CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-app-enginegoogle-cloud-datastore
OJFord
OJFord

Reputation: 11130

Can only add entity kinds/attributes if they already exist in GAE dev server

I am unsure if this is a bug, by design (though I can't see the benefit), or if I am just being dimwitted.

Using Google App Engine development server, v1.9.8, I can only add a datastore entity if another of the same kind already exists. Otherwise the drop-down physically does not show the entity kind.

Further, even on an entity kind that does exist, I can only change attributes (or create them if it's new) if that attribute is not null on at least one of the other existing entities of that kind.

This is annoying, since in order to test things I have to first do:

entityKind(every=Possible, attribute=Set, to=Something, even=If,
    i=Dont, yet=Need).put()

Refresh, and then remember to delete this line before refreshing again to avoid duplicating the entry in datastore.

Note though, that if I happen to be testing with only entities that do not use every attribute, I have to keep this dummy one just in case I want the others later.

I must, surely, be missing something here? I can't believe there isn't a way to just create datastore entities without hacking around it like this?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 76

Answers (2)

Daniel Roseman
Daniel Roseman

Reputation: 599610

Your mistake is in thinking of the web console as a part of your workflow. It is absolutely not, and not intended to be. It is a vaguely hacked-together tool that allows you to do some basic operations on your data, and nothing else.

Interact with the datastore via code, and leave the web console for simple verifications.

Upvotes: 2

Andrei Volgin
Andrei Volgin

Reputation: 41089

You are talking about creating entities manually using a Dev server. Over the past 4 years of using GAE I wished once or twice that this would be possible, but I never needed this feature. You create entities in your code, and you debug your code if something does not work.

You can (and should) write unit tests to test your code. A proper unit test creates an entity, saves it, reads it, verifies that all the properties are correct, deletes it, verifies that it was deleted. There is no code to cut and paste (or comment/uncomment), and there are no test entities left after testing is completed.

Upvotes: 2

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