How can I wrap each API response into a standard reply object in SailsJS? - sails.js

Question

I'm new to Sails and I'm trying to figure out the best/proper method for returning a standard object for every API response.
The container our front-end requires is:
{
"success": true/false,
"session": true/false,
"errors": [],
"payload": []
}
Currently, I’m overwriting the blueprint actions in each controller like this example (which just seems so very, very wrong):
find : function( req, res ){
var id = req.param( 'id' );
Foo.findOne( { id : id } ).exec( function( err, aFoo ){
res.json(
AppSvc.jsonReply(
req,
[],
aFoo
), 200
);
});
}
And in AppSvc.js:
jsonReply : function( req, errors, data ){
return {
success : ( errors && errors.length ? false : true ),
session : ( req.session.authenticated === true ),
errors : ( errors && errors.length ? errors : [] ),
payload : ( data ? data : [] )
};
}
Additionally, I’ve had to modify each res.json() method for each default response (badRequest, notFound,etc). Again, this feels so wrong.
So, how do I properly funnel all API responses into a standard container?

Answer 1

Sails custom responses are great for this.
If you look at the blueprint code, you'll see that each one calls res.ok when it's done: https://github.com/balderdashy/sails/blob/master/lib/hooks/blueprints/actions/find.js#L63
You can add your own file - ok.js - to api/responses/ - which will override the default built in handler.
https://github.com/balderdashy/sails/blob/master/lib/hooks/responses/defaults/ok.js <- just copy and paste this to start, and adapt as you need.