Using Mongoose `pre` hook to get document before findOneAndUpdate() - mongodb

Question

I am trying to use Mongoose pre and post hooks in my MongoDB backend in order to compare the document in its pre and post-saved states, in order to trigger some other events depending on what's changed. So far however I'm having trouble getting the document via the Mongoose pre hook.
According to the docs "pre hooks work for both doc.save() and doc.update(). In both cases this refers to the document itself... ". So I here's what I tried. First in my model/schema I have the following code:
let Schema = mongoose
.Schema(CustomerSchema, {
timestamps: true
})
.pre("findOneAndUpdate", function(next) {
trigger.preSave(next);
})
// other hooks
}
... And then in my triggers file I have the following code:
exports.preSave = function(next) {
console.log("this: ", this);
}
};
But this is what logs to the console:
this: { preSave: [Function], postSave: [AsyncFunction] }
So clearly this didn't work. This didn't log out the document as I was hoping for. Why is this not the document itself here, as the docs themselves appear to indicate? And is there a way I can get a hold of the document with a pre hook? If not, is there another approach people have used to accomplish this?

Answer 1

You can't retrieve the document in the pre hook.
According to the documentation pre is a query middleware and this refers to the query and not the document being updated.

Answer 2

The confusion arises due to the difference in the this context within each of the kinds of middleware functions. During document pre or post middleware, you can use this to access the document model, but not in the other hooks.
There are three kinds of middleware functions, all of which have pre and post stages.
In document middleware functions, this refers to the document (model).
init, validate, save, remove
In query middleware functions, this refers to the query.
count,find,findOne,findOneAndRemove,findOneAndUpdate,update
In aggregate middleware, this refers to the aggregation object.
aggregate
It's explained here https://mongoosejs.com/docs/middleware.html#types-of-middleware
Therefore you can simply access the document during pre("init"), pre("init"), pre("validate"), post("validate"), pre("save"), post("save"), pre("remove"), post("remove"), but not in any of the others.
I've seen examples of people doing more queries within the other middleware hooks, to find the model again, but that sounds pretty dangerous to me.
The short answer seems to be, you need to change the original query to be document oriented, not query or aggregate style. It does seem like an odd limitation.

Answer 3

As per documentation you pre hook cannot get the document in function, but it can get the query as follow
schema.pre('findOneAndUpdate', async function() {
const docToUpdate = await this.model.findOne(this.getQuery());
console.log(docToUpdate); // The document that findOneAndUpdate() will modify
});

Answer 4

If you really want to access document (or id) in query middleware functions
UserSchema.pre<User>(/^(updateOne|save|findOneAndUpdate)/, async function (next) {
const user: any = this
if (!user.password) {
const userID = user._conditions?._id
const foundUser = await user.model.findById(userID)
...
}
If someone needs the function to hash password when user password changes
UserSchema.pre<User>(/^(updateOne|save|findOneAndUpdate)/, async function (next) {
const user: any = this
if (user.password) {
if (user.isModified('password')) {
user.password = await getHashedPassword(user.password)
}
return next()
}
const { password } = user.getUpdate()?.$set
if (password) {
user._update.password = await getHashedPassword(password)
}
next()
})
user.password exists when "save" is the trigger
user.getUpdate() will return props that changes in "update" triggers