External Templates

ent accepts external Go templates to execute using the --template flag. If the template name already defined by ent, it will override the existing one. Otherwise, it will write the execution output to a file with the same name as the template. For example:

stringer.tmpl - This template example will be written in a file named: ent/stringer.go.

{{/* The line below tells Intellij/GoLand to enable the autocompletion based on the *gen.Graph type. */}}
{{/* gotype: entgo.io/ent/entc/gen.Graph */}}
{{ define "stringer" }}
{{/* Add the base header for the generated file */}}
{{ $pkg := base $.Config.Package }}
{{ template "header" $ }}
{{/* Loop over all nodes and implement the "GoStringer" interface */}}
{{ range $n := $.Nodes }}
    {{ $receiver := $n.Receiver }}
    func ({{ $receiver }} *{{ $n.Name }}) GoString() string {
        if {{ $receiver }} == nil {
            return fmt.Sprintf("{{ $n.Name }}(nil)")
        }
        return {{ $receiver }}.String()
    }
{{ end }}
{{ end }}

debug.tmpl - This template example will be written in a file named: ent/debug.go.

{{ define "debug" }}
{{/* A template that adds the functionality for running each client <T> in debug mode */}}
{{/* Add the base header for the generated file */}}
{{ $pkg := base $.Config.Package }}
{{ template "header" $ }}
{{/* Loop over all nodes and add option the "Debug" method */}}
{{ range $n := $.Nodes }}
    {{ $client := print $n.Name "Client" }}
    func (c *{{ $client }}) Debug() *{{ $client }} {
        if c.debug {
            return c
        }
        cfg := config{driver: dialect.Debug(c.driver, c.log), log: c.log, debug: true, hooks: c.hooks}
        return &{{ $client }}{config: cfg}
    }
{{ end }}
{{ end }}

In order to override an existing template, use its name. For example:

{{/* A template for adding additional fields to specific types. */}}
{{ define "model/fields/additional" }}
    {{- /* Add static fields to the "Card" entity. */}}
    {{- if eq $.Name "Card" }}
        // StaticField defined by templates.
        StaticField string `json:"static_field,omitempty"`
    {{- end }}
{{ end }}

Helper Templates

As mentioned above, ent writes each template’s execution output to a file named the same as the template. For example, the output from a template defined as {{ define "stringer" }} will be written to a file named ent/stringer.go.

By default, ent writes each template declared with {{ define "<name>" }} to a file. However, it is sometimes desirable to define helper templates - templates that will not be invoked directly but rather be executed by other templates. To facilitate this use case, ent supports two naming formats that designate a template as a helper. The formats are:

1. {{ define "helper/.+" }} for global helper templates. For example:

{{ define "helper/foo" }}
    {{/* Logic goes here. */}}
{{ end }}
{{ define "helper/bar/baz" }}
    {{/* Logic goes here. */}}
{{ end }}

1. {{ define "<root-template>/helper/.+" }} for local helper templates. A template is considered as “root” if its execution output is written to a file. For example:

{{/* A root template that is executed on the `gen.Graph` and will be written to a file named: `ent/http.go`.*/}}
{{ define "http" }}
    {{ range $n := $.Nodes }}
        {{ template "http/helper/get" $n }}
        {{ template "http/helper/post" $n }}
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}
{{/* A helper template that is executed on `gen.Type` */}}
{{ define "http/helper/get" }}
    {{/* Logic goes here. */}}
{{ end }}
{{/* A helper template that is executed on `gen.Type` */}}
{{ define "http/helper/post" }}
    {{/* Logic goes here. */}}
{{ end }}

Annotations

Schema annotations allow attaching metadata to fields and edges and inject them to external templates.
An annotation must be a Go type that is serializable to JSON raw value (e.g. struct, map or slice) and implement the Annotation interface.

Here’s an example of an annotation and its usage in schema and template:

1. An annotation definition:

package entgql
// Annotation annotates fields with metadata for templates.
type Annotation struct {
    // OrderField is the ordering field as defined in graphql schema.
    OrderField string
}
// Name implements ent.Annotation interface.
func (Annotation) Name() string {
    return "EntGQL"
}

1. Annotation usage in ent/schema:

// User schema.
type User struct {
    ent.Schema
}
// Fields of the user.
func (User) Fields() []ent.Field {
    return []ent.Field{
        field.Time("creation_date").
            Annotations(entgql.Annotation{
                OrderField: "CREATED_AT",
            }),
    }
}

1. Annotation usage in external templates:

{{ range $node := $.Nodes }}
    {{ range $f := $node.Fields }}
        {{/* Get the annotation by its name. See: Annotation.Name */}}
        {{ if $annotation := $f.Annotations.EntGQL }}
            {{/* Get the field from the annotation. */}}
            {{ $orderField := $annotation.OrderField }}
        {{ end }}
    {{ end }}
{{ end }}

Global Annotations

Global annotation is a type of annotation that is injected into the gen.Config object and can be accessed globally in all templates. For example, an annotation that holds a config file information (e.g. gqlgen.yml or swagger.yml) add can accessed in all templates:

1. An annotation definition:

package gqlconfig
import (
    "entgo.io/ent/schema"
    "github.com/99designs/gqlgen/codegen/config"
)
// Annotation defines a custom annotation
// to be inject globally to all templates.
type Annotation struct {
    Config *config.Config
}
func (Annotation) Name() string {
    return "GQL"
}
var _ schema.Annotation = (*Annotation)(nil)

1. Annotation usage in ent/entc.go:

func main() {
    cfg, err := config.LoadConfig("<path to gqlgen.yml>")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("loading gqlgen config: %v", err)
    }
    opts := []entc.Option{
        entc.TemplateDir("./template"),
        entc.Annotations(gqlconfig.Annotation{Config: cfg}),
    }
    err = entc.Generate("./schema", &gen.Config{
        Templates: entgql.AllTemplates,
    }, opts...)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("running ent codegen: %v", err)
    }
}

1. Annotation usage in external templates:

{{- with $.Annotations.GQL.Config.StructTag }}
    {{/* Access the GQL configuration on *gen.Graph */}}
{{- end }}
{{ range $node := $.Nodes }}
    {{- with $node.Config.Annotations.GQL.Config.StructTag }}
        {{/* Access the GQL configuration on *gen.Type */}}
    {{- end }}
{{ end }}

Examples

• A custom template for implementing the Node API for GraphQL - Github.

• An example for executing external templates with custom functions. See configuration and its README file.

Documentation

Templates are executed on either a specific node type, or the entire schema graph. For API documentation, see the GoDoc.

AutoCompletion

JetBrains users can add the following template annotation to enable the autocompletion in their templates:

{{/* The line below tells Intellij/GoLand to enable the autocompletion based on the *gen.Graph type. */}}
{{/* gotype: entgo.io/ent/entc/gen.Graph */}}
{{ define "template" }}
    {{/* ... */}}
{{ end }}

See it in action: