MeteorJS : how find first item in collection - mongodb

In Meteor project, I would like find the first item in a collection. It's for a page with a form in which I can edit the content.
I've created a new collection with my data. How can I target only this item without hardcoding the _id in the code (BEURK)?
My router :
Router.route('/admin/about/edit', {
name: 'aboutContentAdmin',
layoutTemplate: 'adminLayout',
data: function() {
var about = About.find().sort({
x: 1 // doesn't work
});
return {
about: about
};
}
});
Thank you !

To guarantee the order you will need a key to sort on. The _id field is not naturally sorted in Meteor. The normal pattern is to add a createdAt key of type Date and sort on that. You can then limit the return set to a single document to get the first document:
var about = About.findOne({},{sort: {createdAt: 1}, limit: 1});

About.findOne({sort: {createdAt: 1}, limit: 1});

Related

How to fetch just the "_id" field from MongoDB find()

I wish to return just the document id's from mongo that match a find() query.
I know I can pass an object to exclude or include in the result set, however I cannot find a way to just return the _id field.
My thought process is returning just this bit of information is going to be way more efficient (my use case requires no other document data just the ObjectId).
An example query that I expected to work was:
collection.find({}, { _id: 1 }).toArray(function(err, docs) {
...
}
However this returns the entire document and not just the _id field.
You just need to use a projection to find what ya want.
collection.find({filter criteria here}, {foo: 0, bar: 0, _id: 1});
Since I don't know what your document collection looks like this is all I can do for you. foo: 0 for example is exclude this property.
I found that using the cursor object directly I can specify the required projection. The mongodb package on npm when calling toArray() is returning the entire document regardless of the projection specified in the initial find(). Fixed working example below that satisfies my requirements of just getting the _id field.
Example document:
{
_id: new ObjectId(...),
test1: "hello",
test2: "world!"
}
Working Projection
var cursor = collection.find({});
cursor.project({
test1: 0,
test2: 0
});
cursor.toArray(function(err, docs) {
// Importantly the docs objects here only
// have the field _id
});
Because _id is by definition unique, you can use distinct to get an array of the _id values of all documents as:
collection.distinct('_id', function(err, ids) {
...
}
you can do like this
collection.find({},'_id').toArray(function(err, docs) {
...
}

How to get the particuler object fields using ReativeMongo without a case class [duplicate]

