How to preload an instance without making a network request?

[LouisRitchie]

Hello,

Suppose I use Spraypaint in a React app that is SSR'd. In responding to a request, the frontend server fetches data & instantiates models using Spraypaint/Graphiti layer and, after generating markup, sends markup and data to the client.

The data is a JSON representation of up-to-date models. How can I instantiate those models on the client without making a network request?

I believe I should use middleware to do this, and some methods from the library that are exposed to us.

This looked relevant: https://github.com/graphiti-api/spraypaint.js/issues/79

Big apology if this is obvious, I've always struggled with Spraypaint because I come from a node background and not a RoR background.

[LouisRitchie]

My question comes down to initizializing a set of Spraypaint models with data retrieved from a javascript object or JSON. In my case, I'm setting a global variable containing my initial data using <script>var init = ${JSON.stringify(data)}</script> inserted into the markup.

I would gladly send the internal state of spraypaint state along the wire, with instantiated models included, but something tells me that's not how it works!

[Reizar]

@LouisRitchie I'm still new to using Spraypaint so there might be a better way of doing this, but Spraypaint models can accept an object with their attributes to initialize them.

So you should be able to do something along these lines:

var init = ${JSON.stringify(data)}
// Assuming init is an Array of objects
const models = init.map((attributes) => {
  const model = new ModelName(attributes)
  model.isPersisted = true
  return model
})

The isPersisted flag makes sure SprayPaint knows it's already been saved in the backend, and will issue PUT requests whenever you call .save() rather than POST's.

Hope this helps.

[richmolj]

Absolutely right @Reizar ! @LouisRitchie check out the tests to see this all over the place.

[LouisRitchie]

Thanks guys I appreciate this a lot.