Why does express/mongodb updateOne post allow $set of some values, but will not update others? - mongodb

Question

I am baffled by this post method, it will update fields 'x and y', but any attempt to set an array of widgets fails.
It is finding the correct item to update, passing all the required information through, but it will not allow insertion of, or update to 'widgets' fields.
Even if I remove the data intended for widgets and arbitrarily send through 'foo' it will not update with a field 'widgets'.
What am I doing wrong here???
API Call to Update Widgets. The Arbitrary X and Y values will update on the database, but any attempt to update widget makes no change
const saveUpdatedWidgets = async (update, _id) => {
console.log("called to update widgets ",update.widgets," in pagecard saveUpdatedWidgets")
let widgetObject = []
for(let u=0;u<update.widgets.length;u++){
widgetObject.push({
id: update.widgets[u].id,
text: update.widgets[u].text
})
}
Api.withToken().post('/pagewidget/'+_id,
{widgets: widgetObject, x:250, y:250}
).then(function (response) {
console.log("?worked ",response.data)
}).catch(function (error) {
console.log("page save failed for some reason on pagecard: ",error.response);
});
};
This will return the following in the console:
Code for post method is:
//THIS ROUTER WILL NOT UPDATE ANY WIDGETS FOR SOME REASON
router.post('/pagewidget/:_id',auth, async(req,res)=>{
console.log("request to update ",req.body," for id ",req.params," in pagewidgetsave post")
const query = { "_id": req.params };
const addedWidgets = req.body;
const newValues = { $set: addedWidgets }
try {
const thePage = await Pages.updateOne( query, newValues);
res.status(201).send(thePage)
console.log("updated Page: ",thePage);
}
catch(e){
console.log(e);
res.status(400).send(e)
}
})
Results from the console running node shows that values are going through, but only x and y actually update in database..
Here is the axios api.js file if there are any issues here:
import axios from 'axios';
const baseURL = process.env.REACT_APP_BASE_URL || "http://localhost:3001"
export default {
noToken() {
return axios.create({
baseURL: baseURL
});
},
withToken() {
const tokenStr = window.sessionStorage.getItem("token")
return axios.create({
baseURL: baseURL,
headers: {"Authorization" : `Bearer ${tokenStr}`}
});
}
}
What is going on!!?? It finds the page OK, and updates x and y values, but can't update widgets, even if the values for widget are just a string or number...

Answer 1

I found the issue. the MongoDB documentation doesn't mention this too well, and in its examples for updateOne() it passes an object for the update argument.
BUT, if you are setting a new field, this argument must be wrapped inside an array to use $set, this is because it can accept both methods to $set and to $unset. (see mongoDB docs)
(i.e. updateOne({query} , [{$set: {field:"value"}, {$unset: {otherfield:"othervalue"}])
In the end the post method just had to change to const thePage = await Pages.updateOne( query, [newValues]); (with newValues stored as an object inside an array, to allow addition of $unset if it was needed.
This is why it would update existing values OK, but it would not set new values into the database.
What a journey....
Full code for post method here
router.post('/pagewidget/:_id',auth, async(req,res)=>{
const query = {"_id": req.params._id};
const addedWidgets = req.body;
const newValues = { $set: addedWidgets }
try {
const thePage = await Pages.updateOne( query, [newValues]);
res.status(201).send(thePage)
console.log("updated Page: ",thePage);
}
catch(e){
console.log(e);
res.status(400).send(e)
}
})