Extending built-in models

The built-in User model is quite all right but many developers quickly find a need to extend it. The most common cause is the need to fetch all the entities related to a given user. For example: a) find all the roles for the current user, or b) find all stores that belong to the current user, or c) find all suppliers that belong to the current user, or d) find all reports that belong to the current user, etc.

There isn't a concrete naming convention for extended models but there are some practical considerations around what not to do.

You have the option of naming a user (lowercase) model which builds upon the built-in User model as its base. But personally that makes me far too uneasy as I feel that the possibility of mistakes around which model actually gets used, both in the loopback core code and developer code, skyrockets.

Instead let's name it UserModel instead, no room for confusion!

Create a new model: common/models/user-model.json

$ slc loopback:model

Just found a `.yo-rc.json` in a parent directory.
Setting the project root at: /home/codio/workspace/loopback-zero-to-hero

? Enter the model name: UserModel
? Select the data-source to attach UserModel to: db (memory)
? Select model's base class: User

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Remember

Don't forget to set the model's base class as user |||

Carry on:

? Custom plural form (used to build REST URL):
Let's add some UserModel properties now.

Enter an empty property name when done.
? Property name:

Leave the last prompt (? Property name:) empty and hit enter to finish model creation.

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Info

Hit the refresh symbol at the bottom right of the nav tree panel to see the new common/models directory and its contents listed. |||