CODEWITHSUNDEEP
mongoosemongoose-populate
Wolf_Tru
Wolf_Tru

Reputation: 563

Populating an attribute that's an array of Ids using mongoose populate

I have an object that looks like this: 

Topic
 {
    "posts": [
        "5baabfeb87a1401432791534",
        "5bac21814a0f9a2262a77f1b"
    ],
    "_id": "5ba06e74dbc05f039490438c",
    "topic": "new topic",
    "description": "this is the description",
    "date": "2018-09-18T03:18:12.062Z",
    "__v": 2
}

im trying to return Topic.posts as an array of records using mongoose's populate. this is what i'm trying. 

router.get('/:topicId/posts', (req,res) => {
  const {topicId} = req.params
  Topic.findById(topicId)
  .then(topic => res.json(topic.posts.populate('posts')) 
     )
  .catch(err => res.send(err))
});
//getting a {} blank object its not even an array?

if possible id like it to return the whole topic object with array populated.

Topic
  {
    "posts": [
        {
        "_id": "5bac21814a0f9a2262a77f1b",
         "post": "post 2",
         "description": "blah blah",
        },
        {
          "_id": "5baabfeb87a1401432791534",
           "post": " this is a post",
           "description": "blah blah blah"
          }
    ],
    "_id": "5ba06e74dbc05f039490438c",
    "topic": "new topic",
    "description": "this is the description",
    "date": "2018-09-18T03:18:12.062Z",
    "__v": 2
}

what are my options?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 23

Answers (1)

Wolf_Tru
Wolf_Tru

Reputation: 563

figured it out 

router.get('/:topicId/posts', (req,res) => {
  const {topicId} = req.params
  Topic.findById(topicId) //I thought you had to map the array but populate iterates for you
  .populate('posts')
  .then(topic => res.json(topic))
  .catch(err => res.send(err))
});

Upvotes: 1

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