Skip to the content.

Migrating

v9 to v10

Version 10 changes the error handling to make it easier to diagnose network issues and distinguish between different error conditions.

If you previously inspected errors other than ArangoError and HttpError directly, you should now expect to see NetworkError or a subclass thereof instead. The originating error can be found using the cause property of the NetworkError error:

try {
  await db.collection("my-collection").get();
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof NetworkError) console.log(err.cause);
}

Module name changes

Module names referring to resource types such as analyzers, collections, databases, or views have been changed to use the plural form:

-import { Database } from "arangojs/database";
+import { Database } from "arangojs/databases";

Note that the aql module and foxx-manifest modules have not been renamed as these are utility modules.

Type imports

Types that were previously exported by the database module but are not related to managing databases have been moved to separate modules:

-import type {
-  ParseResult,
-  TransactionOptions,
-  VersionInfo
-} from "arangojs/database";
+import type { VersionInfo } from "arangojs/administration";
+import type { TransactionOptions } from "arangojs/transactions";
+import type { ParseResult } from "arangojs/queries";

Additionally, some types were renamed. For a full list of changes, see the changelog.

v8 to v9

Version 9 reverts the automatic NFC normalization introduced in v7.7.0. This means that arangojs will no longer automatically normalize unicode names and identifiers of collections, graphs, indexes, views, users, databases and so on.

If you want to continue using NFC normalization, you can use the normalize method available on all JavaScript strings:

 import { Database } from "arangojs";

 const db = new Database();
-const collection = db.collection(myUnicodeName);
+const collection = db.collection(myUnicodeName.normalize("NFC"));

Note that ArangoDB may reject non-normalized unicode names and identifiers. This change is intended to make it easier to recognize normalization issues in code interacting with ArangoDB that were previously masked by arangojs.

Simple queries

Simple queries like the removeByExample and firstExample methods have been removed from the collections API. These methods were deprecated in ArangoDB 3.4 and can be replaced with AQL queries. For examples for replicating each method’s behavior in AQL, see the documentation for these methods in ArangoJS 8.

Request and Response changes

Version 9 now uses native fetch in all environments. This means that the request and response objects exposed by ArangoJS now extend the fetch API’s Request and Response objects rather than those from Node’s http module and ArangoJS no longer provides the agentOptions or agent config options.

Config changes

The relevant agentOptions have been moved up into the config type and in most cases renamed:

  const db = new Database({
    url: "http://localhost:8529",
-   agentOptions: {
-     maxSockets: 10,
-     keepAlive: true,
-     before: (req) => console.log(String(new Date()), 'requesting', req.url),
-     after: (res) => console.log(String(new Date()), 'received', res.request.url)
-   }
+   poolSize: 10,
+   keepalive: true,
+   beforeRequest: (req) => console.log(String(new Date()), 'requesting', req.url),
+   afterResponse: (res) => console.log(String(new Date()), 'received', res.request.url)
  });

If you need to modify the request agent beyond what is possible using the fetch API, you can override Node’s default fetch Agent using the undici module:

const { Agent, setGlobalDispatcher } = require("undici");

setGlobalDispatcher(
  new Agent({
    // your agent options here
  })
);

Note that you will have to add undici as a dependency to your project. There is currently no built-in way to override these options in Node.js without this module.

Request and Response objects

This change mostly affects code that uses the db.route API to perform arbitrary requests to the ArangoDB HTTP API.

The fetch API Request and Response objects are a bit different from the equivalent objects previously exposed by these methods. Note that while this means response objects still provide a body property, its semantics are very different as the fetch API expects the blob, json and text methods to be used instead. ArangoJS will use the relevant method during response handling and store the result in the parsedBody method:

  const myFoxxApi = db.route('my/foxx');
  const res = await myFoxxApi.get();
- const token = res.headers['x-auth-token'];
- if (res.statusCode === 200) console.log(res.body);
+ const token = res.headers.get('x-auth-token');
+ if (res.status === 200) console.log(res.parsedBody);

v7 to v8

Version 8 drops support for Internet Explorer 11 and Node.js 10 and 12. If you need to continue supporting Internet Explorer, you can try transpiling arangojs as a dependency using Babel with the relevant polyfills.