In my MongoDB, I have a student collection with 10 records having fields name and roll. One record of this collection is:
{
"_id" : ObjectId("53d9feff55d6b4dd1171dd9e"),
"name" : "Swati",
"roll" : "80",
}
I want to retrieve the field roll only for all 10 records in the collection as we would do in traditional database by using:
SELECT roll FROM student
I went through many blogs but all are resulting in a query which must have WHERE clause in it, for example:
db.students.find({ "roll": { $gt: 70 })
The query is equivalent to:
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll > 70
My requirement is to find a single key only without any condition. So, what is the query operation for that.
From the MongoDB docs:
A projection can explicitly include several fields. In the following operation, find() method returns all documents that match the query. In the result set, only the item and qty fields and, by default, the _id field return in the matching documents.
db.inventory.find( { type: 'food' }, { item: 1, qty: 1 } )
In this example from the folks at Mongo, the returned documents will contain only the fields of item, qty, and _id.
Thus, you should be able to issue a statement such as:
db.students.find({}, {roll:1, _id:0})
The above statement will select all documents in the students collection, and the returned document will return only the roll field (and exclude the _id).
If we don't mention _id:0 the fields returned will be roll and _id. The '_id' field is always displayed by default. So we need to explicitly mention _id:0 along with roll.
get all data from table
db.student.find({})
SELECT * FROM student
get all data from table without _id
db.student.find({}, {_id:0})
SELECT name, roll FROM student
get all data from one field with _id
db.student.find({}, {roll:1})
SELECT id, roll FROM student
get all data from one field without _id
db.student.find({}, {roll:1, _id:0})
SELECT roll FROM student
find specified data using where clause
db.student.find({roll: 80})
SELECT * FROM students WHERE roll = '80'
find a data using where clause and greater than condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $gt: 70 }}) // $gt is greater than
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll > '70'
find a data using where clause and greater than or equal to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $gte: 70 }}) // $gte is greater than or equal
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll >= '70'
find a data using where clause and less than or equal to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $lte: 70 }}) // $lte is less than or equal
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll <= '70'
find a data using where clause and less than to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $lt: 70 }}) // $lt is less than
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll < '70'
I think mattingly890 has the correct answer , here is another example along with the pattern/commmand
db.collection.find( {}, {your_key:1, _id:0})
> db.mycollection.find().pretty();
{
"_id": ObjectId("54ffca63cea5644e7cda8e1a"),
"host": "google",
"ip": "1.1.192.1"
}
db.mycollection.find({},{ "_id": 0, "host": 1 }).pretty();
Here you go , 3 ways of doing , Shortest to boring :
db.student.find({}, 'roll _id'); // <--- Just multiple fields name space separated
// OR
db.student.find({}).select('roll _id'); // <--- Just multiple fields name space separated
// OR
db.student.find({}, {'roll' : 1 , '_id' : 1 ); // <---- Old lengthy boring way
To remove specific field use - operator :
db.student.find({}).select('roll -_id') // <--- Will remove id from result
While gowtham's answer is complete, it is worth noting that those commands may differ from on API to another (for those not using mongo's shell).
Please refer to documentation link for detailed info.
Nodejs, for instance, have a method called `projection that you would append to your find function in order to project.
Following the same example set, commands like the following can be used with Node:
db.student.find({}).project({roll:1})
SELECT _id, roll FROM student
Or
db.student.find({}).project({roll:1, _id: 0})
SELECT roll FROM student
and so on.
Again for nodejs users, do not forget (what you should already be familiar with if you used this API before) to use toArray in order to append your .then command.
Try the following query:
db.student.find({}, {roll: 1, _id: 0});
And if you are using console you can add pretty() for making it easy to read.
db.student.find({}, {roll: 1, _id: 0}).pretty();
Hope this helps!!
Just for educational purposes you could also do it with any of the following ways:
1.
var query = {"roll": {$gt: 70};
var cursor = db.student.find(query);
cursor.project({"roll":1, "_id":0});
2.
var query = {"roll": {$gt: 70};
var projection = {"roll":1, "_id":0};
var cursor = db.student.find(query,projection);
`
db.<collection>.find({}, {field1: <value>, field2: <value> ...})
In your example, you can do something like:
db.students.find({}, {"roll":true, "_id":false})
Projection
The projection parameter determines which fields are returned in the
matching documents. The projection parameter takes a document of the
following form:
{ field1: <value>, field2: <value> ... }
The <value> can be any of the following:
1 or true to include the field in the return documents.
0 or false to exclude the field.
NOTE
For the _id field, you do not have to explicitly specify _id: 1 to
return the _id field. The find() method always returns the _id field
unless you specify _id: 0 to suppress the field.
READ MORE
For better understanding I have written similar MySQL query.
Selecting specific fields
MongoDB : db.collection_name.find({},{name:true,email:true,phone:true});
MySQL : SELECT name,email,phone FROM table_name;
Selecting specific fields with where clause
MongoDB : db.collection_name.find({email:'you#email.com'},{name:true,email:true,phone:true});
MySQL : SELECT name,email,phone FROM table_name WHERE email = 'you#email.com';
