Using ENUM Type in TypeORM

If you’re working with PostgreSQL or MySQL and making use of TypeORM in your code then you can add a column with the ENUM (enumerated) data type like so:

// book.entity.ts
import {
  Entity,
  PrimaryGeneratedColumn,
  Column,
} from 'typeorm'

export enum BookFormat {
  HARDCOVER = 'hardcover',
  PAPERBACK = 'paperback',
  DIGITAL = 'digital'
}

@Entity()
export class Book {

  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
  id: number;

  @Column()
  title: string;

  @Column({
    type: 'enum',
    enum: BookFormat,
    default: BookFormat.DIGITAL
  })
  format: BookFormat
}

This entity will create a table named books with a format column look as shown below (If you’re using Postgres, you will get the same result as mine. If you’re using MySQL, the outcome is almost the same):

In case you want to use an array with enum values:

import {
  Entity,
  PrimaryGeneratedColumn,
  Column,
} from 'typeorm'

export type BookFormat = "hardcover" | "paperback" | "digital";

@Entity({name: 'books'})
export class Book {

  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
  id: number;

  @Column()
  title: string;

  @Column({
    type: 'enum',
    enum: ["hardcover", "paperback", "digital"],
    default: "digital"
  })
  format: BookFormat
}

Further reading:

• TypeORM: Property ‘id’ has no initializer and is not definitely assigned in the constructor
• TypeORM: Adding created_at and updated_at columns
• Node.js: How to Compress a File using Gzip format
• Best open-source ORM and ODM libraries for Node.js
• 2 Ways to Rename a Table in PostgreSQL

You can also check out our database topic page for the latest tutorials and examples.