Typeorm: provide default value for boolean with Mongo database

Question

I am using typeorm with Mongo database. I want to provide a default value for a column with boolean datatype.

My entity looks as following:

@ObjectIdColumn()
  id: ObjectID;

  @Column()
  name: string;

  @Column()
  startDate: Date;

  @Column()
  endDate: Date;

  @Column()
  inspectionTypeId: string;

  @Column()
  questions: string[];

  @Column('boolean', {default: true})
  isActive: boolean;

However, when I save into the repo, isActive column is not added.

Answer 1

You can do this:

@Column('boolean', {default: true})
isActive: boolean = true;

if you don't pass a value to isActive it will be true, if you pass a value it will be this value.

Answer 2

I've faced with the same problem in fact. So my stack is the same (MongoDB + TypeORM). I have the same isActive field in the model and what I wanted to do is to set it 'false' by default. I tried to set 'false' and couldn't reach the goal.

I re-read multiple times this part (https://typeorm.io/#/entities)

default: string - Adds database-level column's DEFAULT value.

and got the idea that the default option doesn't work for boolean types at all (maybe I'm wrong).

So in order to set it, I used beforeInsert hook.

  @Column({
    nullable: false,
    select: false,
  })
  isActive: boolean;

  @BeforeInsert()
  beforeInsertActions() {
    this.isActive = false;
  }

More about hooks: https://typeorm.io/#/listeners-and-subscribers