Parse.Query.find() returns Parse.Pointer[] instead of Parse.Object[]

[RaschidJFR]

Issue Description

When running a simple query on a class from cloud code, the result is an array of pointers to class objects instead of an array of actual objects. When the same query is run on the client it works ok.

This only happens on a specific class (Profile in my case), the same query on any other class returns the expected output.

Steps to reproduce

Call this cloud function function for a certain class (in this case Profile):

Parse.Cloud.define('department:getMembers', request => {
  return new Parse.Query(Profile).find({useMasterKey: true});
});

Expected Results

If I run the same query from the client: new Parse.Query(Profile).find();, what I get is a list of Parse Objects as expected:

{
	"results": [
		{
			"objectId": "SmAkS6KX9F",
			"accreditations": [
				{
					"code": 5,
					"year": 2013
				}
			],
			"awards": [
				{
					"name": "gdsf",
					"awardedBy": "dsgf",
					"year": 2004,
					"details": "hfgdfdhgdfhg"
				}
			],
			// more properties...
		},
		{
			"objectId": "MhOASa4bBa",
			"accreditations": [],
			"awards": [],
			// more properties...
		},
		{
			"objectId": "yIIEz9UIGp",
			"accreditations": [],
			"awards": [],
			// more properties...
		}
	]
}

Actual Outcome

... but when run from cloud code I'm getting just pointers instead of actual objects!:

{
    "result": [
        {
            "__type": "Pointer",
            "className": "Profile",
            "objectId": "SmAkS6KX9F"
        },
        {
            "__type": "Pointer",
            "className": "Profile",
            "objectId": "MhOASa4bBa"
        },
        {
            "__type": "Pointer",
            "className": "Profile",
            "objectId": "yIIEz9UIGp"
        }
    ]
}

Environment Setup

• Server

  • parse-server version (Be specific! Don't say 'latest'.) : 3.1.1
  • Operating System: Win10
  • Hardware: Intel Core i5-6200U; RAM 12GB
  • Localhost or remote server? (AWS, Heroku, Azure, Digital Ocean, etc): Local

• Database

  • MongoDB version: v4.0.1
  • Storage engine: WiredTiger
  • Hardware: (same as server) Intel Core i5-6200U; RAM 12GB
  • Localhost or remote server? (AWS, mLab, ObjectRocket, Digital Ocean, etc): Local

Logs/Trace

info: Ran cloud function department:getMembers for user rhLnSgyBQv with:
  Input: {"department":{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Department","objectId":"nBcxb3juBx"}}
  Result: [{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Profile","objectId":"SmAkS6KX9F"},{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Profile","objectId":"MhOASa4bBa"},{"__type":"Pointer","className":"Profile","objectId":"yIIEz9UIGp"}] functionName=department:getMembers, __type=Pointer, className=Department, objectId=nBcxb3juBx, user=rhLnSgyBQv
verbose: RESPONSE from [POST] /scope/functions/department:getMembers: {
  "response": {
    "result": [
      {
        "__type": "Pointer",
        "className": "Profile",
        "objectId": "SmAkS6KX9F"
      },
      {
        "__type": "Pointer",
        "className": "Profile",
        "objectId": "MhOASa4bBa"
      },
      {
        "__type": "Pointer",
        "className": "Profile",
        "objectId": "yIIEz9UIGp"
      }
    ]
  }
} result=[__type=Pointer, className=Profile, objectId=SmAkS6KX9F, __type=Pointer, className=Profile, objectId=MhOASa4bBa, __type=Pointer, className=Profile, objectId=yIIEz9UIGp]

Some more code

For what it's worth, this is the code for the class Profile.ts.

import Parse from '@parse';
import { User } from '@library/user/user';
// some more imports...

export class Profile extends Parse.Object {

	constructor(attributes?: IProfile) {
		super('Profile', attributes);

		this.accreditations = attributes && attributes.accreditations || [];
		this.awards = attributes && attributes.awards || [];
		this.seniority = attributes && attributes.seniority || [];
		this.degrees = attributes && attributes.degrees || [];
	}

	get user(): User { return this.get('user'); }
	set user(val: User) { this.set('user', val); }

         // some more setters and functions...

	toJSON(): IProfile {
		const json = super.toJSON();
		json.photoUrl = this.photoUrl;
		return json;
	}
}

// IMPORTANT: Register as Parse subclass
Parse.Object.registerSubclass('Profile', Profile);

[dplewis]

Thank you for the detailed report. Can you write a failing test?

