This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Jordan Soo Yen Yih
Apache CouchDB is an open source NoSQL document database that collects and stores data in JSON-based document formats. Since CouchDB makes use of HTTP protocol, therefore we can use any HTTP client to connect with CouchDB. However, there are some existing CouchDB client libraries that are very easy and convenience to use. Below I would like to share 3 libraries that I frequent use to connect with CouchDB.
1. Nano
The Offical Apache CouchDB library for Node.js.
Setup
npm install --save nano
Connect to CouchDB server
const nano = require('nano')('http://localhost:5984');
Create a new database
nano.db.create('blogs');
Use an existing database
const blogs = nano.db.use('blogs');
That's it, easy peasy.😎 Now we can perform some queries with blogs. nano underlying is making HTTP API calls to CouchDB service. Such operations are asynchronous, we can use either Promises or Callbacks to receive the asynchronous data back from the library.
Promises
blogs.get('post-A').then(response => {
// succeeded
console.info(response);
}).catch(err => {
// failed
console.error(err)
})
});
// OR
try {
const response = await blogs.get('post-A')
// succeeded
console.log(response)
} catch (e) {
// failed
console.error(e)
}
Callbacks
blogs.get('post-A', (err, data) => {
// errors are in 'err' & response is in 'data'
})
Nano even supports stream which mean we can proxy the whatever requests from CouchDB to the end user.
blogs.listAsStream()
.on('error', (e) => console.error('error', e))
.pipe(process.stdout)
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- CouchDB API compatible.
- Supports Stream.
- The vast majority of library calls return native Promises.
- Detailed TypeScript definitions are built in.
- Easy to debug as errors are proxied directly from CouchDB: if you know CouchDB you already know
nano.
Cons:
- Cannot use in browser. Only Nodejs.
2. PouchDB
An open-source JavaScript database inspired by Apache CouchDB that is designed to run well within the browser. However, PouchDB also runs in Node.js and can be used as a direct interface to CouchDB-compatible servers. The API works the same in every environment, so you can spend less time worrying about browser differences, and more time writing clean, consistent code.
Setup
// For browser
npm install pouchdb-browser
// For Node
npm install pouchdb-node
PouchDB supports custom builds, meaning you can pick and choose the features of PouchDB that you want to use, potentially resulting in smaller bundle sizes and faster build times. Both pouchdb-browser and pouchdb-node contains the replication, HTTP, and map/reduce plugins. I personally prefer pick and choose the features of PouchDB I want instead of using pouchdb-browser or pouchdb-node.
For example:
const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-core')
.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-http'))
.plugin(require('pouchdb-mapreduce'))
.plugin(require('pouchdb-replication'));
Connect to a CouchDB database
const blogs = new PouchDB('http://localhost:5984/blogs');
Create a new database
const blogs = new PouchDB('blogs');
Query
PouchDB also supports Promises and Callbacks
blogs.get('post-A').then(doc => {
// handle doc
}).catch(err => {
console.log(err);
});
// OR
try {
const doc = await blogs.get('post-A');
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
blogs.get('post-A', function(err, doc) {
if (err) { return console.log(err); }
// handle doc
});
Pros:
- Easy to learn & use.
- Works in all modern browsers and Nodejs.
- Lightweight
- Support Offline
- Support Custom Builds / Plugins
Cons:
- Not fully support CouchDB API, one of the example is you cannot use CouchDB's
update functionvia PouchDB. - Official library doesn't come with Stream. However, since PouchDB supports custom builds, you still can do stream with external PouchDB projects.
There is a a list of known plugins, tools and projects can be used with PouchDB. You can find it here
3. Axios
If you are a javascript developer, you should probably already know about axios. It is a Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js.
Setup
npm install --save axios
Connect to CouchDB server
const couchdb = axios.create({
baseURL: 'http://localhost:5984',
timeout: 1000,
headers: { 'X-Custom-Header': 'foobar'}
});
Create a new database
couchdb.put('/blogs').then(response => {
// succeeded
}).catch(err => {
// failed
});
// OR
try {
const response = await couchdb.put('/blogs');
console.info(response.data);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
Query
couchdb.get('/blogs/post-A').then(response => {
console.info(response.data);
}).catch(err => {
console.error(err);
});
// OR
try {
const response = await couchdb.get('/blogs/post-A');
console.info(response.data);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
Pros:
- Works in all modern browsers and Nodejs.
- Supports the Promise API
- Intercept request and response
- Transform request and response data
- Cancel requests
- Automatic transforms for JSON data
Cons:
- Codes are not as clean/minimal as PouchDB. In order to achieve minimal of code with axios, you will need to spend extra time to build your own factory functions on top of axios.
Thanks for Reading.
If you know any other interesting libraries that play well with CouchDB, please leave comments below to share with me. Thank you.☺
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Jordan Soo Yen Yih
Jordan Soo Yen Yih | Sciencx (2021-12-19T07:42:11+00:00) CouchDB clients in Javascript. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2021/12/19/couchdb-clients-in-javascript/
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