This works for me,
db.student.find({},{"roll":1})
no condition in where clause i.e., inside first curly braces.
inside next curly braces: list of projection field names to be needed in the result and 1 indicates particular field is the part of the query result
getting name of the student
student-details = db.students.find({{ "roll": {$gt: 70} },{"name": 1, "_id": False})
getting name & roll of the student
student-details = db.students.find({{ "roll": {$gt: 70}},{"name": 1,"roll":1,"_id": False})
I just want to add to the answers that if you want to display a field that is nested in another object, you can use the following syntax
db.collection.find( {}, {{'object.key': true}})
Here key is present inside the object named object
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5d2ef0702385"), "object" : { "key" : "value" } }
var collection = db.collection('appuser');
collection.aggregate(
{ $project : { firstName : 1, lastName : 1 } },function(err, res){
res.toArray(function(err, realRes){
console.log("response roo==>",realRes);
});
});
it's working
Use the Query like this in the shell:
1. Use database_name
e.g: use database_name
2. Which returns only assets particular field information when matched , _id:0 specifies not to display ID in the result
db.collection_name.find( { "Search_Field": "value" },
{ "Field_to_display": 1,_id:0 } )
If u want to retrieve the field "roll" only for all 10 records in the collections.
Then try this.
In MongoDb :
db.students.find( { } , { " roll " : { " $roll " })
In Sql :
select roll from students
The query for MongoDB here fees is collection and description is a field.
db.getCollection('fees').find({},{description:1,_id:0})
Apart from what people have already mentioned I am just introducing indexes to the mix.
So imagine a large collection, with let's say over 1 million documents and you have to run a query like this.
The WiredTiger Internal cache will have to keep all that data in the cache if you have to run this query on it, if not that data will be fed into the WT Internal Cache either from FS Cache or Disk before the retrieval from DB is done (in batches if being called for from a driver connected to database & given that 1 million documents are not returned in 1 go, cursor comes into play)
Covered query can be an alternative. Copying the text from docs directly.
When an index covers a query, MongoDB can both match the query conditions and return the results using only the index keys; i.e. MongoDB does not need to examine documents from the collection to return the results.
When an index covers a query, the explain result has an IXSCAN stage that is not a descendant of a FETCH stage, and in the executionStats, the totalDocsExamined is 0.
Query : db.getCollection('qaa').find({roll_no : {$gte : 0}},{_id : 0, roll_no : 1})
Index : db.getCollection('qaa').createIndex({roll_no : 1})
If the index here is in WT Internal Cache then it would be a straight forward process to get the values. An index has impact on the write performance of the system thus this would make more sense if the reads are a plenty compared to the writes.
If you are using the MongoDB driver in NodeJs then the above-mentioned answers might not work for you. You will have to do something like this to get only selected properties as a response.
import { MongoClient } from "mongodb";
// Replace the uri string with your MongoDB deployment's connection string.
const uri = "<connection string uri>";
const client = new MongoClient(uri);
async function run() {
try {
await client.connect();
const database = client.db("sample_mflix");
const movies = database.collection("movies");
// Query for a movie that has the title 'The Room'
const query = { title: "The Room" };
const options = {
// sort matched documents in descending order by rating
sort: { "imdb.rating": -1 },
// Include only the `title` and `imdb` fields in the returned document
projection: { _id: 0, title: 1, imdb: 1 },
};
const movie = await movies.findOne(query, options);
/** since this method returns the matched document, not a cursor,
* print it directly
*/
console.log(movie);
} finally {
await client.close();
}
}
run().catch(console.dir);
This code is copied from the actual MongoDB doc you can check here.
https://docs.mongodb.com/drivers/node/current/usage-examples/findOne/
db.student.find({}, {"roll":1, "_id":0})
This is equivalent to -
Select roll from student
db.student.find({}, {"roll":1, "name":1, "_id":0})
This is equivalent to -
Select roll, name from student
In mongodb 3.4 we can use below logic, i am not sure about previous versions
select roll from student ==> db.student.find(!{}, {roll:1})
the above logic helps to define some columns (if they are less)
Using Studio 3T for MongoDB, if I use .find({}, { _id: 0, roll: true }) it still return an array of objects with an empty _id property.
Using JavaScript map helped me to only retrieve the desired roll property as an array of string:
var rolls = db.student
.find({ roll: { $gt: 70 } }) // query where role > 70
.map(x => x.roll); // return an array of role
Not sure this answers the question but I believe it's worth mentioning here.
There is one more way for selecting single field (and not multiple) using db.collection_name.distinct();
e.g.,db.student.distinct('roll',{});
Or, 2nd way: Using db.collection_name.find().forEach(); (multiple fields can be selected here by concatenation)
e.g., db.collection_name.find().forEach(function(c1){print(c1.roll);});
_id = "123321"; _user = await likes.find({liker_id: _id},{liked_id:"$liked_id"}); ;
let suppose you have liker_id and liked_id field in the document so by putting "$liked_id" it will return _id and liked_id only.
For Single Update :
db.collection_name.update({ field_name_1: ("value")}, { $set: { field_name_2 : "new_value" }});
For MultiUpdate :
db.collection_name.updateMany({ field_name_1: ("value")}, { $set: {field_name_2 : "new_value" }});
Make sure indexes are proper.

