Create & edit a many to many relationship with supabase
Hi, I'm new to Refine and I'm looking for a more elegant way to manage many-to-many relationships with Supabase as my data provider. I've looked at the useMany() example in the documentation, but it seems to focus on one-to-many relationships.
My tables are structured as follows: contacts <-> contact_has_address <-> address
Currently, I'm using multiple useCreate and useCreateMany hooks to create these relationships, but it feels a bit clunky. For example, I first create the address, then I create the contact_has_address record to link both tables. However, editing this setup is proving to be challenging.
Additionally, I need to handle a scenario where a contact can have multiple phone numbers that can be edited, deleted, or added later. This aspect seems a bit tricky based on the documentation I've seen.
I'm curious if there's a more refined approach in Refine to handle these complexities?
14 Replies
Hi @eno. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:
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Based on the information provided in the extracts, there's a detailed explanation on how to handle many-to-many relationships in Refine with Supabase as the data provider, which can be applied to your scenario with
contacts
, contact_has_address
, and address
tables.
For managing many-to-many relationships, such as your contacts <-> contact_has_address <-> address
, you can utilize the meta
property in your Refine hooks to specify the relationships and how you want to retrieve or manipulate the data. This approach is similar to the example provided for handling movies <-> categories_movies <-> categories
relationships.
When retrieving data to display, for instance, you can use the useTable
hook with a meta
property to specify a select
query that includes the related data. Here's an adapted example based on the documentation for handling many-to-many relationships:
This example assumes you want to list contacts along with their addresses. The !inner
part is used to perform an inner join operation, ensuring that only contacts with addresses are retrieved. You would need to adjust the select
query to match your table structure and the data you wish to retrieve.
For creating and editing these relationships, the documentation mentions using useCreate
or useCreateMany
hooks for submitting data to the intermediary table (contact_has_address
in your case). While the extracts don't provide a direct example of creating or editing many-to-many relationships, the principle would involve:
1. Creating or editing the main entity (e.g., contact
or address
).
2. Using useCreate
or useCreateMany
to manage entries in the contact_has_address
table to link contacts and addresses.
For handling scenarios like editing, deleting, or adding multiple phone numbers for a contact, you would follow a similar approach by managing these relationships through the intermediary table that links contacts to phone numbers. Unfortunately, the extracts don't provide specific examples for editing or deleting relationships, but the general approach would involve using the appropriate hooks (useUpdate
, useDelete
) to manage the entries in your intermediary tables.
For more detailed guidance and examples, I recommend reviewing the Refine documentation on handling many-to-many relationships: Handling many-to-many relationships in Refine with Supabase (https://refine.dev/docs/data/packages/supabase#select---handling-many-to-many-relationships).
This documentation will provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of how to structure your queries and operations to manage complex relationships in your application.
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equal-aqua•7mo ago
@kapa.ai The problem is not when retrieving data to display is about creating and updating
Let me check the knowledge base for you. One moment! :books:
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Based on the extracts provided, there's specific guidance on how to handle the creation aspect of many-to-many relationships using Refine with Supabase, particularly focusing on removing fields before submitting forms and creating entries in intermediary tables. Although the extracts don't directly address updating many-to-many relationships, the principles for creation can be adapted for updates as well.
For creating many-to-many relationships, as mentioned in the GitHub issue extract, when you have a structure like
contacts <-> contact_has_address <-> address
, and Supabase throws an error because it can't find a direct column linking the two main tables (since the relationship is managed through an intermediary table), you need to:
1. Remove the field that doesn't directly exist in the table before submitting the form.
2. Use useCreate
or useCreateMany
hooks to send create requests to the intermediary table (contact_has_address
in your scenario).
Here's a conceptual example based on the guidance provided:
For updating, you would follow a similar approach but with useUpdate
or useUpdateMany
for the main entities (contacts or addresses) and then manage the entries in the contact_has_address
table as needed (creating new links, updating existing ones, or deleting them).
Unfortunately, the extracts do not provide a direct example of using useUpdate
or useUpdateMany
within the context of many-to-many relationships. However, the principle remains the same as creating new entries: manage the main entities with their respective hooks and then separately manage the relationships through the intermediary table.
