Change in the handling of comparison operators on composite models

2 minute read

Composite models that use alias field names only have explicit support for the $like operator. Use of other operators, such as $in, $nin, and so forth, with aliased fields, will behave the same as querying on a non-existent field.

This behavior has been deprecated since API Builder - Eden release.

Beginning with the Eden release, queries on aliased fields in composite models will support the comparison operators $eq, $ne, $in, $nin, $lt, $lte, $gt, $gte, and $like.

This will be the default behavior in all new services.

Why are we deprecating this feature

Previously, querying an aliased field could result in an unexpected result. For example, if a composite model has an aliased field fname, the expectation is that a query such as {"fname": { "$nin": ["Tom" ] } will return all the models except those with a fname of "Tom". However, the actual result is all rows, including those whose fname is "Tom". This is due to the aliased field being treated as a non-existent field.

Now, the aliased field is correctly mapped, and in the example scenario, only those rows whose fname is not "Tom" will be returned.

How does this impact my service

This is now the default behavior for all new services. Any existing services will continue to work as they previously did, though it is strongly recommended you enable the new behavior on existing services.

The changed behavior may impact services that with queries on composite models that have aliased field names.

Upgrading existing services

Updates contain important changes to improve the performance, stability, and security of your services. Installing them ensures that your software continues to run safely and efficiently.

It is strongly recommended you upgrade API Builder to the latest version as well any data connectors you may have in your stack. This feature requires a minimum of:

• API Builder - Eden

After upgrading, the enableAliasesInCompositeOperators feature will not be active until you enable it. To enable it, add the following setting to your default.js file.

flags: {
    enableAliasesInCompositeOperators: true
}

For more detailed information on the configuration options, see Project configuration.

Once enabled, review your service to ensure that you have no logic in your flows or APIs that depends on the deprecated behavior.