General

In TypeScript the type Dict<T> has been removed from the connection module. The built-in type Record<string, T> can be used as a replacement:

 import { Database } from "arangojs";
-import type { Dict } from "arangojs/connection";

 const db = new Database();
-let deps: Dict<string | string[] | undefined>;
+let deps: Record<string, string | string[] | undefined>;
 deps = await db.getServiceDependencies("/my-foxx-service", true);

Default URL

The default URL has been changed to http://127.0.0.1:8529 to match the ArangoDB default. Previously the default URL was http://localhost:8529, which on some systems would resolve to the IPv6 address ::1 instead.

If you don’t want to use the IPv4 address 127.0.0.1 and instead want to continue letting the operating system resolve localhost, you can pass the URL explicitly:

 import { Database } from "arangojs";

 const db = new Database({
+  url: "http://localhost:8529"
 });

Databases

Previously arangojs allowed changing the database using the deprecated db.useDatabase method. This could make it difficult to remember which database you were interacting with. Instead, you should create a new Database instance for each database you want to interact with using the db.database method:

 import { Database } from "arangojs";

 const db = new Database();
-db.useDatabase("database2");
+const db2 = db.database("database2");

Queries

The functions aql.literal and aql.join are no longer available as methods on the aql template handler and need to be imported separately:

 import { aql } from "arangojs";
+import { join } from "arangojs/aql";

-const filters = aql.join([
+const filters = join([
   aql`FILTER size == 'big'`,
   aql`FILTER color == 'yellow'`
 ]);

Users

The return values of db.getUserDatabases and db.getUserAccessLevel have been changed to match the documented return types:

 import { Database } from "arangojs";

 const db = new Database();
-const dbs = (await db.getUserDatabases("ash")).result;
+const dbs = await db.getUserDatabases("ash");
for (const [db, obj] of Object.entries(dbs)) {
  console.log(`${db}: ${obj.permission}`);
  for (const [col, access] of Object.entries(obj.collections)) {
    console.log(`${db}/${col}: ${access}`);
  }
}

-const access = (await db.getUserAccessLevel("ash", "pokemons")).result;
+const access = await db.getUserAccessLevel("ash", "pokemons");
 if (access === "rw") {
   db.collection("pokemons").save({ name: "Pikachu" });
 }

Graphs

In TypeScript the type GraphCreateOptions has been renamed to CreateGraphOptions:

-import type { GraphCreateOptions } from "arangojs/graph";
+import type { CreateGraphOptions } from "arangojs/graph";

Enum re-exports

Previously the CollectionStatus, CollectionType and ViewType enums were re-exported by the arangojs main module and could be imported from the arangojs package:

-import { CollectionStatus, CollectionType } from "arangojs";
+import { CollectionStatus, CollectionType } from "arangojs/collection";

Note that the ViewType enum has been removed completely:

-import { ViewType } from "arangojs";
-
-const ArangoSearchViewType = ViewType.ARANGOSEARCH_VIEW;
+const ArangoSearchViewType = "arangosearch";

## v6 to v7

### Configuration changes

The `db.useDatabase` method has been deprecated in v7.

