Set default value for field if value is null

Questions / Help
1

Hi,

Today, I faced with something sounded really simple, but I’ve not found an efficient solution yet. Yesterday, I added bunch of new array column to one table in DB, unfortunately, old data didn’t have that field so it all null. I use Absinthe to create a small wrap around these data, so FE get all of the new array fields null. They are upset with me, so I said I will change these null to [].

I found some solutions but not really efficient:

  • I may update return of all resolve that use this Object (there are ton of these)
  • I may create resolves for each new list_of fields
  • I may migrate null data in DB to [] (the last choose)
object :a do
 field :b, list_of(:string)
 field :c, list_of(:string)
 field :d, list_of(:string)
 field :e, list_of(:string)

Current response {b: null, c: null, d: null, e: null}
Want response {b: [], c: [], d: [], e: []}

2

I would change it in the database with a data migration.

3 Likes
3

Well, the fundamental question is whether null is a valid value for that column or not. If it is a valid value, then the front end needs to deal with it. If it isn’t a valid value, then you should set a database level default and set a non null constraint.

5 Likes
4

Thanks you, really interesting article, I come up with lots of use cases with this approach. Back to my problem, migrating data in production DB is always a critical operation, I definitely want to avoid the risk, so I put in the last options. Moreover, the requirement for the default value of old records may change which mean another migration.

Normally, I think FE is the best suit for this case. They can change without downtime and less risk.

5

At the end of the day, I come up with the second solution with macro.

defmacro field!(name, type, default_value: default_value) do
    quote do
      field unquote(name), unquote(type) do
        resolve(fn
          %{unquote(name) => nil}, _, _ -> {:ok, unquote(default_value)}
          %{unquote(name) => v}, _, _ -> {:ok, v}
        end)
      end
    end
  end

object :a do
  field! :b, list_of(:string), default_value: []
  field! :c, list_of(:string), default_value: []
  field! :d, list_of(:string), default_value: []
  field! :e, list_of(:string), default_value: []
end
6

Adding a default value to a database column does not cost anything in postgres, it is not risky.

2 Likes