CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsmongodbexpressmongoose
kevinblanco
kevinblanco

Reputation: 779

Mongoose Sub-documents on separate files, how to embed them

I'm defining my application models and i have separate files for each model that i'm defining, my question is, i need to create a model that use a sub-document, but that's on another file, how can i use that Schema on my model ? what i mean is that all examples i've seen declare the Child model and the Parent on the same file, example: 

var childSchema = new Schema({ name: 'string' });

var parentSchema = new Schema({
  children: [childSchema]
});

I have one file called user.js that defines the user model : 

var mongoose  = require('mongoose');
var Schema    = mongoose.Schema;

var userSchema = new Schema({

  _id           : Schema.Types.ObjectId,
  username      : String,

});


module.exports = mongoose.model( 'User', userSchema );

And on another file called sport.js i have the other model definition for the sports:

var mongoose  = require('mongoose');
var Schema    = mongoose.Schema;

var sportSchema = new Schema({

  _id       : Schema.Types.ObjectId,
  name      : String

});

module.exports = mongoose.model( 'Sport', sportSchema );

So on my user model I need to define a field for the sports that the user will follow, but i do not know how to define that sub-document since the sports definition is on another file, I tried this:

var mongoose  = require('mongoose');
var Schema    = mongoose.Schema;
var SportsModel = require('sport');

var userSchema = new Schema({

  _id           : Schema.Types.ObjectId,
  username      : String,
 sports         : [SportsModel]

});


module.exports = mongoose.model( 'User', userSchema );

But i'm not sure if that's the correct way since what i'm exporting is the model, not the Schema.

Thanks in advance, i want to define each model on separate files to maintain order.

Upvotes: 26

Views: 13718

Answers (2)

tandrewnichols
tandrewnichols

Reputation: 3466

Use ref

var mongoose  = require('mongoose');
var Schema    = mongoose.Schema;

var userSchema = new Schema({
    _id     : Schema.Types.ObjectId,
    username: String,
    sports  : [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Sport' }]
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('User', userSchema);

Incidentally, with ref, you can use .populate('sports') when you query, and mongoose will expand those types for you.

Upvotes: 9

JohnnyHK
JohnnyHK

Reputation: 311835

You can access a Model's schema via its schema property. So this should work:

var userSchema = new Schema({    
  _id           : Schema.Types.ObjectId,
  username      : String,
  sports        : [SportsModel.schema]    
});

Upvotes: 62

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