Previously the primary use of this method was to set the database name of the
arangojs instance. The database name can now be specified using the
`databaseName` option in the arangojs configuration:

```diff
 const db = new Database({
   url: "http://127.0.0.1:8529",
+  databaseName: "my_database",
 });
-db.useDatabase("my_database");

Shared connection pool

It is now possible to have multiple Database objects using the same underlying connection pool:

-const db1 = new Database();
-db1.useDatabase("database1");
-const db2 = new Database();
-db2.useDatabase("database2");
+const db1 = new Database({ databaseName: "database1" });
+const db2 = db1.database("database2");

Indexes

The helper methods for creating specific index types, e.g. createHashIndex, have been removed and replaced with the generic ensureIndex method (which was previously called createIndex):

-await collection.createGeoIndex(["lat", "lng"]);
+await collection.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: ["lat", "lng"] });

Document and edge collections

Version 7 no longer provides different methods for accessing document and edge collections as both types are now implemented using the same underlying class:

 const myDocumentCollection = db.collection("documents");
-const myEdgeCollection = db.edgeCollection("edges");
+const myEdgeCollection = db.collection("edges");

When using TypeScript the collection instances can still be cast to the more specific DocumentCollection and EdgeCollection interfaces:

interface EdgeType {
  color: string;
}
const myEdgeCollection = db.collection("edges") as EdgeCollection<EdgeType>;

Saving edge documents

The save method no longer supports positional arguments for _from and _to values. These now need to be supplied as part of the document data:

 await edges.save(
-  "vertices/start",
-  "vertices/end",
-  { color: "red" }
+  { _from: "vertices/start", _to: "vertices/end", color: "red" }
 );

Accessing documents

The edge method has been removed from the low-level collection API as it was an alias for the document method, which still exists:

-const edges = db.edgeCollection("edges");
-const edge = await edges.edge("my-edge");
+const edges = db.collection("edges");
+const edge = await edges.document("my-edge");

Graph vertex and edge collections instead only retain their specific vertex and edge methods which access the collection using the high-level graph API:

 const vertices = graph.vertexCollection("vertices");
-const vertex = await vertices.document("my-vertex");
+const vertex = await vertices.vertex("my-vertex");

 const edges = graph.edgeCollection("edges");
-const edge = await edges.document("my-edge");
+const edge = await edges.edge("my-edge");

Graph collections

Graph vertex and edge collections no longer implement the generic collection API methods to avoid confusion between operations that are aware of the graph definition (and can trigger graph-related side-effects) and those that directly access low-level operations.

As a convenience both graph collection types still provide access to the low-level collection interface via the collection property:

 const graphEdges = graph.edgeCollection("edges");
-const outEdges = graphEdges.outEdges("vertices/start");
+const outEdges = graphEdges.collection.outEdges("vertices/start");

Cursor methods

The method each is now called forEach. The method hasNext has been replaced with a getter.

The methods some and every have been removed. These methods previously allowed iterating over cursor results in order to derive a boolean value by applying a callback function to each value in the result.

In most cases these methods can be avoided by writing a more efficient AQL query:

-const cursor = await db.query(aql`
-  FOR bowl IN porridges
-  RETURN bowl
-`);
-const someJustRight = await cursor.some(
-  (bowl) => bowl.temperature < TOO_HOT && bowl.temperature > TOO_COLD
-);
+const cursor = await db.query(aql`
+  FOR bowl IN porridges
+  FILTER bowl.temperature < ${TOO_HOT}
+  FILTER bowl.temperature > ${TOO_COLD}
+  LIMIT 1
+  RETURN 1
+`);
+const someJustRight = Boolean(await cursor.next());

If this is not an option, the old behavior can be emulated using the forEach method (previously called each) instead:

-const someJustRight = await cursor.some(
-  (bowl) => bowl.temperature < TOO_HOT && bowl.temperature > TOO_COLD
-);
+const someJustRight = !(await cursor.forEach(
+  (bowl) => bowl.temperature === TOO_HOT || bowl.temperature === TOO_COLD
+));

Batch cursor API

Cursors now provide a low-level API for iterating over the result batches instead of individual items, which is exposed via the batches property.

