Seeding

eQual includes an automatic data population mechanism called seeding. This feature generates objects automatically, which is especially useful during development and testing.

Overview

Seeding allows developers and testers to work with consistent datasets by:

• Automatically generating objects based on entity definitions
• Ensuring generated values are consistent with field descriptors from getColumns()
• Supporting relational data generation

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Seeding Schema

A seeding schema is a JSON array where each object represents a seeding operation for a specific data model. The file specifies:

• Which models to seed
• The quantity of records to create
• Field values to set
• Relationships between models

Basic Example

[
    {
        "name": "core\\alert\\MessageModel",
        "qty": 1,
        "fields": {
            "name": "Example model"
        },
        "relations": {
            "messages_ids": {
                "mode": "create",
                "qty": [5, 10],
                "fields": {
                    "severity": "notice"
                }
            }
        }
    }
]

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Schema Properties

Root Object Properties

Property	Type	Description
name	string	Fully qualified class name to seed.
lang	string	Defines the language for any localized fields. If not specified, defaults to DEFAULT_LANG.
qty	integer | array	Number of records to create. Use array [min, max] for random range.
fields	object	Field values to set on created objects.
set_object_data	object	Maps fields from the created object to be used later in relationships domain.
relations	object	Relational field generation settings.

Relation Descriptor Properties

Property	Type	Description
mode	string	How to handle related records.
qty	integer | array	Number of related records to create/link.
fields	object	Field values for created related objects.
domain	array	Filters for selecting existing records.

Mode Descriptor Properties

Property	Type	Description
create	string	Create new related records with specified fields.
use-existing	string	Uses existing record(s), based on the given domain. If no existing record meets the criteria, fallback on create.
use-existing-or-create	string	Uses existing record(s) if found, otherwise creates a new one.

set_object_data

At any level, data can be arbitrary append to a global object reference, and can then be used in subsequent domains.

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Usage Examples

Creating with Fixed Values

[
    {
        "name": "demo\\User",
        "qty": 10,
        "fields": {
            "status": "active",
            "role": "member"
        }
    }
]

Creating with Random Quantity

[
    {
        "name": "demo\\Product",
        "qty": [50, 100],
        "fields": {
            "available": true
        }
    }
]

Creating with Relations

[
    {
        "name": "demo\\Order",
        "qty": 5,
        "relations": {
            "items_ids": {
                "mode": "create",
                "qty": [1, 5],
                "fields": {
                    "quantity": 1
                }
            }
        }
    }
]

Linking to Existing Records

[
    {
        "name": "demo\\Task",
        "qty": 20,
        "relations": {
            "user_id": {
                "mode": "link",
                "domain": [["status", "=", "active"]]
            }
        }
    }
]

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