Structr 6.x Migration Notes

Version 6 has some breaking changes which require manual migration of applications from older versions.

Note: It is always advised to have a full backup before upgrading Structr.

Structr Migration Guide: 5.x to 6.x

This guide covers the breaking changes and required modifications when upgrading from Structr 5.x to 6.x.

Global Schema Methods

Global schema methods have been renamed to user-defined functions. The globalSchemaMethods namespace has been deprecated and should no longer be used - functions can now be called directly from the root context.

StructrScript / JavaScript:

// Old (5.x)
$.globalSchemaMethods.foo()

// New (6.x)
$.foo()

REST API:

# Old (5.x)
/structr/rest/maintenance/globalSchemaMethods/foo

# New (6.x)
/structr/rest/foo

Action required: Search your codebase for /maintenance/globalSchemaMethods and $.globalSchemaMethods and update all occurrences.

REST API Query Parameter Change

The _loose parameter has been renamed to _inexact.

# Old (5.x)
/structr/rest/foo?_loose=1

# New (6.x)
/structr/rest/foo?_inexact=1

REST API Response Structure

The response body from $.GET and $.POST requests is now accessible via the body property.

// Old (5.x)
JSON.parse($.GET(url))

// New (6.x)
JSON.parse($.GET(url).body)

Schema Inheritance

The extendsClass property on schema nodes has been replaced with inheritedTraits.

// Old (5.x)
eq('Location', get(first(find('SchemaNode', 'name', request.type)), 'extendsClass').name)

// New (6.x)
contains(first(find('SchemaNode', 'name', request.type)).inheritedTraits, 'Location')

To get the first inherited trait:

// Old: schemaNode.extendsClass
// New: $.first(schemaNode.inheritedTraits)

JavaScript Function Return Behavior

JavaScript functions now return their result directly by default. The previous behavior required an explicit return statement.

Option 1: Restore the old behavior globally by adding this to structr.conf:

application.scripting.js.wrapinmainfunction = true

Option 2: Remove return statements from functions that now produce errors due to this change.

JavaScript: declare variables (strict mode / ES modules)

In modern JavaScript (strict mode and ES modules), identifiers must be declared before use. Assigning to an undeclared name throws a ReferenceError (no “implicit globals”).

// ❌ Not allowed (undeclared variable)
foo = 1;
for (foo of array) {}
for (key in obj) {}


// ✅ Allowed
let foo = 1;
for (let foo of array) {}
for (const foo of array) {}

for (let key in obj) {}
for (const key in obj) {}

If the identifier is already declared in an outer scope, it’s valid but reuses that variable:

let foo;
for (foo of array) {} // ✅ reassigns outer `foo`

Custom Indices

Custom indices are dropped during the upgrade to 6.0.

Action required: After upgrading, recreate all custom indices manually.

Upload Servlet Changes

The upload servlet has several new security and behavioral changes:

Aspect	5.x Behavior	6.x Behavior
Default upload folder	Root or configurable	/._structr_uploads
Empty folder setting	Allowed	Enforced non-empty (prevents root uploads)
parent/parentId usage	No restriction	Requires write permission on target folder
uploadFolderPath attribute	Unrestricted	Authenticated users only; must be under default upload folder
Upload to home folder	Required explicit path	Omit uploadFolderPath

Note: Even administrators cannot use uploadFolderPath to target folders outside the default upload folder hierarchy.

Repeaters: No More REST Queries

REST queries are no longer allowed for repeaters. You must migrate them to function queries or flows.

How to identify affected repeaters: Check your server logs for messages about REST queries being used in repeaters.

Migration options:

1. Convert REST queries to function queries
2. Convert REST queries to flows

Migration Checklist

• [ ] Replace all $.globalSchemaMethods.xyz() calls with $.xyz()
• [ ] Update REST URLs: remove /maintenance/globalSchemaMethods/
• [ ] Replace _loose with _inexact in REST query parameters
• [ ] Update $.GET/$.POST calls to use .body for response content
• [ ] Replace extendsClass with inheritedTraits in schema queries
• [ ] Review JavaScript functions for return statement compatibility
• [ ] Review JavaScript functions for implicit globals
• [ ] Recreate custom indices after upgrade
• [ ] Review and update upload handling code for new security requirements
• [ ] Migrate repeater REST queries to function queries or flows

Previous

Structr 4

Next