The methods hasMore and nextBatch have been replaced with the getter batches.hasMore and the method batches.next:

-if (cursor.hasMore()) {
-  return await cursor.nextBatch();
+if (cursor.batches.hasMore) {
+  return await cursor.batches.next();
 }

Simple queries

Collection methods for using simple queries (e.g. all, any and list) have been deprecated in ArangoDB 3.0 and are now also deprecated in arangojs.

See the documentation of each method for an example for how to perform the same query using an AQL query instead.

Additionally the list method now returns a cursor instead of an array.

ArangoSearch Views

The database methods arangoSearchView and createArangoSearchView have been renamed to view and createView respectively as there currently is no other view type available in ArangoDB:

-await db.createArangoSearchView("my-view");
-const view = db.arangoSearchView("my-view");
+await db.createView("my-view");
+const view = db.view("my-view");

Query options

The options argument of db.query has been flattened. Options that were previously nested in an options property of that argument are now specified directly on the argument itself:

 const cursor = await db.query(
   aql`
     FOR doc IN ${collection}
     RETURN doc
   `,
   {
     cache: false,
-    options: { fullCount: true },
+    fullCount: true,
   }
 );

Bulk imports

The default value of the type option now depends on the input type instead of always defaulting to "auto". If you previously relied on the default value being set to "auto", you may now need to explicitly set this option:

-await collection.import(data);
+await collection.import(data, { type: "auto" });

Bulk operations

The collection method bulkUpdate has been removed and the methods save, update, replace and remove no longer accept arrays as input.

Bulk operations can now be performed using the dedicated methods saveAll, updateAll, replaceAll and removeAll:

-await collection.save([{ _key: "a" }, { _key: "b" }]);
+await collection.saveAll([{ _key: "a" }, { _key: "b" }]);

Cross-collection operations

Collection methods no longer accept document IDs from other collections. Previously passing a document ID referring to a different collection would result in the collection performing a request to that collection instead. Now mismatching IDs will result in an error instead:

const collection1 = db.collection("collection1");
const doc = await collection1.document("collection2/xyz"); // ERROR

Creating graphs

The signatures of db.createGraph and graph.create have changed to always take an array of edge definitions as the first argument instead of taking the edge definitions as a property of the properties argument.

Additionally the properties and options arguments have been merged:

 await graph.create(
+  [{ collection: "edges", from: ["a"], to: ["b"] }],
   {
-    edgeDefinitions: [{ collection: "edges", from: ["a"], to: ["b"] }],
     isSmart: true,
-  },
-  {
     waitForSync: true,
   }
 );

Transactions

The transaction method run has been renamed to step to make it more obvious that it is intended to only perform a single “step” of the transaction.

See the method’s documentation for examples of how to use the method correctly.

Additionally the method transaction no longer acts as an alias for executeTransaction:

-const result = await db.transaction(collections, action);
+const result = await db.executeTransaction(collections, action);

Service development mode

The methods enableServiceDevelopmentMode and disableServiceDevelopmentMode have been replaced with the method setServiceDevelopmentMode:

-await db.enableServiceDevelopmentMode("/my-foxx");
+await db.setServiceDevelopmentMode("/my-foxx", true);

System services

The default value of the method listServices option excludeSystem has been changed from false to true:

-const services = await db.listServices(true);
+const services = await db.listServices();

Query tracking

The method setQueryTracking has been merged into queryTracking:

-await db.setQueryTracking({ enabled: true });
+await db.queryTracking({ enabled: true });

Collection properties

The method setProperties has been merged into properties:

-await collection.setProperties({ waitForSync: true });
+await collection.properties({ waitForSync: true });

View properties

The View method setProperties has been renamed to updateProperties:

-await view.setProperties({ consolidationIntervalMsec: 234 });
+await view.updateProperties({ consolidationIntervalMsec: 234 });

Truncating collections

The db.truncate method has been removed. The behavior can still be mimicked using the db.collections and collection.truncate methods:

-await db.truncate();
+await Promise.all(
+  db.collections().map((collection) => collection.truncate())
+);