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Pipes

Pipes are being used to validate and transform incoming values. They can be applied to the @Query, @Body and @Param decorators.

Built-in pipes​

ParseBooleanPipe​

Validates and transforms Boolean strings. Allows 'true' and 'false'.

class UserHandler {
  @Get()
  users(@Query('active', ParseBooleanPipe) active: boolean) {
    // Do something with the `active` argument.
    return 'Active users';
  }
}

ParseDatePipe​

Validates and transforms Date strings. Allows valid ISO 8601 formatted date strings.

class UserHandler {
  @Get()
  users(@Query('registrationDate', ParseDatePipe) registrationDate: Date) {
    // Do something with the `startFrom` argument.
    return `List of users that registered on ${registrationDate}.`;
  }
}

ParseNumberPipe​

Validates and transforms Number strings. Uses parseFloat under the hood.

class UserHandler {
  @Get()
  users(@Query('limit', ParseNumberPipe) limit: number) {
    // Do something with the `skip` argument.
    return `Returning the first ${limit} users.`;
  }
}

ValidateEnumPipe 1​

Validates string based on Enum values. Allows strings that are present in the enum.

enum UserRole {
  ADMIN = 'admin',
  EDITOR = 'editor',
  STAFF = 'staff',
  CUSTOMER = 'customer'
}

class UserHandler {
  @Get()
  users(@Query(ValidateEnumPipe({ type: UserRole })) role: UserRole) {
    // Do something with the `role` argument.
    return `Users that have the role ${role}`;
  }
}

ValidationPipe​

Validates the request body via class-validator. Works only when class-validator and class-transformer packages are installed.

Since validation is a topic on its own, you can read more about it here

DefaultValuePipe 1​

Assigns a default value to the parameter when its value is null or undefined.

caution

Beware that pipes (except for the DefaultValuePipe) throw when the value is undefined or invalid. Read about optional values below.

Optional values​

Pipes are non-nullable by default. However, the following pipes allow options to be passed as an argument and have the nullable property in their options:

  • ParseBooleanPipe
  • ParseDatePipe
  • ParseNumberPipe
  • ValidateEnumPipe

Usage:

@Query('isActive', ParseBooleanPipe({ nullable: true })) isActive?: boolean

Footnotes​

  1. Bare function usage has no effect for these pipes. In other words, always use @Query('step', DefaultValuePipe(1)) rather than @Query('step', DefaultValuePipe).↩