PUT in REST API does not upsert object with custom ID

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

New Feature / Enhancement Checklist

• I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
• I am not just asking a question.
• I have searched through existing issues.

Current Limitation

When integrating third party apis with server, most of them already provide the unique ids for the returned data. So right now if I want to save object with custom id it requires restful api call from node environment, and to make restful api call ( batch request ), we need to check with the server if object with custom id exist or not. If object exist then batch array requires PUT otherwise it requires POST. So it is kind of little overhead and extra management of the code. And also in fast updating environment it can cause errors ( where multiple node in same cluster checks with the backend if certain object id exist, it can cause race conditions ). so It would be nice to have support for saving objects in node environment without rest apis, and maybe upsert option when saving parse object.

Feature / Enhancement Description

So It would be great to have feature where parse server sdk supports saving object based on custom object ids ( it doesn't support at the moment in cloud code and server sdk, it requires rest api cal in node environment to save such objects with custom object id ) and one flag with something like Parse.Object.save({},{upsert:true}), which updates existing documents if object id is already there in database.

Alternatives / Workarounds

Making redundant requests to check if object exist in server

[mtrezza]

Thanks for suggesting.

If I understood your description correctly, there are two separate suggestions:

a) Add setting custom object ID to Parse JS SDK
b) Add upsert operation when saving object with custom ID

Regarding the Parse JS SDK, there is already an open issue for setting a custom object ID, see parse-community/Parse-SDK-JS#1097. When adding the custom ID option to the Parse JS SDK, then the upsert option may makes sense there. This feature is related to the Parse JS SDK, therefore the issue discussion and PR would take place in that repo.

Regarding the REST API, the equivalent of a database upsert would be a http PUT operation. According to the http specification:

If the Request-URI refers to an already existing resource, the enclosed entity SHOULD be considered as a modified version of the one residing on the origin server. If the Request-URI does not point to an existing resource, and that URI is capable of being defined as a new resource by the requesting user agent, the origin server can create the resource with that URI.

If you save an object with a custom ID using the REST API, and a PUT operation does not create a new object if it didn't exist yet or update the existing object, then this issue should be classified as a bug. If you can verify this behavior, would you be willing to write a failing test case?

Note: I have renamed the title of this issue to limit its scope on the REST PUT operation, which is the "upsert" behavior for the REST API you are suggesting (b). For the upsert option for the Parse JS SDK (a) you could open a separate issue in the Parse JS SDK repo, but I think this really only makes sense after parse-community/Parse-SDK-JS#1097 has been solved.

Related:

• Let clients define objectId using mongo/mongoose ObjectId() #6101
• Allow custom objectId  #4170

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

Hi @mtrezza, Thanks for the response.

I have confirmed that PUT request for non existent object is not working, it gives error.

https://docs.parseplatform.org/rest/guide/#updating-objects

[mtrezza]

Thanks for confirming, can you please create a Pull Request and write a test case for this?

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

Can you please give me suggestion about where I can write test case? Do I have to pull parse-server repo and put test case there? or separate code would be sufficient?

[mtrezza]

Yes, you would

• fork Parse Server
• clone it locally
• create a new branch
• add a test to an already existing test file, such as ParseServerRESTController.spec.js (there may be another one that is more focused on schema changes); you can look for inspiration in the existing tests, there should be already existing tests for schema change via REST API.
• push the branch to your fork on github
• submit a PR to the Parse Server repo with your branch

You can find more details in the Contribution Guide. Don't get scared, the guide needs some rework and we're working on it. If you need any guidance please feel free to ask.

[mtrezza]

@ArkeshGKalathiya Do you need any help for creating a test case?

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

@mtrezza No, I was just busy with other stuff. I will soon add test case and submit PR.

[dplewis]

@ArkeshGKalathiya I added customID to the JS SDK. Feel free to provide feedback

parse-community/Parse-SDK-JS#1309

[mstniy]

Hi @mtrezza, Thanks for the response.

I have confirmed that PUT request for non existent object is not working, it gives error.

https://docs.parseplatform.org/rest/guide/#updating-objects

This issue with PUT requests still persists. I believe this issue should be re-opened.

[mtrezza]

I'm not sure why this was closed, seemingly by mistake, because the ref PR is about custom IDs, @dplewis? Maybe they are two different issues?

I think we can reopen if we have a failing test case.

[mstniy]

I don't think there is a test case that covers this. ParseAPI.spec.js has a few test for PUT, but none of them cover the case of using custom object ids to create a new object.

[mtrezza]

@mstniy Would you want to add a test case?