SQL

@adminjs/sql

Before reading this article, make sure you have set up an AdminJS instance using one of the supported Plugins. Additionally, you should have installed @adminjs/sql as described in Getting started section.

@adminjs/sql is an official adapter for SQL databases which does not require you to use an ORM and allows you to simply connect your admin panel directly to the database.

Currently supported databases

• PostgreSQL

• more coming soon

Usage

Most of the setup is very similar to other AdminJS adapters. The main difference is that you must feed your database credentials to the Adapter instead of an ORM so that it can parse your database schema and run queries against your database.

First of all, import Adapter, Resource and Database from @adminjs/sql .

import { Adapter, Resource, Database } from '@adminjs/sql'
import AdminJS from 'adminjs'

Afterwards, register the adapter and initialize it to let it read your database schema:

// ...

AdminJS.registerAdapter({
  Database,
  Resource,
})

// ...

const db = await new Adapter('postgresql', {
  connectionString: '<your database url>',
  database: '<your database name>',
}).init()

When creating an Adapter instance, the first parameter is your database's dialect (currently only postgresql can be used) while the second parameter is an object with your database connection options. Please refer to Knex documentation to find out how the configuration object should look like as @adminjs/sql is based on Knex.

Finally, create an AdminJS instance and either include db in databases option to load your entire database (not recommended) or define resources separately:

const admin = new AdminJS({
  resources: [
    {
      resource: db.table('users'),
      options: {},
    },
  ],
  // databases: [db], <- not recommended
});

The rest of the configuration is identical to other plugins and adapters. If you are confused, you can use the example below as a reference:

import AdminJS from 'adminjs'
import express from 'express'
import Plugin from '@adminjs/express'
import { Adapter, Database, Resource } from '@adminjs/sql'

AdminJS.registerAdapter({
  Database,
  Resource,
})

const start = async () => {
  const app = express()

  const db = await new Adapter('postgresql', {
    connectionString: 'postgres://adminjs:adminjs@localhost:5432/adminjs_panel',
    database: 'adminjs_panel',
  }).init();

  const admin = new AdminJS({
    resources: [
      {
        resource: db.table('users'),
        options: {},
      },
    ],
  });

  admin.watch()

  const router = Plugin.buildRouter(admin)

  app.use(admin.options.rootPath, router)

  app.listen(8080, () => {
    console.log('app started')
  })
}

start()

Database Relations

Currently only many-to-one relation works out of the box if you specify foreign key constraints in your database. Other relations will require you to make UI/backend customizations. Please see our documentation to learn more.

Enums

As of version 1.0.0 database enums aren't automatically detected and loaded. You can assign them manually in your resource options:

// ...
  const admin = new AdminJS({
    resources: [{
      resource: db.table('users'),
      options: {
        properties: {
          role: {
            availableValues: [
              { label: 'Admin', value: 'ADMIN' },
              { label: 'Client', value: 'CLIENT' },
            ],
          },
        },
      },
    }],
  })
// ...

Timestamps

If your database tables have automatically default-set timestamps (created_at, updated_at, etc) they will be visible in create/edit forms by default. You can hide them in resource options:

// ...
  const admin = new AdminJS({
    resources: [{
      resource: db.table('users'),
      options: {
        properties: {
          created_at: { isVisible: false },
          updated_at: { isVisible: false },
        },
      },
    }],
  })
// ...