Simple sub-route controller delegation

[snowfrogdev]

I'm submitting a...

[ ] Regression 
[ ] Bug report
[x] Feature request
[ ] Documentation issue or request
[ ] Support request => Please do not submit support request here, instead post your question on Stack Overflow.

Nested routes have been discussed in issues #255 and #389 which have led to the creation of the shekohex/nest-router package but I'm wondering if we couldn't implement something simpler, at the controller level. I really like how it is handled in the Jersey framework based on JAX-RS. Basically, inside your controller, you define delegation to another controller for a given sub-route. This short video gives a simple example of how it works: https://youtu.be/O4dAxOCYAUg?t=126.

In short, inside your controller, you define a path where, instead of returning a string or JSON object or whatever, you return an instance of another controller. The framework sees that and uses the "sub-controller" to handle the sub-route. How this works behind the scenes at the framework level, I do not know, but I'd be willing to investigate and see how something similar could be implemented in NestJS. Here is what it could look like:

cats.controller.ts

@Controller('cats')
export class CatsController {
  constructor(private readonly catsService: CatsService) {}

  @Post()
  async create(@Body() createCatDto: CreateCatDto) {
    this.catsService.create(createCatDto);
  }

  @Get()
  async findAll(): Promise<Cat[]> {
    return this.catsService.findAll();
  }

  @Get(':catId')
  findOne(
    @Param('id', new ParseIntPipe())
    id,
  ) {
    // logic
  }

  @Path(':catId'/friends)
  getFriendsController(): FriendsController {
    return new FriendsController();
  }
}

friends.controller.ts

@Controller('/')
export class FriendsController {
  constructor() {}  

  @Get(':friendId')
  findOne(@Param('catId') catId, @Param('friendId') friendId {
    // logic
  }
}

I'd be willing to work on a PR for this feature if there is any interest for it.

[aspatari]

Mby django approach too will inspire someone https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/viewsets/#viewset-actions

[marcus-sa]

Have you tried using https://github.com/shekohex/nest-router ?

[snowfrogdev]

@marcus-sa As mentioned above, I am aware of shekohex/nest-route. I'd prefer to deal with sub-routes at the controller level than having to define my routes at the module level. I opened this issue to see if others felt this way and if the maintainers would be willing to explore the possibility of including this functionality in NestJS.

[marcus-sa]

Hm, I fairly disagree at this point.
Nestjs is all about the module architecture which is inspired directly from Angular where everything is separated into modules, even the routing.
I find this to be far more manageable, and having the ability to only import what is necessary for your specific application is way better.

[kamilmysliwiec]

I think that @marcus-sa response largely explains the reasons for closing this proposal.

[lock]

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.