Repository<CatEntity>,
6  ) {}
7
8  async paginate(options: IPaginationOptions): Promise<Pagination<CatEntity>> {
9    return paginate<CatEntity>(this.repository, options, {
10      lives: 9,
11    });
12  }
13}

Eager loading

Eager loading should work with typeorm's eager property out the box. Like so

1import { Entity, OneToMany } from 'typeorm';
2
3@Entity()
4export class CatEntity {
5  @OneToMany(t => TigerKingEntity, tigerKing.cats, {
6    eager: true,
7  })
8  tigerKings: TigerKingEntity[];
9}
10
11// service
12class CatService {
13  constructor(private readonly repository: Repository<CatEntity>) {}
14
15  async paginate(page: number, limit: number): Promise<Pagination<CatEntity>> {
16    return paginate(this.repository, { page, limit });
17  }
18}

QueryBuilder

However, when using the query builder you'll have to hydrate the entities yourself. Here is a crude example that I've used in the past. It's not great but this is partially what typeORM will do.

1const results = paginate(queryBuilder, { page, limit });
2
3return new Pagination(
4  await Promise.all(
5    results.items.map(async (item: SomeEntity) => {
6      const hydrate = await this.someRepository.findByEntity(item);
7      item.hydrated = hydrate;
8
9      return item;
10    }),
11  ),
12  results.meta,
13  results.links,
14);

Raw queries

1const queryBuilder = this.repository
2  .createQueryBuilder<{ type: string; totalLives: string }>('c')
3  .select('c.type', 'type')
4  .addSelect('SUM(c.lives)', 'totalLives')
5  .groupBy('c.type')
6  .orderBy('c.type', 'DESC'); // Or whatever you need to do
7
8return paginateRaw(queryBuilder, options);

Raw and Entities

A similar approach is used for TypeORM's getRawAndEntities

Let's assume there's a joined table that matches each cat with its cat toys. And we want to bring how many toys each cat has.

1
2const queryBuilder = this.repository
3  .createQueryBuilder<{ type: string; totalLives: string }>('cat')
4    .leftJoinAndSelect('cat.toys', 'toys')
5    .addSelect('COUNT(toys)::INTEGER', 'toyCount')
6    .groupBy('cat.name');

This will allow us to get the paginated cats information with the additional raw query to build our actual response value. The return pagination object will be the same, but you're now able to handle or map the results and the raw objects as needed.

1const [pagination, rawResults] = await paginateRawAndEntities(query, options);
2pagination.items.map((item, index) => {
3  // we can do what we need with the items and raw results here
4  // change your items using rawResults.find(raw => raw.id === item.id)
5});
6return pagination;

Note about joined tables and raw values

Since the values of the raw results will include all the joined table items as queried, you must make sure to handle the items as needed for your use case. Refer to TypeORM's getRawAndEntities implementation as needed.

The rawResults array will look something like this:

1[
2    { // Bobby appears 3 times due to the joined query
3      "cat_lives": 9,
4      "cat_type": "tabby",
5      "cat_name": "Bobby",
6      "toyCount": 3
7    },
8    {
9      "cat_lives": 9,
10      "cat_type": "tabby",
11      "cat_name": "Bobby",
12      "toyCount": 3
13    },
14    {
15      "cat_lives": 9,
16      "cat_type": "tabby",
17      "cat_name": "Bobby",
18      "toyCount": 3
19    },
20    {
21      "cat_lives": 2,
22      "cat_type": "Ginger",
23      "cat_name": "Garfield",
24      "toyCount": 1
25    },
26    ...
27]

Custom meta data transformer

If you wanted to alter the meta data that is returned from the pagination object. Then use the metaTransformer in the options like so

1
2class CustomPaginationMeta {
3  constructor(
4    public readonly count: number,
5    public readonly total: number,
6  ) {}
7}
8
9return paginate<MyEntity, CustomPaginationMeta>(this.repository, { 
10  page,
11  limit,
12  metaTransformer: (meta: IPaginationMeta): CustomPaginationMeta => new CustomPaginationMeta(
13    meta.itemCount,
14    meta.totalItems,
15  ),
16 });

This will result in the above returning CustomPaginationMeta in the meta property instead of the default IPaginationMeta.

Custom links query params labels

If you want to alter the limit and/or page labels in meta links, then use routingLabels in the options like so

1
2return paginate<MyEntity>(this.repository, { 
3  page,
4  limit,
5  routingLabels: {
6    limitLabel: 'page-size', // default: limit
7    pageLabel: 'current-page', //default: page
8  }
9 });

This will result links like http://example.com/something?current-page=1&page-size=3.