How to intercept the creation of an entity in strapi?

Question

I know that under the src/api folder are the entity folders each allowing 4 folders content-types, controllers, routes, and services. If I want to extend or change the behavior of an API then I intervene in the file under the controllers folder, possibly services as well. But this is only good for external calls.

For example if I want to do it when I use an external API I do the following under the foder /controllers => my-entity-name.js:

"use strict";

/**
 *  my-entity-name controller
 */

const { createCoreController } = require("@strapi/strapi").factories;

module.exports = createCoreController("api::my-entity-name.my-entity-name", ({ strapi }) => ({
  async create(ctx) {
    //Do my stuff here
    //create manually the entity or super.create(ctx)
  }
}))

I need to intercept the creation of an entity when the latter is done from the backoffice. Basically I need to invoke an external service before creating it. I noticed that it does not go through the same endpoint as the external API but it uses an internal one made like this: /content-manager/collection-types/api::my-entity.my-entity

What should I do to intercept it?

Answer 1

you have to do model lifecycle:

src/api/contenType/models/contentType/lifecycles.js

module.exports = {
  async beforeCreate(event) {
     …
  }
}

If you need to stop creation due to error you can throw new ApplicationError(‘message’)

reference