[acinader]

@RaschidGithub did you ever figure this one out? Interesting. I suspect that it is a misconfiguration on your part. Turning on verbose logging may help in tracking it down what is going on.

If I have read your account properly, this is only happening with one class and not the others. You write: "This only happens on a specific class (Project in my case)", but then use 'Profile' everywhere else.

[RaschidJFR]

Thanks @acinader , I've edited my description as I miswrote the sentence: it should read "... on a specific class (Profile...".

I've turned on verbose, it's pasted on the issue description. I'm gonna try the test @dplewis suggested and get back to you with the result. I'll just have to figure out how that is done hehe.

[RaschidJFR]

Thank you for the detailed report. Can you write a failing test?

@dplewis so I forked the repo (I guess I need to run my local server from the /bin folder inside it), installed Jasmine Test Explorer and did npm run coverage... I'm not familiar with this tests, so what's the outcome I should post here?

[dplewis]

If you got the tests running and passing, write a new test to reproduce your issue.

If your new test fails then create a Pull Request.

https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

[davimacedo]

@RaschidGithub I've just noticed in your logs that you are sending a parameter called "department" but you are not using this parameter in the function you included in your issue description. I am just wondering if you really included the whole code of the function. Can you please double check?

[RaschidJFR]

@davimacedo Yes, the cloud function was supposed to do some more complex querying, but as it wasn't working I reduced it to just one line ( return new Parse.Query(Profile).find({useMasterKey: true});) to get rid of any other potential errors. So the that's my complete code, I'm sending parameters that are not being used at all for now.

[davimacedo]

Can you try the code below to see what happens?

Parse.Cloud.define('department:getMembers', request => {
return new Parse.Query('Profile').find({useMasterKey: true});
});

The idea is to not use the Profile class just to make sure that the problem is in the API and not in the code.

[dplewis]

@RaschidGithub I wrote a test case and it passed. I don't think this is an API issue.

[RaschidJFR]

Can you try the code below to see what happens?

Parse.Cloud.define('department:getMembers', request => {
return new Parse.Query('Profile').find({useMasterKey: true});
});

The idea is to not use the Profile class just to make sure that the problem is in the API and not in the code.

Exact same result @davimacedo ... this is so weird. I even tried with and without the masterkey just because and still failing.

I'm starting to thing I may have broke something on maybe on the mongodb, the strange thing is that this happens also on the remove server on [back4app](https://back4app.com].

Thanks for the case @dplewis . I know, this code is too simplt to cause such an issue. I'm gonna start testing my git history and see If I can when it stopped working.

[RaschidJFR]

I'm noticing something in the logs that I left out before: the server fetches the complete Objects
but it converts them to Pointers just before returning from the async request:

// Get Members
Parse.Cloud.define('department:getMembers', async (request) => {
	const profiles = await new Parse.Query('Profile').first();
	console.log('\n=========== I FETCHED THIS ================\n%o\n==============================\n', JSON.stringify(profiles));

	return profiles;  // <-- Here they get turned into Parse.Pointer
});

