typeorm: Cannot find alias for relation at ...

Issue Description

Using BaseEntity.find method and trying to filter by a property inside a related entity it throws the following error (this doesn’t happen if the property is the PK of the related entity):

Error: Cannot find alias for relation at currency
    at _loop_3 (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\query-builder\QueryBuilder.ts:954:27)
    at SelectQueryBuilder.QueryBuilder.findColumnsForPropertyPath (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\node_modules\typeorm\query-builder\QueryBuilder.js:827:27)
    at SelectQueryBuilder.<anonymous> (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\query-builder\QueryBuilder.ts:1069:68)
    at step (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\tslib@2.3.1\node_modules\tslib\tslib.js:143:27)
    at Object.next (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\tslib@2.3.1\node_modules\tslib\tslib.js:124:57)
    at SelectQueryBuilder.QueryBuilder.getWhereCondition (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\query-builder\QueryBuilder.ts:1208:80)
    at SelectQueryBuilder.where (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\query-builder\SelectQueryBuilder.ts:721:32)
    at Function.FindOptionsUtils.applyOptionsToQueryBuilder (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\find-options\FindOptionsUtils.ts:184:16)
    at Function.FindOptionsUtils.applyFindManyOptionsOrConditionsToQueryBuilder (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\find-options\FindOptionsUtils.ts:72:25)
    at EntityManager.<anonymous> (C:\...\node_modules\.pnpm\typeorm@0.2.38_ioredis@4.28.0+pg@8.7.1\src\entity-manager\EntityManager.ts:677:26)

Expected Behavior

I expect it’s possible to find rows filtering by the value of any property of a related entity and not only by its PK.

Actual Behavior

It throws Error: Cannot find alias for relation at .... See above for the complete stacktrace.

Steps to Reproduce

Example:

Entity

@Entity('countries')
export class CountryEntity extends BaseEntity {
    @PrimaryColumn({length: 2})
    id: string;

    ...

    @ManyToOne(() => CurrencyEntity, { nullable: true, eager: true })
    currency: CurrencyEntity;
}

@Entity('currencies')
export class CurrencyEntity extends BaseEntity {
    @PrimaryColumn()
    id: string;

    ...

    @Column()
    fullName: string;
}

Lets say we want to find every single country which official currency’s fullName is United States dollar

const markets = await CountryEntity.find({
    where: {
        currency:  {
            fullName: 'United States dollar'
        }
    }
});

Result: Error: Cannot find alias for relation at currency.

If you search by PK currency.id instead of fullName, it would work:

const markets = await CountryEntity.find({
    where: {
        currency:  {
            id: 'USD'
        }
    }
});

Using QueryBuilder also works.

My Environment

Dependency	Version
Operating System	Windows 10
Node.js version	16.3.0
Typescript version	4.4.4
TypeORM version	0.2.38

Additional Context

Relevant Database Driver(s)

DB Type	Reproducible
`aurora-data-api`	no
`aurora-data-api-pg`	no
`better-sqlite3`	no
`cockroachdb`	no
`cordova`	no
`expo`	no
`mongodb`	no
`mysql`	no
`nativescript`	no
`oracle`	no
`postgres`	yes
`react-native`	no
`sap`	no
`sqlite`	no
`sqlite-abstract`	no
`sqljs`	no
`sqlserver`	no

Are you willing to resolve this issue by submitting a Pull Request?

✅ Yes, I have the time, but I don’t know how to start. I would need guidance.

About this issue

Original URL
State: open
Created 3 years ago
Reactions: 11
Comments: 17

Most upvoted comments

I got the same error, I fixed by specifying relations in the condition

Try with:

const markets = await CountryEntity.find({
    relations: ['currency'],
    where: {
        currency:  {
            fullName: 'United States dollar'
        }
    }
});

Note: the downside is that the currency entity with by pulled also, it means, country’s currency will be populated.

+45

leosuncin on Oct 30, 2021

Can we open PR for this @lucas-labs. I can submit the fix if needed

player-9595 on Jan 31, 2022

Do we have any updates on this issue? because it would be nice not to be forced to populate extra objects if not needed

NenadJovicic on Jan 5, 2022

@TracyLDavidson I’m having this issue with the delete method right now, I was trying to delete a related entity using a non-primary column. My workaround was passing id: Not(IsNull())

It would be something like this:

await countryEntitiesRepository.delete({
    currency: {
        id: Not(IsNull()),
        fullName: 'United States dollar'
    }
})

Vtchoo on Oct 23, 2023

This used to work, seems to got broken after 0.2.34

mikeilabs on Dec 8, 2021

I’m having this error with delete method. It works normally for finding, but I notice that when generating the query, it generates a random string as an alias for the related table:

SELECT CountryEntity.id from country_entity CountryEntity  LEFT JOIN currency "cef765fb0a58526dc35bebe4f53" ON "cef765fb0a58526dc35bebe4f53".id = CountryEntity.currency_id;

anhcao142 on Mar 7, 2023

Can confirm that the ‘cannot find alias’ issue was not a problem before.

UPDATE: I was having the ‘cannot find alias’ error on the save method. The reason was that the ID I was providing in a joined relationship was null which caused the error.

Example:

await this.carsRepository.save({
  ...car,
  user: {
    id: car.user.id,   // -> This ID was null, which then caused the error 'cannot find alias for relation user'
    firstName: car.user.firstName,
  },
});

Soo, be careful with those null/undefined IDs inside relations on save method!

LuisDev99 on Dec 12, 2021

maybe work

const markets = await CountryEntity.find({
    where: {
        currency:  {
            fullName: 'United States dollar'
        }
    },
    relations: ['currency'],
});

vasabigreencolor on Jun 23, 2022