FeathersJS auk server populate hook not working

Question

im trying to use the new populate hook, but it doesn't seem to work. I just don't know what i'm doing wrong.

I have the merchatTypeMap model related 1:1 to the merchants model, and when i query the merchantTypeMap, it should answer with the associated merchant attached.

The merchantTypeMap service:

'use strict';

const service = require('feathers-sequelize');
const merchantTypeMap = require('./merchantTypeMap-model');
const hooks = require('./hooks');

module.exports = function(){
  const app = this;

  const options = {
    Model: merchantTypeMap(app.get('sequelize')),
    paginate: {
      default: 5,
      max: 25
    }
  };

  // Initialize our service with any options it requires
  app.use('/merchantTypeMaps', service(options));

  // Get our initialize service to that we can bind hooks
  const merchantTypeMapService = app.service('/merchantTypeMaps');

  // Set up our before hooks
  merchantTypeMapService.before(hooks.before);

  // Set up our after hooks
  merchantTypeMapService.after(hooks.after);
};

This is my merchantTypeMap model code:

'use strict';

// merchantTypeMap-model.js - A sequelize model
// 
// See http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/models-definition/
// for more of what you can do here.

const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

module.exports = function(sequelize) {
  const merchantTypeMap = sequelize.define('merchantTypeMaps', {
    id: {
      type: Sequelize.INTEGER(10),
      allowNull: false,
      primaryKey: true,
      autoIncrement: true,
      field: 'id'
    },
    merchantId: {
      type: Sequelize.INTEGER(10),
      allowNull: true,
      references: {
        model: 'merchants',
        key: 'id'
      },
      field: 'merchant_id'
    },
    merchantTypeId: {
      type: Sequelize.INTEGER(10),
      allowNull: true,
      references: {
        model: 'merchantTypes',
        key: 'id'
      },
      field: 'merchantType_id'
    }
  }, {
    freezeTableName: true
  });

  merchantTypeMap.belongsTo(sequelize.models.merchants, {foreignKey: 'merchant_id'});

  merchantTypeMap.sync();

  return merchantTypeMap;
};

Here my merchantTypeMap service hooks:

'use strict';

const globalHooks = require('../../../hooks');
const hooks = require('feathers-hooks-common');

const schema = {
  include: [{
    service: 'merchants',
    nameAs: 'merchantItem',
    parentField: 'merchantId',
    childField: 'id',
  }]
};

exports.before = {
  all: [],
  find: [],
  get: [],
  create: [],
  update: [],
  patch: [],
  remove: []
};

exports.after = {
  all: [],
  find: [
    hooks.populate( { schema } )
  ],
  get: [
    hooks.populate( { schema } )
  ],
  create: [],
  update: [],
  patch: [],
  remove: []
};

The merchants service:

'use strict';

const service = require('feathers-sequelize');
const merchantTypeMap = require('./merchantTypeMap-model');
const merchants = require('./merchants-model');
const hooks = require('./hooks');

module.exports = function(){
  const app = this;

  merchantTypeMap(app.get('sequelize'));

  const options = {
    Model: merchants(app.get('sequelize')),
    paginate: {
      default: 5,
      max: 25
    }
  };

  // Initialize our service with any options it requires
  app.use('/merchants', service(options));

  // Get our initialize service to that we can bind hooks
  const merchantsService = app.service('/merchants');

  // Set up our before hooks
  merchantsService.before(hooks.before);

  // Set up our after hooks
  merchantsService.after(hooks.after);
};

And the merchants model:

'use strict';

// merchants-model.js - A sequelize model
// 
// See http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/models-definition/
// for more of what you can do here.

const Sequelize = require('sequelize');

module.exports = function(sequelize) {
  const merchants = sequelize.define('merchants', {
    id: {
      type: Sequelize.INTEGER(10),
      allowNull: false,
      primaryKey: true,
      autoIncrement: true,
      field: 'id'
    },
    title: {
      type: Sequelize.STRING,
      allowNull: true,
      field: 'title'
    },
    latitude: {
      type: Sequelize.STRING,
      allowNull: true,
      field: 'latitude'
    },
    longitude: {
      type: Sequelize.STRING,
      allowNull: true,
      field: 'latitude'
    },
    address: {
      type: Sequelize.STRING,
      allowNull: true,
      field: 'address'
    },
    icon: {
      type: Sequelize.STRING,
      allowNull: true,
      field: 'icon'
    },
    zoneId: {
      type: Sequelize.INTEGER(10),
      allowNull: true,
      references: {
        model: 'zones',
        key: 'id'
      },
      field: 'zone_id'
    }
  }, {
    freezeTableName: true
  });

  merchants.belongsToMany(sequelize.models.merchantTypes, {through: sequelize.models.merchantTypeMaps});

  merchants.sync();

  return merchants;
};

Answer 1

You need to configure Sequelize to return plain JS objects, rather than its ORM objects, by using the raw: true option.

As an aside, hooks v3 will be released soon. All hooks, including populate, will then convert Sequelize and Mongoose ORMs to plain JS objects automatically. This may be a breaking chnage for some.

Related: Sequelize - How can I return JSON objects of the database results only?

[edit] The conversion from ORM objects is likely to be done in the Feathers service than by the hooks. This way the problem won't arise in custom hooks people write.