For more detailed examples and guidance on creating, updating, and managing many-to-many relationships with Refine and Supabase, I recommend consulting the official Refine documentation and Supabase guides, as they will offer comprehensive insights and examples tailored to various use cases.
Refine Documentation on Data Fetching and Relationships (https://refine.dev/docs/guides-concepts/data-fetching#relationships) and Supabase Documentation (https://supabase.com/docs) would be good starting points for deeper exploration.
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equal-aqua•7mo ago
@kapa.ai is this much easier with graphql if i change the provider
Let me check the knowledge base for you. One moment! :books:
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Based on the information provided in the extracts, using GraphQL with Refine for managing many-to-many relationships could indeed streamline some aspects of your data operations, especially creation and updating. The GraphQL data provider in Refine is designed to handle dynamic queries and mutations efficiently, which can be particularly beneficial for complex data structures like many-to-many relationships.
The GraphQL data provider in Refine is built with tools like gql-query-builder (https://github.com/atulmy/gql-query-builder) and graphql-request (https://github.com/prisma-labs/graphql-request), as mentioned in the extracts. This setup allows you to dynamically build queries and mutations, which can simplify the process of creating and updating many-to-many relationships.
For example, when you need to create or update many-to-many relationships, you can use GraphQL mutations to either create new entries in your intermediary table or update existing ones. The ability to specify exactly which fields to mutate or query with GraphQL can make handling these relationships more straightforward compared to REST, where you might need to manage multiple endpoints and payloads.
Here's a conceptual example based on the information provided:
This GraphQL mutation example illustrates how you might create a contact and link it with addresses in a single operation, assuming your GraphQL server is set up to handle such nested operations. The exact implementation would depend on your GraphQL schema and how you've structured mutations and types.
Switching to a GraphQL provider could offer more elegant solutions for managing complex data relationships, thanks to GraphQL's powerful query language and the ability to fetch or mutate exactly what you need in a single request. However, the ease of implementation also heavily depends on how well your GraphQL server is designed to handle these relationships.
For more detailed guidance on using GraphQL with Refine, including setting up data providers and using hooks with GraphQL, refer to the Refine GraphQL documentation (https://refine.dev/docs/data/packages/graphql#graphql-query-builder). This resource will provide you with insights into building queries and mutations, as well as how to leverage the
meta
property to customize your data operations further.
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equal-aqua•7mo ago
Can anyone else, based on their experience, suggest a better solution?
@kapa.ai I have overwritten the method onFinish
formProps={{
async onFinish(values) {
function updateOrder(array: any) {
return array.map((obj: any, index: any) => ({
...obj,
order: index + 1,
}));
}
const updatedData = updateOrder(values.phone_numbers);
function compareById(obj1: any, obj2: any) {
return obj1.id === obj2.id;
}
const toEdit = updatedData.filter((initialObj: any) => phone_numbers.some( (editedObj: any) => compareById(editedObj, initialObj) && JSON.stringify(editedObj) !== JSON.stringify(initialObj) ) ); const idsToEdit = toEdit.map((obj: any) => obj.id); const toEditWithoutId = toEdit.map(({ id, ...rest }) => rest); if (toEdit.length > 0) { await updateMany({ resource: "phone_numbers", ids: idsToEdit, values: toEditWithoutId?.map((contact: any) => ({ ...contact, })) ?? [], }); } }, }} and is getting saved in the database but is not showing in the page without refreshing and when i want to refresh i get the popup "Changes you made may not be saved."
const toEdit = updatedData.filter((initialObj: any) => phone_numbers.some( (editedObj: any) => compareById(editedObj, initialObj) && JSON.stringify(editedObj) !== JSON.stringify(initialObj) ) ); const idsToEdit = toEdit.map((obj: any) => obj.id); const toEditWithoutId = toEdit.map(({ id, ...rest }) => rest); if (toEdit.length > 0) { await updateMany({ resource: "phone_numbers", ids: idsToEdit, values: toEditWithoutId?.map((contact: any) => ({ ...contact, })) ?? [], }); } }, }} and is getting saved in the database but is not showing in the page without refreshing and when i want to refresh i get the popup "Changes you made may not be saved."