// LOG
verbose: REQUEST for [POST] /scope/functions/department:getMembers: {} method=POST, url=/scope/functions/department:getMembers, x-parse-application-id=***********, x-parse-rest-api-key=*******, content-type=application/json, user-agent=PostmanRuntime/7.11.0, accept=*/*, cache-control=no-cache, postman-token=53ee8188-3355-4e4f-85cc-45ccb4e1f7d6, host=localhost:1337, accept-encoding=gzip, deflate, content-length=0, connection=keep-alive,
verbose: REQUEST for [GET] /scope/classes/Profile: {
  "where": {},
  "limit": 1
} method=GET, url=/scope/classes/Profile, user-agent=node-XMLHttpRequest, Parse/js2.1.0 (NodeJS 10.14.1), accept=*/*, content-type=text/plain, host=localhost:1337, content-length=208, connection=close, , limit=1
verbose: RESPONSE from [GET] /scope/classes/Profile: {
  "response": {
    "results": [
      {
        "objectId": "aTwDsUAhUi",
        "accreditations": [],
        "awards": [],
        "seniority": [],
        "degrees": [],
        "firstName": "Raschid",
        "lastName": "Rafaelly",
        "user": {
          "__type": "Pointer",
          "className": "_User",
          "objectId": "4IgZmPWknB"
        },
        "createdAt": "2019-04-19T00:43:44.270Z",
        "updatedAt": "2019-04-23T00:57:14.654Z",
        "photo": {
          "__type": "File",
          "name": "5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg",
          "url": "http://localhost:1337/scope/files/oqUavu8VpWVZJ3WeK2RDDTKXbFMDY95bMuCwLvD2/5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg"
        },
        "ACL": {
          "4IgZmPWknB": {
            "read": true,
            "write": true
          },
          "*": {
            "read": true
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
} results=[objectId=aTwDsUAhUi, accreditations=[], awards=[], seniority=[], degrees=[], firstName=Raschid, lastName=Rafaelly, __type=Pointer, className=_User, objectId=4IgZmPWknB, createdAt=2019-04-19T00:43:44.270Z, updatedAt=2019-04-23T00:57:14.654Z, __type=File, name=5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg, url=http://localhost:1337/scope/files/oqUavu8VpWVZJ3WeK2RDDTKXbFMDY95bMuCwLvD2/5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg, read=true, write=true, read=true]

=========== I FETCHED THIS ================
'{"accreditations":[],"awards":[],"seniority":[],"degrees":[],"firstName":"Raschid","lastName":"Rafaelly","user":{"__type":"Pointer","className":"_User","objectId":"4IgZmPWknB"},"createdAt":"2019-04-19T00:43:44.270Z","updatedAt":"2019-04-23T00:57:14.654Z","photo":{"__type":"File","name":"5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg","url":"http://localhost:1337/scope/files/oqUavu8VpWVZJ3WeK2RDDTKXbFMDY95bMuCwLvD2/5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg"},"ACL":{"4IgZmPWknB":{"read":true,"write":true},"*":{"read":true}},"objectId":"aTwDsUAhUi","photoUrl":"http://localhost:1337/scope/files/oqUavu8VpWVZJ3WeK2RDDTKXbFMDY95bMuCwLvD2/5ded977b48566e271421ff0ad0912429_RS17239jpg.jpeg"}'
==============================

info: Ran cloud function department:getMembers for user undefined with:
  Input: {}
  Result: {"__type":"Pointer","className":"Profile","objectId":"aTwDsUAhUi"} functionName=department:getMembers, , user=undefined
verbose: RESPONSE from [POST] /scope/functions/department:getMembers: {
  "response": {
    "result": {
      "__type": "Pointer",
      "className": "Profile",
      "objectId": "aTwDsUAhUi"
    }
  }
} __type=Pointer, className=Profile, objectId=aTwDsUAhUi

[RaschidJFR]

I'm following your lead @davimacedo and it turns out that the request works fine when I don't register the subclass Profile.

// Parse.Object.registerSubclass('Profile', Profile); // <-- When I comment this line it all (sort of) works fine

[dplewis]

Does the test case I wrote match the issue you are having? If not please write a test case as I have mentioned before.

When in doubt you can debug the code base.

Cloud code router
Cloud code triggers

[RaschidJFR]

Ok guys, so I've narrowede the problem and I'm able to give the instructions to reproduce the bug (should I update the main issue description above?).

1. Just run this code as your main.ts/main.js
2. Call the cloud function department:getmembers

@dplewis I'm not sure how to write a test case (I have null experience on it), but may be it's something like this (If you run this code you'll get the issue as described).

It seems that the line to init the array prop to [] is causing the issue:

// main.ts

// Create class
class MyClass extends Parse.Object {
    constructor(attributes?) {
	super('MyClass', attributes);
	this.myArrayProp = [];		// <-- This line is causing the issue!!
    }

	get myArrayProp(): any[] { return this.get('myArrayProp'); }
	set myArrayProp(val: any[]) { this.set('myArrayProp', val); }
}

// Create and save a test object
new MyClass().save({
	myArrayProp: [{ id: 1 }, { id: 2 }]
});

// Register as subclass
Parse.Object.registerSubclass('MyClass', MyClass);

// Define cloud function
Parse.Cloud.define('department:getMembers', () => {
	return new Parse.Query(MyClass).find();
});

[dplewis]

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