Parse-server: Error Code for Invalid Geojson

[mstniy]

New Issue Checklist

• [ x] I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
• [ x] I am not just asking a question.
• [ x] I have searched through existing issues.
• [ x] I can reproduce the issue with the latest version of Parse Server.

Issue Description

Currently there is no error code that signifies an invalid geojson.
If the creation of an object fails due to a column with a geospatial index (such as 2dsphere) containing invalid data, Parse throws a generic INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR with no information as to exactly what went wrong.
Note that this corresponds to the Mongo error code 16755.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a new class, geojson_test
2. Create a new column, called geometry, of type Object
   You can use the dashboard for both of these steps
3. Create a geospatial index using the mongo shell:
   db.geojson_test.createIndex({"geometry": "2dsphere"})
4. Attempt to create this object, using any sdk (JS, rest, ...):
   { "geometry": {"foo":"bar"} }

Actual Outcome

Parse throws a generic INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR with no information as to exactly what went wrong:
{ "code": 1, "message": "Internal server error." }

This makes it difficult to handle invalid geojsons programmatically.
Note that the original Mongo exception gets logged by Parse, but is programmatically inaccessible.

Expected Outcome

A helpful error message, like the one returned by Mongo:
MongoError: Can't extract geo keys: ... unknown GeoJSON type: { foo: "bar" }

Failing Test Case / Pull Request

• [ ] 🤩 I submitted a PR with a fix and a test case.
• [ ] 🧐 I submitted a PR with a failing test case.

Environment

Server

• Parse Server version: 4.5.0
• Operating system: Ubuntu 18.04
• Local or remote host (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Heroku, Digital Ocean, etc): local

Database

• System (MongoDB or Postgres): MongoDB
• Database version: v4.4.4
• Local or remote host (MongoDB Atlas, mLab, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc): local

Client

• SDK (iOS, Android, JavaScript, PHP, Unity, etc): any
• SDK version: FILL_THIS_OUT

Logs

See above

[mtrezza]

Thanks for reporting!

I agree that the server should not crash but provide a proper error message. The steps would be:

• See whether an existing Parse Error code (defined in Parse JS SDK) can be reused for this.
• If not, then create a PR in Parse JS SDK for a new error (see Contribution Guide)
• Create a PR with a failing test case that expects the error
• Add PR changes to make the test case pass

[mtrezza]

This issue has been classified as bug with severity S4 (small/trivial):

• Workaround: Validate GeoJSON before sending it to MongoDB

[mstniy]

I have created a PR for the new error code
parse-community/Parse-SDK-JS#1342

[mtrezza]

The error code PR has been merged.

The error code won't be available until a new Parse JS SDK will be released and the dependency in Parse Server is updated. But you can already expect the Parse Error and write tests for it, they will just fail for now.