AuditLog

AuditLog plugin allows to log all changes in the resources done from the admin panel. It will allow you to figure out who and when made changes in the data. Requires separate table in the database to store logs.

Installation

npm i @adminforth/audit-log --save

Create auditLogs.ts in resources folder:

./resources/auditLogs.ts

import AuditLogPlugin from '@adminforth/audit-log';
import { AdminForthDataTypes } from 'adminforth'
import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';

Getting Started will be used as base for this example.

Creating table for storing activity data

For the first, to track records changes, we need to set up the database and table with certain fields inside where tracked data will be stored.

First of all you should create this table in your own database ./schema.prisma:

./schema.prisma

model audit_logs {
  id                String      @id
  created_at        DateTime  /// timestamp of applied change
  resource_id       String    /// identifier of resource where change were applied
  user_id           String    /// identifier of user who made the changes
  action            String    /// type of change (create, edit, delete)
  diff              String?   /// delta betwen before/after versions
  record_id         String?   /// identifier of record that been changed
}

And prisma migrate:

npx --yes prisma migrate dev --name add-audit-logs

Also to make this code start

Setting up the resource and dataSource for plugin

Logger sets up for all the resources by default. But you can exclude unwanted resources with option "excludeResourceIds". In this example, we'll exclude resource "users" from logging.

Also, it excludes itself to avoid infinte logging loop.

Add this code in auditLogs.ts:

./resources/auditLogs.ts

  export default {
    dataSource: 'maindb', 
    table: 'audit_logs',
    columns: [
      { name: 'id', primaryKey: true, required: false, fillOnCreate: ({initialRecord}: any) => uuid(), showIn: ['show'] },
      { name: 'created_at', required: false },
      { name: 'resource_id', required: false },
      { name: 'user_id', required: false, 
          foreignResource: {
          resourceId: 'users',
        } },
      { name: 'action', required: false },
      { name: 'diff', required: false, type: AdminForthDataTypes.JSON, showIn: ['show'] },
      { name: 'record_id', required: false },
    ],
    options: {
      allowedActions: {
        edit: false,
        delete: false,
        create: false
      }
    },
    plugins: [
      new AuditLogPlugin({
        // if you want to exclude some resources from logging
        //excludeResourceIds: ['users'],
        resourceColumns: {
          resourceIdColumnName: 'resource_id',
          resourceActionColumnName: 'action',
          resourceDataColumnName: 'diff',
          resourceUserIdColumnName: 'user_id',
          resourceRecordIdColumnName: 'record_id',
          resourceCreatedColumnName: 'created_at'
        }
      }),
    ],
  }

Then you need to import ./resources/auditLogs:

./index.ts

import auditLogsResource from "./resources/auditLogs"


... new AdminForth({
  dataSources: [...],
    ...
  resources: [
    apartmentsResource,
    usersResource,
    auditLogsResource
  ],
    ...
]

Also, we need to add it to menu:

menu: [
  ...
  {
      label: 'Audit Logs',
      icon: 'flowbite:search-outline',
      resourceId: 'audit_logs',
  }
]

That's it! Now you can see the logs in the table

Logging custom actions

Audit log is able to catch only standard actions like create, update, delete or custom bulk actions.

If you have a custom, self coded actions in your API, you can log them by calling logCustomAction method of AuditLogPlugin instance:

./resources/auditLogs.ts

app.get(`${ADMIN_BASE_URL}/api/dashboard/`,
  admin.express.authorize(
    async (req, res) => {

      admin.getPluginByClassName<AuditLogPlugin>('AuditLogPlugin').logCustomAction(
        'aparts',
        null, // recordId can be null if not applicable
        'visitedDashboard',
        { dashboard: 'main' },
        req.adminUser,
        req.headers //required if you want log client ip
      )

      ....

Logging client ip address

Audit log can also log the client's IP address if needed.

First, you need to migrate the audit_logs table in ./schema.prisma:

./schema.prisma

model audit_logs {
  id                String      @id
  created_at        DateTime  /// timestamp of applied change
  resource_id       String    /// identifier of resource where change were applied
  user_id           String    /// identifier of user who made the changes
  action            String    /// type of change (create, edit, delete)
  diff              String?   /// delta betwen before/after versions
  record_id         String?   /// identifier of record that been changed
  ip_address        STRING?   /// client ip address
}

And prisma migrate:

npx --yes prisma migrate dev --name add-ip-address-to-audit-logs

Also, update the resource configuration in ./resources/auditLogs.ts:

./resources/auditLogs.ts

  export default {
    dataSource: 'maindb', 
    table: 'audit_logs',
    columns: [
      ...
      { name: 'action', required: false },
      { name: 'diff', required: false, type: AdminForthDataTypes.JSON, showIn: ['show'] },
      { name: 'record_id', required: false },
      { name: 'ip_address', required: false },
    ],
    ...
    plugins: [
      new AuditLogPlugin({
        resourceColumns: {
          resourceIdColumnName: 'resource_id',
          resourceActionColumnName: 'action',
          resourceDataColumnName: 'diff',
          resourceUserIdColumnName: 'user_id',
          resourceRecordIdColumnName: 'record_id',
          resourceCreatedColumnName: 'created_at'
          resourceIpColumnName: "ip_address",
        }
      }),
    ],
  }