ExtJS, store, HasMany - BelongsTo and update process: howto?

Question

I have two data models: Writer.AttributValeur and Writer.Produit.

Writer.Produit has HasMany / BelongsTo relationship with Writer.AttributValeur.

Thus the definition is like this:

Ext.define('Writer.AttributValeur', {
    extend: 'Ext.data.Model',
    fields: [{
            name: 'id',
            type: 'int',
            useNull: true
        },  
        'description',
        'val'
    ],  
    belongsTo: 'Writer.Produit'
});
Ext.define('Writer.Produit', {
    extend: 'Ext.data.Model',
    fields: [{
            name: 'id',
            type: 'int',
            useNull: true
        },  
        'titre',
        'description'
    ],
    hasMany: {
        model: 'Writer.AttributValeur',
        name: 'attributs'
    }   
});
var store = Ext.create('Ext.data.Store', {
    model: 'Writer.Produit',
    autoLoad: true,
    autoSync: true,
    proxy: {
        type: 'ajax',
        api: {
            read: 'json/liste_view/',
            create:  'json/item/?mode=create',
            update:  'json/item/?mode=update',
            destroy: 'json/item/?mode=destroy'
        },
        reader: {
            type: 'json',
            successProperty: 'success',
            root: 'data',
            messageProperty: 'message'
        },
        writer: {
            type: 'json',
            writeAllFields: true,
            root: 'data'
        }
    }
});

Now, when I read the file, asking for "Produits", there's an AJAX answer that works perfectly:

And in each "row", there are many Writer.AttributValeur (I've aliased them as "attributs" see picture):

The problem is when I insert a Writer.AttributValeur in this "attributs" field, like this:

form.getRecord().attributs().add(newrecord);

It works perfectly but when I call store.sync() nothing happens. So I mark by hand the record as dirty:

form.getRecord().attributs().add(newrecord);
form.getRecord().setDirty();
form.getRecord().store.sync();

Now it's sent, but the attributs are not sent! See:

How shall I do to "add" this into the update process?

Solution

i liked the simple solution so i also added belongsTo Support:

Ext.data.writer.Json.override({
getRecordData:function (record) {
    var me = this, i, association, childStore, data = {};
    data = me.callParent([record]);
    /* Iterate over all the hasMany associations */
    for (i = 0; i < record.associations.length; i++) {
        association = record.associations.get(i);
        if (association.type == 'hasMany') {
            data[association.name] = [];
            childStore = eval('record.' + association.name + '()');
            //Iterate over all the children in the current association
            childStore.each(function (childRecord) {
                //Recursively get the record data for children (depth first)
                var childData = this.getRecordData.call(this, childRecord);
                if (childRecord.dirty | childRecord.phantom | (childData != null)) {
                    data[association.name].push(childData);
                    record.setDirty();
                }
            }, me);
        }
        if(association.type == 'belongsTo') {
            // we need ucfirst
            var method = 'get' + association.name.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + association.name.slice(1);
            var childRecord = eval('record.' + method + '()');
            var childData = this.getRecordData.call(this, childRecord);
            if (childRecord.dirty | childRecord.phantom | (childData != null)) {
                data[association.name] = childData;
                record.setDirty();
            }
        }
    }
    return data;
}

});

Comments

[Admin]

I've already tried that: nothing happens. Tried to put setDirty() everywhere but exceptions all the time (= bad place) except with this.formDst.getRecord().setDirty();.

[Admin]

I've found a very interesting question with nice answers here sencha.com/forum/…. It happens that there's nothing done to save "automatically" nested associations, which is not logical: it's possible to load "automatically" nested associations, but not to save them "automatically"... Doesn't work with ExtJs4.0: Uncaught TypeError: Object [object Object] has no method 'getData'. Damn it x 2! Doesn't work with ExtJS 4.1: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'persist' of undefined.

[Admin]

(I was trying to add the latest solution with Ext.data.writer.DeepJson class. Doesn't work. I'll try with other sample, maybe that will work, only God knows...

[sha]

Well.. if it's a bug (omission) from standard ExtJs logic - I would suggest expanding standard writer by including this additional attributes.

[Admin]

Exactly. That's why I'm posting a solution that works to help the community. Anyway, if nested "modified" records aren't posted with the main record, it break the whole KISS + DRY principles.

[dbrin]

I agree, I've always felt that the model associations in 4.0 were half baked at best.

[dubvfan87]

Thanks, was about to add this in myself.