Query operators (Like, MoreThan) don't work if used via a 3rd party library that import TypeOrm

[lucafaggianelli]

Issue Description

I developed an NPM library to build a Typeorm find query starting from the HTTP query string (actually Koa query object...) and it works well as far as it concerns building the query object with where clause, take and skip params, etc.
But when I run the query the result is wrong and actually, the generated SQL is wrong.

After some tests, I understood that the issue is due to the way I import typeorm.
On 1 side I have my-utils-library that imports Typeorm and implements a function to build a query.
On the other side I have my HTTP app where I declare Typeorm entities, init the DB and where I also import my-utils-library to use the buildTypeormQuery() function.

Now if I just move the code for buildTypeormQuery to the main package, the issue disappears.

The same happens with several other libraries that do the same job, like https://github.com/rjlopezdev/typeorm-express-query-builder

Expected Behavior

I expect that operators just work regardless of how the library is imported.

Actual Behavior

If I run this query:

const myQuery = buildTypeormQuery(myHttpQueryString)
/*
myQuery = {
  where: {
    accountName: Like('%amazon%')
  }
}
*/
Customer.find(myQuery)

this is the executed SQL (logged by typeorm), please notice the = $1 where it should be ILIKE $1:

SELECT "Customer"."createdAt" AS "Customer_createdAt", "Customer"."updatedAt" AS "Customer_updatedAt", "Customer"."id" AS "Customer_id", "Customer"."customerName" AS "Customer_customerName", "Customer"."accountName" AS "Customer_accountName", "Customer"."accountHierarchy1" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy1", "Customer"."accountHierarchy1Name" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy1Name", "Customer"."accountHierarchy2" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy2", "Customer"."accountHierarchy2Name" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy2Name", "Customer"."accountHierarchy3" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy3", "Customer"."accountHierarchy3Name" AS "Customer_accountHierarchy3Name", "Customer"."tier" AS "Customer_tier" FROM "customers" "Customer"
WHERE "Customer"."accountName" = $1 LIMIT 30 -- PARAMETERS: [{"_type":"ilike","_value":"%amazo%","_useParameter":true,"_multipleParameters":false}]

Steps to Reproduce

You need 2 npm packages, in 1 package run the following

Customer.find(buildQuery())

In another package implement the buildQuery() function that returns a TypeOrm query, or use a library like https://github.com/rjlopezdev/typeorm-express-query-builder

const buildQuery = () => ({
  where: {
    accountName: Like('%amazon%')
  }
})

My Environment

Dependency	Version
Operating System	Mac OS 12.0.1
Node.js version	v16.13.0
Typescript version	4.4.4
TypeORM version	0.2.41

Additional Context

Relevant Database Driver(s)

DB Type	Reproducible
aurora-data-api	no
aurora-data-api-pg	no
better-sqlite3	no
cockroachdb	no
cordova	no
expo	no
mongodb	no
mysql	no
nativescript	no
oracle	no
postgres	yes
react-native	no
sap	no
sqlite	no
sqlite-abstract	no
sqljs	no
sqlserver	no

Are you willing to resolve this issue by submitting a Pull Request?

• ✖️ Yes, I have the time, and I know how to start.
• ✅ Yes, I have the time, but I don't know how to start. I would need guidance.
• ✖️ No, I don’t have the time, but I can support (using donations) development.
• ✖️ No, I don’t have the time and I’m okay to wait for the community / maintainers to resolve this issue.

[Ginden]

This seem to be very similar to issue #6727

I've got similar issues in past, but I couldn't really pinpoint them to specific pattern in code.

CC @imnotjames

[lucafaggianelli]

Yep that seems it!

Given that I'm able to reproduce it 100% of the time and appears only due to the import of Typeorm via another package, I may guess that in the function that builds the query, there's some check on the Operator type but this check fails as there are 2 Operator types imported from 2 different instances of typeorm lib... just a guess

[Ginden]

this check fails as there are 2 Operator types imported from 2 different instances of typeorm lib... just a guess

Your library should use peer dependencies then: https://nodejs.org/es/blog/npm/peer-dependencies/

[lucafaggianelli]

OK so I understood what's going on. Indeed I was already using peer dependencies, but during the development, I was linking the library package to the app package (withyarn link) and it seems that due to the linking process, I ended up with 2 instances of Typeorm, 1 in the main app and the other in the linked package. If I install the package instead of linking it, the issue doesn't occur.

I ended up using https://github.com/wclr/yalc during development to avoid issues due to package linking.

So, in my opinion, there are 2 options to close this issue:

1. make the query builder more robust against multiple instances of Typeorm
2. add a warning in the usage/installation of Typeorm saying that there should always exist 1 instance of the library, so use peer deps, etc.