Let me check the knowledge base for you. One moment! :books:
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Based on the information provided in the extracts, it seems you're encountering an issue where updates made through an overridden
onFinish
method in a form are successfully saved to the database but are not reflected on the page without a manual refresh. Additionally, you're facing a warning about unsaved changes when attempting to refresh the page.
To address the issue of changes not being reflected immediately on the page, you should consider invalidating the query cache for the affected data after a successful mutation. This action prompts Refine to refetch the data, ensuring that your UI is updated with the latest information from the database. However, based on the extracts provided, there's no direct mention of using a specific hook or method for invalidating the cache within the context of an overridden onFinish
method.
In general, with Refine and similar frameworks, after performing update operations (like updateMany
in your case), you would typically use a query invalidation function to ensure the UI reflects the latest data. For example, if you're using React Query with Refine, you might use the useQueryClient
hook to get the query client instance and then call invalidateQueries
for the specific query key associated with your data.
Here's a conceptual example of how you might do this, although it's important to note that this specific approach isn't directly extracted from the provided information:
Regarding the warning about unsaved changes ("Changes you made may not be saved."), this typically occurs when there are unsaved changes in the form, and the user attempts to navigate away or refresh the page. To address this, ensure that your form's state is correctly updated upon successful submission, indicating that there are no unsaved changes. This might involve resetting the form state or updating a local state variable that tracks whether there are unsaved changes.
Unfortunately, without more specific information or extracts related to handling form state or invalidating queries in Refine, I can't provide a more detailed solution tailored to Refine's specific mechanisms for these actions.
For comprehensive guidance on managing form state, performing mutations, and invalidating queries within Refine, I recommend consulting the official Refine documentation, particularly sections related to form handling and data fetching/mutation: Refine Documentation (https://refine.dev/docs/).
This documentation will offer detailed insights and examples that can help you resolve the issues you're facing with form submissions and UI updates.
----------------------
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equal-aqua•7mo ago
@kapa.ai i'm using supabase as dataprovider if that makes any diffrence
Let me check the knowledge base for you. One moment! :books:
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Given that you're using Supabase as your data provider with Refine, the approach to ensuring your page reflects the updated data without requiring a manual refresh, and to avoid the "Changes you made may not be saved." popup, involves a couple of steps. However, it's important to note that the specific extracts provided do not include direct instructions on handling cache invalidation or form state management with Supabase in Refine. Therefore, I'll provide a general approach based on common practices within the Refine framework and Supabase usage.
1. Ensuring UI Updates with Supabase
After performing update operations with Supabase as your data provider, you typically want to ensure that your UI reflects the latest data. With Refine, data fetching and updates are often managed through hooks that internally handle caching and re-fetching. However, if you find that your UI is not automatically updating after a mutation, you might need to manually trigger a re-fetch of your data.
While the extracts do not provide a specific method for this within the context of Supabase and Refine, a common approach in similar frameworks involves using a hook or function to re-fetch the data. In Refine, if you're using data hooks like
useList
or useOne
, these hooks should automatically re-fetch data when the underlying data changes if they are set up correctly.
2. Handling the "Changes you made may not be saved." Popup
This warning typically occurs due to form state indicating unsaved changes. In a React environment, this can be managed by resetting the form state upon successful submission. With Refine and Supabase, if you're using a form library (like React Hook Form, which is commonly used with Refine), you would call its reset
method after a successful update to clear the form's dirty state.
Here's a conceptual approach, assuming you're using a form library that provides a reset
method:
Please replace form.reset()
with the actual method provided by your form library to reset the form state.
Additional Notes
- Real-time Updates: Supabase supports real-time subscriptions. If your use case benefits from real-time data, consider using Supabase's real-time capabilities to listen for changes and update your UI accordingly.
- Documentation and Examples: For specific examples and detailed guidance on using Refine with Supabase, including handling form submissions and data updates, refer to the Refine Supabase documentation (https://refine.dev/docs/data/packages/supabase) and Supabase documentation (https://supabase.com/docs).
Remember, the exact implementation details can vary based on your application's structure and the libraries you're using. The suggestions provided here are based on common practices and may need to be adapted to fit your specific scenario.
----------------------
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