Extend with JavaScript - Collection operations - Docs

Collections are usually managed via the Dashboard interface, but there are some situations where you may want to create or edit a collection programmatically (usually as part of a DB migration). You can find all available Collection related operations and methods in $app and Collection , but below are listed some of the most common ones:

Fetch collections

Fetch single collection

All single collection retrieval methods throw an error if no collection is found.

let collection = $app.findCollectionByNameOrId("example") 

Fetch multiple collections

All multiple collections retrieval methods return an empty array if no collections are found.

let allCollections = $app.findAllCollections(/* optional types */)

// only specific types
let authAndViewCollections := $app.findAllCollections("auth", "view") 

Custom collection query

In addition to the above query helpers, you can also create custom Collection queries using $app.collectionQuery() method. It returns a SELECT DB builder that can be used with the same methods described in the Database guide.

let collections = arrayOf(new Collection)

$app.collectionQuery().
    andWhere($dbx.hashExp({"viewRule": null})).
    orderBy("created DESC").
    all(collections) 

Field definitions

All collection fields (with exception of the JSONField) are non-nullable and uses a zero-default for their respective type as fallback value when missing.

Create new collection

// missing default options, system fields like id, email, etc. are initialized automatically
// and will be merged with the provided configuratio
let collection = new Collection({
    type:       "base", // base | auth | view
    name:       "example",
    listRule:   null,
    viewRule:   "@request.auth.id != ''",
    createRule: "",
    updateRule: "@request.auth.id != ''",
    deleteRule: null,
    fields: [
        {
            name:     "title",
            type:     "text",
            required: true,
            max: 10,
        },
        {
            name:          "user",
            type:          "relation",
            required:      true,
            maxSelect:     1,
            collectionId:  "ae40239d2bc4477",
            cascadeDelete: true,
        },
    ],
    indexes: [
        "CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_user ON example (user)"
    ],
})

// validate and persist
// (use saveNoValidate to skip fields validation)
$app.save(collection) 

Update existing collection

let collection = $app.findCollectionByNameOrId("example")

// change the collection name
collection.name = "example_update"

// add new editor field
collection.fields.add(new EditorField({
    name:     "description",
    required: true,
}))

// change existing field
// (returns a pointer and direct modifications are allowed without the need of reinsert)
let titleField = collection.fields.getByName("title")
titleField.min = 10

// or: collection.indexes.push("CREATE INDEX idx_example_title ON example (title)")
collection.addIndex("idx_example_title", false, "title", "")

// validate and persist
// (use saveNoValidate to skip fields validation)
$app.save(collection) 

Delete collection

let collection = $app.findCollectionByNameOrId("example")

$app.delete(collection) 