Nestjs Response Serialization with array of objects

Question

I want to serialize a controller response by the nestjs serialization technique. I didn't find any approach and my solution is as follows:

User Entity

export type UserRoleType = "admin" | "editor" | "ghost";

@Entity()
export class User {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn() id: number;

    @Column('text')
        username: string;
    @Column('text') 
        password: string;
    @Column({
        type: "enum",
        enum: ["admin", "editor", "ghost"],
        default: "ghost"
    })
    roles: UserRoleType;
        @Column({ nullable: true })
                profileId: number;  
}

User Response Classes

import { Exclude } from 'class-transformer';

export class UserResponse {
    id: number;

    username: string;

    @Exclude()
    roles: string;

    @Exclude()
    password: string;

    @Exclude()
    profileId: number;  

    constructor(partial: Partial<UserResponse>) {
        Object.assign(this, partial);
    }
}

import { Exclude, Type } from 'class-transformer';
import { User } from 'src/_entities/user.entity';
import { UserResponse } from './user.response';

export class UsersResponse {

    @Type(() => UserResponse)
    users: User[]   

    constructor() { }
}

Controller

@Controller('user')
export class UsersController {
    constructor(
        private readonly userService: UserService
    ) {

    }
    @UseInterceptors(ClassSerializerInterceptor)
    @Get('all')
    async findAll(
    ): Promise<UsersResponse> {
        let users = await this.userService.findAll().catch(e => { throw new   NotAcceptableException(e) })
        let rsp =new UsersResponse() 
        rsp.users = users
        return rsp
    }

It works, but I must explicitly assign the db query result to the response users member. Is there a better way? Thanks a lot

Here the actual Response and wanted result, for a better explanation.

Result in this Approach

{
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "username": "a"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "username": "bbbbbb"
    }
  ]
}

Result Wanted

{
    {
      "id": 1,
      "username": "a"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "username": "bbbbbb"
    }
}

Answer 1

I would recommend to directly put the @Exclude decorators on your entity class User instead of duplicating the properties in UserResponse. The following answer assumes you have done so.

---

Flat Response

If you have a look at the code of the ClassSerializerInterceptor, you can see that it automatically handles arrays:

return isArray
  ? (response as PlainLiteralObject[]).map(item =>
      this.transformToPlain(item, options),
    )
  : this.transformToPlain(response, options);

However, it will only transform them, if you directly return the array, so return users instead of return {users: users}:

@UseInterceptors(ClassSerializerInterceptor)
@Get('all')
async findAll(): Promise<User> {
    return this.userService.findAll()
}

---

Nested Response

If you need the nested response, then your way is a good solution. Alternatively, you can call class-transformer's serialize directly instead of using the ClassSerializerInterceptor. It also handles arrays automatically:

import { serialize } from 'class-transformer';

@Get('all')
async findAll(): Promise<UsersResponse> {
  const users: User[] = await this.userService.findAll();
  return {users: serialize(users)};
}

Answer 2

Wow, what easy, if i know! Perfect, this solves my problem. Also your recommendation for the User Entity with the class-transformer @Exclue() decorator.

And i know that i do not need a custom UsersResponse class in this use case. This solution was that what i was looking for, but i overjump this quite easy way

Thank you so much for your superfast answer and the problem solution.

Greetings to Berlin from Rostock :)

Here my final approach:

Controller

@UseInterceptors(ClassSerializerInterceptor)
@Get('all')
async findAll(
): Promise<User> {
    return await this.userService.findAll().catch(e => { throw new NotAcceptableException(e) })
}

User Entitiy

import { Entity, Column, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, OneToOne, JoinColumn, OneToMany } from 'typeorm';
import { Profile } from './profile.entity';
import { Photo } from './photo.entity';
import { Album } from './album.entity';
import { Exclude } from 'class-transformer';

export type UserRoleType = "admin" | "editor" | "ghost";

@Entity()
export class User {
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn() id: number;
    @Column('text')
    username: string;

    @Exclude()
    @Column('text')
    password: string;

    @Column({
        type: "enum",
        enum: ["admin", "editor", "ghost"],
        default: "ghost"
    })
    roles: UserRoleType;

    @Exclude()
    @Column({ nullable: true })
    profileId: number;

    @OneToMany(type => Photo, photo => photo.user)
    photos: Photo[];

    @OneToMany(type => Album, albums => albums.user)
    albums: Album[];

    @OneToOne(type => Profile, profile => profile.user)
    @JoinColumn()
    profile: Profile;
}

Response Result

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "username": "a",
    "roles": "admin"
  },
  {
    "id": 2,
    "username": "bbbbbb",
    "roles": "ghost"
  }
]