Generating migrations with cli

Issue Description

Expected Behavior

Migrations get generated using the cli

Actual Behavior

I am following the documentation outlined here https://typeorm.io/migrations and I feel like the documentation is way different then what is actually happening in the cli. I have tried just running the following command:

typeorm migration:generate -n PostRefactoring

When I run this command I get the following:

Not enough non-option arguments: got 0, need at least 1

So then I modify the command to something like this:

Missing required argument: dataSource

So then from there I add the datasource since that is what it is asking for:

npx typeorm migration:generate test -d app-data-source.ts (I found the -d somewhere online while investigating this issue)

But once I run that command I get the following error:

File must contain a TypeScript / JavaScript code and export a DataSource instance.

I have been trying to get this to work for days and I am about ready to throw the towl in and use a different ORM…which I don’t want to do. I know that everything is working fine because I can start up the app and the app connects to the database and creates rows in the database. So it is just something with the cli and trying to generate the migrations.

Here is what is in my app-data-source.ts file:

import { DataSource } from "typeorm";
import { User } from "./entitiy/User";

const myDataSource = new DataSource({
  type: "postgres",
  host: "localhost",
  port: 5432,
  username: "postgres",
  password: "",
  database: "postgres",
  entities: [User],
  migrations: ["/migrations/"],
  logging: true,
  synchronize: true,
});


export default myDataSource;

This is the contents of my app.ts file:

import * as express from "express";
import { Request, Response } from "express";
import myDataSource from "./app-data-source";
import { User } from "./entitiy/User";

// establish database connection
myDataSource
  .initialize()
  .then(() => {
    console.log("Data Source has been initialized!");
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    console.error("Error during Data Source initialization:", err);
  });

// create and setup express app
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

// register routes
app.get("/users", async function (req: Request, res: Response) {
  const users = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).find();
  res.json(users);
});

app.get("/users/:id", async function (req: Request, res: Response) {
  const results = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).findOneBy({
    id: +req.params.id,
  });
  return res.send(results);
});

app.post("/users", async function (req: Request, res: Response) {
  const user = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).create(req.body);
  const results = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).save(user);
  return res.send(results);
});

app.put("/users/:id", async function (req: Request, res: Response) {
  const user = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).findOneBy({
    id: +req.params.id,
  });
  myDataSource.getRepository(User).merge(user, req.body);
  const results = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).save(user);
  return res.send(results);
});

app.delete("/users/:id", async function (req: Request, res: Response) {
  const results = await myDataSource.getRepository(User).delete(req.params.id);
  return res.send(results);
});

// start express server
app.listen(3000);

All these files were setup using the instructions outlined in the express typeorm documentation: Example with Express

Which BTW, this also has issues and doesn’t run from what is outlined in the directions. I had to make some modifications to actually make the app run compared to what is outlined in that guide. One of the changes I made in the data source file was putting the actual Entity name in the entity property of the datasource compared to the guide that has you put the path in.

Anyway, am I crazy…am I doing something wrong? You guys might not have enough information to answer the first question but can you at least help with trying to figure out how to make the migrations work?

Steps to Reproduce

Set up you app using the guide outlined above to use express

My Environment

Relevant Database Driver(s)

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

• ✖️ Yes, I have the time, and I know how to start.
• ✖️ Yes, I have the time, but I don’t know how to start. I would need guidance.
• ✖️ No, I don’t have the time, but I can support (using donations) development.
• ✅ No, I don’t have the time and I’m okay to wait for the community / maintainers to resolve this issue.