Mongoose query not showing subdocument - mongodb

Question

I can't get mongoose to show subdocument when running find() while it displays perfectly well in mongodb shell.
Subdocument should be embedded based on my schema, not objectId referenced, so I shouldn't be running any black magic voodoo to get my data to show up.
const UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
username: String;
xp: Number;
//etc.
});
const RoomSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
timestamp: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
status: { type: String, enum: ["pending", "ongoing", "completed"]},
players: {
type: [{
points: { type: Number, default: 0 },
position: String,
user: UserSchema
}],
maxlength:2
}
});
After adding a new room with:
let room = new Room(coreObj);
room.players.push({
points: 0,
position: 'blue',
user: userObj //where userObj is a result of running findById on User model
});
It displays nicely in mongo shell, when running db.rooms.find({}).pretty() I can see that full document has been added. However, when running on mongoose model:
Room.find({}).exec((err,rooms)=>{
console.log(rooms[0].toJSON());
});
I don't see user subdocument, moreover I cannot see user field entirely! What seems to be the problem?
logged json from mongoose model:
{
"status": "pending",
"_id": "5cf5a25c050db208641a2076",
"timestamp": "2019-06-03T22:42:36.946Z",
"players": [
{
"points": 0,
"_id": "5cf5a25c050db208641a2077",
"position": "blue"
}
],
"__v": 0
}
json from mongo shell:
{
"_id" : ObjectId("5cf5a25c050db208641a2076"),
"status" : "pending",
"timestamp" : ISODate("2019-06-03T22:42:36.946Z"),
"players" : [
{
"points" : 0,
"_id" : ObjectId("5cf5a25c050db208641a2077"),
"position" : "blue",
"user" : {
"xp" : 0,
"_id" : ObjectId("5cf2da91a45db837b8061270"),
"username" : "bogdan_zvonko",
"__v" : 0
}
}
],
"__v" : 0
}

Answer 1

Keeping best practice in mind, I think it would be more appropriate to reference the UserSchema in the RoomSchema. Something like:
...
user: {
type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref: 'UserSchema'
}
Then you would store the user._id in that field.
This way, if the user is modified, your RoomSchema is always referencing the correct information. You could then get the user using Mongoose's populate

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure why you can't see the sub-sub-document, but this code example printed it correctly for me. Example was originally posted in https://mongoosejs.com/docs/subdocs.html but modified slightly to contain sub-sub-document so it looks similar to your code:
var grandChildSchema = new mongoose.Schema({ name: 'string' });
var childSchema = new mongoose.Schema({ name: 'string', grandChild: grandChildSchema });
var parentSchema = new mongoose.Schema({ children: [childSchema] });
var Parent = mongoose.model('Parent', parentSchema);
var parent = new Parent({
children: [
{ name: 'Matt', grandChild: {name: 'Matt Jr'} },
{ name: 'Sarah', grandChild: {name: 'Sarah Jr'} }
]
})
parent.save(function() {
Parent.find().exec(function(err, res) {
console.log(JSON.stringify(res[0]))
mongoose.connection.close()
})
});
Executing this code resulted in:
{
"_id": "5cf7096408b1f54151ef907c",
"children": [
{
"_id": "5cf7096408b1f54151ef907f",
"name": "Matt",
"grandChild": {
"_id": "5cf7096408b1f54151ef9080",
"name": "Matt Jr"
}
},
{
"_id": "5cf7096408b1f54151ef907d",
"name": "Sarah",
"grandChild": {
"_id": "5cf7096408b1f54151ef907e",
"name": "Sarah Jr"
}
}
],
"__v": 0
}
This was tested using Mongoose 5.5.12.
Note that I was using JSON.stringify() to print the document instead of using Mongoose's toJSON().

Answer 3

I just met a very similar problem, i think i got it.
the whole point is in model which you use:
const RoomSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
...
players: {
type: [{
...
user: UserSchema
...
but then you make
room.players.push({
points: 0,
position: 'blue',
user: userObj //where userObj is a result of running findById on User model
});
so you are missing the "type" subfield, so your doc is not compliant with your RoomSchema and mongoose do not show the parts which does not fit schema.