RouteDefinition

Kind: Interface

Source: packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts

Part of: Core

RouteDefinition describes a discovered HTTP route within the router exploration process. It combines the route path, HTTP method, controller callback, method name, and optional API version so the framework can register and dispatch requests consistently.

Properties

Diagram

mermaid
graph LR
  Controller[Controller Method] --> Definition[RouteDefinition]
  Definition --> Path[path: string[]]
  Definition --> Method[requestMethod: RequestMethod]
  Definition --> Callback[targetCallback: RouterProxyCallback]
  Definition --> Name[methodName: string]
  Definition --> Version[version: VersionValue]
  Definition --> Router[Router Registration]

Usage

ts
import { RequestMethod } from '@nestjs/common';
import type { RouteDefinition } from './paths-explorer';

const usersController = {
  findAll() {
    return [{ id: 1, name: 'Ada' }];
  },
};

const route: RouteDefinition = {
  path: ['users'],
  requestMethod: RequestMethod.GET,
  targetCallback: usersController.findAll.bind(usersController),
  methodName: 'findAll',
  version: '1',
};

// Used by the router explorer to register GET /v1/users.

AI Coding Instructions

• Preserve path as a string array; route exploration may produce multiple normalized paths for one handler.
• Use RequestMethod enum values instead of raw HTTP method strings.
• Bind targetCallback to its controller instance when constructing definitions manually, so this context is retained.
• Keep methodName aligned with the original controller method for metadata lookup, logging, and diagnostics.
• Pass the correct version value when integrating with versioned routing; avoid treating versioned and unversioned routes as interchangeable.

How it works

RouteDefinition is an exported TypeScript interface describing a discovered controller-method route. It contains:

• path: one or more route-path strings. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:17-23
• requestMethod: the RequestMethod metadata value for the controller method. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:19
• targetCallback: the instance method callback, typed to accept (req, res, next) and return void or Promise<void>. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:20 packages/core/router/router-proxy.ts:4-8
• methodName: the discovered method’s name. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:21
• Optional version: method-level version metadata. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:22

PathsExplorer creates a RouteDefinition while scanning method names on a controller prototype. A definition is created only when PATH_METADATA exists on the prototype method; methods without that metadata return null and are excluded from scanForPaths results. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:36-50 packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:58-63

During construction, a string path is converted to a one-item array and given a leading slash. For a non-string path value, the code maps its entries and adds a leading slash to each. The request method and optional version come from reflection metadata on the prototype callback, while targetCallback comes from the controller instance. packages/core/router/paths-explorer.ts:58-81

In HTTP route registration, the route’s version is assigned to routePathMetadata.methodVersion; its request method selects the adapter router method; and every route path is expanded through RoutePathFactory before the handler is registered with the router. packages/core/router/router-explorer.ts:140-151 packages/core/router/router-explorer.ts:163-173 packages/core/router/router-explorer.ts:198-247

Relationships

• IMPORTS → METHOD_METADATA
• IMPORTS → PATH_METADATA
• IMPORTS → VERSION_METADATA
• IMPORTS → RequestMethod
• IMPORTS → Controller
• IMPORTS → VersionValue
• IMPORTS → addLeadingSlash
• IMPORTS → isString
• IMPORTS → isUndefined