TypeORM Entity Metadata not found

Question

Heyho,

im trying to build a backend for a type of ecommerce site using NestJS + TypeORM.

i need a m:n relation between my order and products table. Hovever since i need some custom fields within the pivot table i looked up typeorms documentation and as stated there i need to create a new entity which ive done. Now i get an error starting up my NestJS application:

Error: Entity metadata for Product#productToOrders was not found. Check if you specified a correct entity object and if it's connected in the connection options.

My product.entity.ts:

import { BaseEntity, Column, Entity, OneToMany, PrimaryGeneratedColumn } from "typeorm";
import { ProductToOrder } from "./productToOrder.entity";

@Entity()
export class Product extends BaseEntity{
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number;
    
    @Column()
    name: string;
    
    @Column()
    description: string;
    
    @Column()
    price: number;

    @OneToMany(type => ProductToOrder, productToOrder => productToOrder.product)
    productToOrders: ProductToOrder[];
}

My productToOrder.entity.ts

import { Order } from "src/order/order.entity";
import { BaseEntity, Column, Entity, ManyToOne, PrimaryGeneratedColumn } from "typeorm";
import { Product } from "./product.entity";

@Entity()
export class ProductToOrder extends BaseEntity{
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number;

    @Column()
    amount: number;

    @ManyToOne(() => Product, product => product.productToOrders,{eager: false})
    product: Product;

    @ManyToOne(() => Order, order => order.productToOrders, {eager: false})
    order: Order;
}

my order.entity.ts

import { User } from "src/auth/user.entity";
import { Product } from "src/product/product.entity";
import { ProductToOrder } from "src/product/productToOrder.entity";
import { BaseEntity, Column, Entity, JoinTable, ManyToMany, ManyToOne, OneToMany, PrimaryGeneratedColumn } from "typeorm";

@Entity()
export class Order extends BaseEntity{
    @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
    id: number;

    @Column()
    ordernumber: number;

    @Column()
    totalprice: number;
    
    @ManyToOne(type => User, user => user.orders, {eager: false})
    user_id: User[];

    @OneToMany(() => ProductToOrder, productToOrder => productToOrder.order, {eager: true})
    productToOrders: ProductToOrder[];
}

My directory structure:

src/
├── order
│   ├── order.entity.ts
│   ├── order.module.ts
│   ├── order.service.ts
│   ├── order.controller.ts
│   └── order.repository.ts
├── product
│   ├── product.entity.ts
│   ├── product.module.ts
│   ├── product.service.ts
│   ├── product.controller.ts
│   ├── productToOrder.entity.ts <- i put the entity for the pivot table here, not sure if its right
│   └── product.repository.ts
└── xy

My app.module.ts

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { TypeOrmModule } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
import { AuthModule } from './auth/auth.module';
import { typeOrmConfig } from './config/typeorm.config';
import { ProductModule } from './product/product.module';
import { OrderModule } from './order/order.module';


@Module({
  imports: [
    TypeOrmModule.forRoot(typeOrmConfig),
    AuthModule,
    ProductModule,
    OrderModule,
  ],
  controllers: [],
  providers: [],
})
export class AppModule {}

my typeorm.config.ts

import { TypeOrmModuleOptions } from "@nestjs/typeorm";
import * as config from 'config';

const dbConfig = config.get('db');

export const typeOrmConfig: TypeOrmModuleOptions = {
    type: dbConfig.type,
    host: dbConfig.host,
    port: dbConfig.port,
    username: dbConfig.username,
    password: dbConfig.password,
    database: dbConfig.database,
    autoLoadEntities: true,
    synchronize: dbConfig.synchronize,
}

if i add the

entities: ["dist/**/*.entity{.ts,.js}"],

line to my typeorm.config.ts and start the application with npm run start:dev the errorcode changes to

 TypeError: metatype is not a constructor

user_1980570 · Answer

In your TypeORM config, you must have defined the entities attribute:

TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
  // ...
  entities: ['src/**/*.entity.ts']
})

Check that the pattern also matches your new entity.

user_11753511 · Answer

okey so the problem wasnt my typeorm config, neither my entities.

The problem was my PassportJS middleware. within my order.controller.ts

looked like this:

import { Body, Controller, Post, UseGuards, UsePipes, ValidationPipe } from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthGuard } from '@nestjs/passport';
import { GetUser } from 'src/auth/get-user.decorator';
import { User } from 'src/auth/user.entity';
import { CreateOrderDto } from './dto/create-order.dto';
import { OrderService } from './order.service';

@Controller('order')
@UseGuards(AuthGuard)
export class OrderController {
    constructor(
        private orderService: OrderService,
    ){}

    @Post()
    @UsePipes(ValidationPipe)
    createProduct(
        @Body(ValidationPipe) createdto: CreateOrderDto,
        @GetUser() user: User,
    ){
        return this.orderService.createOrder(createdto, user);
    }
}

as you can see im missing brackets within the

@UseGuards(AuthGuard)

decorator. What it really shouldve looked like:

@UseGuards(AuthGuard()) //<-- Missing brackets

i found inspiration for this solution right here: https://github.com/nestjs/nest/issues/2399

user_9032654 · Answer

maybe you not add the ProductToOrder entity to productModule?

@Module({
  imports: [TypeOrmModule.forFeature([Product, ProductToOrder])],
})
export class ProductModule {}

user_15201408 · Answer

Do you use webpack when build your app? if you do I have the same issue so.. for fix it in a dev mode i put the nest-cli.ts archive like that.

   {
      "$schema": "https://json.schemastore.org/nest-cli",
      "collection": "@nestjs/schematics",
      "sourceRoot": "src",
      "compilerOptions": {
        "webpack": false
      }
    }

TypeORM Entity Metadata not found

4 Answers