Tutorial

How to use Phoenix forms for embedded schema and JSONB

jsonbformsecto

In this tutorial, I want to show you how you can setup form that stores the data in partly the columns in a database but also some of the fields in JSONB with an embedded schema.

The reason you might want to do this instead of saving all entries in separate columns is that you can add more fields without changing the database.

STEP 1 - Generate a new column

In this example, I already have setup a crud interface for products in a table called shop_products. What I need to to is to add a JSONB coulmn to that table and I will give it the generic name data.

mix ecto.gen.migration add_data_column_to_products

The way to specify a JSONB column in ecto is to add the type :map . The default is an empty map and I dont want it to be blank.

`elixir defmodule Tutorial.Repo.Migrations.AddDataToProducts do use Ecto.Migration

def change do alter table(:shop_products) do add :data, :map, default: %{}, null: false end end end `

NOTE that I dont added an index because I dont need one in this tutorial.

With the migration file in place, I need to run the migrations by:

mix ecto.migrate

STEP 2 - Add a data schema

The data will be en embedded schema with its own changeset, and if needed, its own validation rules. In this example, I want to add size and colour as additional fields to the products.

`elixir # lib/tutorial/shop/data.ex defmodule Tutorial.Shop.Data do use Ecto.Schema import Ecto.Changeset

@primary_key false embedded_schema do field :size, :string field :color, :string end

@doc false def changeset(option, attrs) do option |> cast(attrs, [:size, :color]) |> validate_required([]) end end `

In the product schema, I need to make 3 changes.

  1. alias the Data schema
  2. and an embedsone for the Data shema. Also add the onreplace: :update
  3. in the changeset, add the line |> cast_embed(:data)

`elixir # lib/tutorial/shop/product.ex defmodule Tutorial.Shop.Product do use Ecto.Schema import Ecto.Changeset

alias Tutorial.Shop.Data # <-- ADD THIS LINE

@primarykey {:id, :binaryid, autogenerate: true} @foreignkeytype :binary_id schema "shop_products" do field :archivedat, :naivedatetime field :name, :string

embedsone :data, Data, onreplace: :update # <-- ADD THIS LINE

timestamps() end

@doc false def changeset(product, attrs) do product |> cast(attrs, [:name, :archived_at]) |> validate_required([:name]) |> cast_embed(:data) # <-- ADD THIS LINE end end `

I can test this by putting the data as a key in the valet_attrs map. I want to test this in both create and update.

` elixir # test/tutorial/shop_test.exs test "create_product/1 with data attributes casts and updates embedded data" do validattrs = Map.put(@validattrs, :data, %{size: "L", color: "green"})

assert {:ok, %Product{} = product} = Shop.createproduct(validattrs) assert product.data.size == "L" assert product.data.color == "green"

updateattrs = Map.put(@validattrs, :data, %{size: "M", color: "red"}) assert {:ok, %Product{} = product} = Shop.updateproduct(product, updateattrs) assert product.data.size == "M" assert product.data.color == "red" end `

STEP 3 - Add embedded fields to the form

Since I have setup an embedsone, and that behaves as a relation, I can use fieldsfor to store the values in the data column.

`erb

<%= @title %>

<%= f = form_for @changeset, "#", id: "product-form", phx_target: @myself, phx_change: "validate", phx_submit: "save" %>

<%= label f, :name %> <%= text_input f, :name, class: "form-control" %> <%= error_tag f, :name %>
<%= inputs_for f, :data, fn ff -> %>
<%= label ff, :size %> <%= text_input ff, :size, class: "form-control" %> <%= error_tag ff, :size %>
<%= label ff, :color %> <%= text_input ff, :color, class: "form-control" %> <%= error_tag ff, :color %>
<% end %>

<%= submit "Save", class: "btn btn-primary", phxdisablewith: "Saving..." %>

`

When I start the app, and test the form, it looks just like the other fields. If the fields dont show up, it is most likely because the data field in the database is defaulted to NULL. Make sure that defaults to an empty map.

When that is saved, I can test this in the console by getting the last product and see that the data is there.

Shop.get_product! "3ab9f40e-b290-4a58-9311-c0d88a79eaf1"
=> %Tutorial.Shop.Product{
  __meta__: #Ecto.Schema.Metadata<:loaded, "shop_products">,
  archived_at: nil,
  data: %Tutorial.Shop.Data{color: "Black", size: "L"},
  id: "3ab9f40e-b290-4a58-9311-c0d88a79eaf1",
  inserted_at: ~N[2021-06-01 08:19:21],
  name: "Test",
  updated_at: ~N[2021-06-01 11:13:56]
}

Related Tutorials

Published 10 Feb - 2020
Updated 01 May - 2020

Add an use a JSONB field in Phoenix and Ecto

PostgreSQL has native support for objects stored as JSON as actually binary JSON (or JSONB). With JSONB format, you can add index do the column for ..

Published 20 May

Handling Amount Fields in a Phoenix Application with Ecto Custom Types

In this tutorial, we will discuss a common problem faced in Elixir applications related to handling and storing formatted amount fields in a databas..