How to log a Node.js API in an Express.js app with Mongoose plugins
By: Shailesh Shekhawat
Tags: Debugging, Developer, JavaScript, Mongodb, Nodejs

This tutorial will require prior knowledge of the mongoose Object Relational Mapping (ORM) technique

Introduction

As your application grows, logging becomes a crucial part to keep track of everything. It is especially important for debugging purposes.

Nowadays there are already logging modules available at npm. These modules can store logs in a file in different formats, or levels. We are going to discuss the API logging in your Node.js Express app using the popular ORM Mongoose.

So how you would create a Mongoose plugin that will do logging for you in a cleaner way and make API logging easy?

What is a plugin in Mongoose?

In Mongoose, schemas are pluggable. A plugin is like a function that you can use in your schema and reuse again and again over schema instances.

Mongoose also provides global plugins which you can use for all schemas. For example, we are going to write a plugin that will create a diff of two jsons and write to mongodb .

Step 1: Creating a Basic Log Schema Model

Let’s create a basic log schema with the following six properties:

Action: As per its name, this will be a course of action of the API whether it is create update delete or something else.

As per its name, this will be a course of action of the API whether it is or something else. Category: API category. For example doctors and patients. It is more like a class.

API category. For example doctors and patients. It is more like a class. CreatedBy: User who is using the API or invoked it.

User who is using the API or invoked it. Message: Here you can include any kind of message you want to show that will make sense or help during debugging.

Here you can include any kind of message you want to show that will make sense or help during debugging. Diff: This is the main property which will have the diff of two JSONs

You can add more fields if you want that make sense for your own application. A schema can be changed and upgraded according to requirements.

Here is our model: models/log.js

const mongoose = require('mongoose') const Schema = mongoose.Schema const { ObjectId } = Schema const LogSchema = new Schema({ action: { type: String, required: true }, category: { type: String, required: true }, createdBy: { type: ObjectId, ref: 'Account', required: true }, message: { type: String, required: true }, diff: { type: Schema.Types.Mixed }, },{ timestamps: { createdAt: 'createdAt', updatedAt: 'updatedAt' }, }) LogSchema.index({ action: 1, category: 1 }) module.exports = mongoose.model('Log', LogSchema)

Step 2: Write a function to get the difference between 2 JSONs

So the next step is that you need a reusable function that will create a diff of two JSONs on the fly.

Let's call it diff.js

const _ = require('lodash') exports.getDiff = (curr, prev) => { function changes(object, base) { return _.transform(object, (result, value, key) => { if (!_.isEqual(value, base[key])) result[key] = (_.isObject(value) && _.isObject(base[key])) ? changes(value, base[key]) : value }) } return changes(curr, prev) }

I have used lodash , which is a popular library, to provide the same functionality.

Let's break down the above function and see what's going on:

_.transform: It’s an alternative to .reduce for arrays. Basically, it will iterate over your object keys and values . It provides an accumulator which is the first argument. result is the accumulator and it is mutable.

It’s an alternative to for arrays. Basically, it will iterate over your object and . It provides an which is the first argument. is the accumulator and it is mutable. _.isEqual: Performs a deep comparison between two values to determine if they are equivalent.

isEqual: This method supports comparing arrays, array buffers, booleans, date objects, error objects, maps, numbers, Object objects, regexes, sets, strings, symbols, and typed arrays. Object objects are compared by their own, not inherited, enumerable properties. Functions and DOM nodes are compared by strict equality, i.e. === .

Here we are iterating over each object property and value and comparing it with our old/prev object.

If the value of the current object is not equal to a value of the same property in the previous object: base[key] and if that value is the object itself, we call the function changes recursively until it gets a value which will be finally stored in result as result[key] = value .

Step3: Create a plugin to use diff and save it to database

Now we need to keep track of the previous document in the database and create a diff before saving to mongodb .

const _ = require('lodash') const LogSchema = require('../models/log')

const { getDiff } = require('../utils/diff') const plugin = function (schema) { schema.post('init', doc => { doc._original = doc.toObject({transform: false}) }) schema.pre('save', function (next) { if (this.isNew) { next() }else { this._diff = getDiff(this, this._original) next() } })

schema.methods.log = function (data) { data.diff = { before: this._original, after: this._diff, } return LogSchema.create(data) } } module.exports = plugin

In Mongoose, there are different hooks available. For now, we need to use the init and save methods available on the schema.

this.isNew() : If you are creating the new document then just return next() middleware.

In schema.post('init') toObject() :

doc._original = doc.toObject({transform: false})

Mongoose Model s inherit from Document s, which have a toObject() method. It will convert a document into an Object() and transform:false is for not allowing to transform the return object.

Step 4: Usage — How to use in express.js API

In your main server.js or app.js :

Initialise a global plugin so that it will be available for all schemas. You can also use it for a particular schema by initializing it in the schema model.

const mongoose = require('mongoose') mongoose.plugin(require('./app/utils/diff-plugin'))

Here is a basic example of user update API:

const User = require('../models/user') exports.updateUser = (req, res, next) => { return User.findById(req.params.id)

.then(user => {

if (!user) throw new Error('Target user does not exist. Failed to update.') const { name } = req.body if (name) user.name = name return user.save() })

.then(result => {

res.json(result)

return result

})

.catch(next)

.then(user => { if (user && typeof user.log === 'function') { const data = { action: 'update-user', category: 'users', createdBy: req.user.id, message: 'Updated user name', } return user.log(data) } }).catch(err => { console.log('Caught error while logging: ', err) }) }

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to create a Mongoose plugin and use it to log the changes in your API. You can do a lot more with plugins to build a robust node application.

Here are resources to learn more about Mongoose and plugin usage:

80/20 Guide to mongoose plugins: http://thecodebarbarian.com/2015/03/06/guide-to-mongoose-plugins

https://mongoosejs.com/docs/plugins.html

I hope you find this tutorial useful, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

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