StorableCollections

StorableCollections provide a way to organize a set of similar StorableObjects. (If you are familiar with Relational Databases such as MySQL, a StorableCollection is similar to a "table").

Here's a simple app that stores a list of awesome people.

import("storage");

if (!storage.awesomePeople) {
    storage.awesomePeople = new StorableCollection();
    var ap = storage.awesomePeople;
    ap.add({name: "Arnold Schwarzenegger", title: "Governator"});
    ap.add({name: "Larry David", title: "Old Jewish Comedian"});
    ap.add({name: "Janet Jackson", title: "Rock Star"});
}

storage.awesomePeople.forEach(function(person) {
    print(P(person.name, " (", person.title, ")"));
});
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Note that we used the add function to put objects into the StorableCollection.

Once there are objects in a StorableCollection, you can use various functions to access particular ones in particular orders. These functions can be "chained" together however you like, as in the following example.

import("storage");

if (!storage.visitors) {
    storage.visitors = new StorableCollection();
}

// Add the current visitor to the collection.
storage.visitors.add({ip: request.clientAddr, when: new Date()});

// Display recent visitors
print(P("Recent visitors to this page:"));
var t = TABLE({border:1});

storage.visitors.sortBy("-when").limit(10).forEach(function(v) {
    t.push(TR(TD(v.ip), TD(v.when)));
});
print(t);
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Further Notes:

  • Unlike most relational databases, there is no pre-defined schema for StorableCollections. You can add new properties on the fly to any object in a collection and it will just work.

  • For debugging, you can print a StorableCollection directly with print(storage.myCollection). This will display a formatted table.

  • Each object in a StorableCollection is a StorableObject, and therefore has a unique id field, which can be used with getStorable() to retrieve it directly.

  • See the reference docs for StorableCollections.

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