allow type-coercion overrides for custom objects

Attempt to call a `toPostgres` method on objects passed as query values
before converting them to JSON. This allows custom types to convert
themselves to the appropriate PostgreSQL literal.

This strategy is fully backwards-compatible and uses the same pattern as
the `toJSON` override.

Author: benesch

lib/utils.js

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ function arrayString(val) {
 //to their 'raw' counterparts for use as a postgres parameter
 //note: you can override this function to provide your own conversion mechanism
 //for complex types, etc...
-var prepareValue = function(val) {
+var prepareValue = function(val, seen) {
   if (val instanceof Buffer) {
     return val;
   }
@@ -55,11 +55,24 @@ var prepareValue = function(val) {
     return null;
   }
   if(typeof val === 'object') {
-    return JSON.stringify(val);
+    return prepareObject(val, seen);
   }
   return val.toString();
 };
 
+function prepareObject(val, seen) {
+  if(val.toPostgres && typeof val.toPostgres === 'function') {
+    seen = seen || [];
+    if (seen.indexOf(val) !== -1) {
+      throw new Error('circular reference detected while preparing "' + val + '" for query');
+    }
+    seen.push(val);
+
+    return prepareValue(val.toPostgres(), seen);
+  }
+  return JSON.stringify(val);
+}
+
 function dateToString(date) {
   function pad(number, digits) {
     number = ""+number;

test/unit/utils-tests.js

@@ -119,3 +119,43 @@ test('prepareValue: arbitrary objects prepared properly', function() {
   var out = utils.prepareValue({ x: 42 });
   assert.strictEqual(out, '{"x":42}');
 });
+
+test('prepareValue: objects with simple toPostgres prepared properly', function() {
+  var customType = {
+    toPostgres: function() {
+      return "zomgcustom!";
+    }
+  };
+  var out = utils.prepareValue(customType);
+  assert.strictEqual(out, "zomgcustom!");
+});
+
+test('prepareValue: objects with complex toPostgres prepared properly', function() {
+  var buf = new Buffer("zomgcustom!");
+  var customType = {
+    toPostgres: function() {
+      return [1, 2];
+    }
+  };
+  var out = utils.prepareValue(customType);
+  assert.strictEqual(out, '{"1","2"}');
+});
+
+test('prepareValue: objects with circular toPostgres rejected', function() {
+  var buf = new Buffer("zomgcustom!");
+  var customType = {
+    toPostgres: function() {
+      return { toPostgres: function () { return customType; } };
+    }
+  };
+
+  //can't use `assert.throws` since we need to distinguish circular reference
+  //errors from call stack exceeded errors
+  try {
+    utils.prepareValue(customType);
+  } catch (e) {
+    assert.ok(e.message.match(/circular/), "Expected circular reference error but got " + e);
+    return;
+  }
+  throw new Error("Expected prepareValue to throw exception");
+});