How to make a query without nested document in MongoDB? [duplicate]

In my MongoDB, I have a student collection with 10 records having fields name and roll. One record of this collection is:
{
"_id" : ObjectId("53d9feff55d6b4dd1171dd9e"),
"name" : "Swati",
"roll" : "80",
}
I want to retrieve the field roll only for all 10 records in the collection as we would do in traditional database by using:
SELECT roll FROM student
I went through many blogs but all are resulting in a query which must have WHERE clause in it, for example:
db.students.find({ "roll": { $gt: 70 })
The query is equivalent to:
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll > 70
My requirement is to find a single key only without any condition. So, what is the query operation for that.
From the MongoDB docs:
A projection can explicitly include several fields. In the following operation, find() method returns all documents that match the query. In the result set, only the item and qty fields and, by default, the _id field return in the matching documents.
db.inventory.find( { type: 'food' }, { item: 1, qty: 1 } )
In this example from the folks at Mongo, the returned documents will contain only the fields of item, qty, and _id.
Thus, you should be able to issue a statement such as:
db.students.find({}, {roll:1, _id:0})
The above statement will select all documents in the students collection, and the returned document will return only the roll field (and exclude the _id).
If we don't mention _id:0 the fields returned will be roll and _id. The '_id' field is always displayed by default. So we need to explicitly mention _id:0 along with roll.
get all data from table
db.student.find({})
SELECT * FROM student
get all data from table without _id
db.student.find({}, {_id:0})
SELECT name, roll FROM student
get all data from one field with _id
db.student.find({}, {roll:1})
SELECT id, roll FROM student
get all data from one field without _id
db.student.find({}, {roll:1, _id:0})
SELECT roll FROM student
find specified data using where clause
db.student.find({roll: 80})
SELECT * FROM students WHERE roll = '80'
find a data using where clause and greater than condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $gt: 70 }}) // $gt is greater than
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll > '70'
find a data using where clause and greater than or equal to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $gte: 70 }}) // $gte is greater than or equal
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll >= '70'
find a data using where clause and less than or equal to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $lte: 70 }}) // $lte is less than or equal
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll <= '70'
find a data using where clause and less than to condition
db.student.find({ "roll": { $lt: 70 }}) // $lt is less than
SELECT * FROM student WHERE roll < '70'
I think mattingly890 has the correct answer , here is another example along with the pattern/commmand
db.collection.find( {}, {your_key:1, _id:0})
> db.mycollection.find().pretty();
{
"_id": ObjectId("54ffca63cea5644e7cda8e1a"),
"host": "google",
"ip": "1.1.192.1"
}
db.mycollection.find({},{ "_id": 0, "host": 1 }).pretty();
Here you go , 3 ways of doing , Shortest to boring :
db.student.find({}, 'roll _id'); // <--- Just multiple fields name space separated
// OR
db.student.find({}).select('roll _id'); // <--- Just multiple fields name space separated
// OR
db.student.find({}, {'roll' : 1 , '_id' : 1 ); // <---- Old lengthy boring way
To remove specific field use - operator :
db.student.find({}).select('roll -_id') // <--- Will remove id from result
While gowtham's answer is complete, it is worth noting that those commands may differ from on API to another (for those not using mongo's shell).
Please refer to documentation link for detailed info.
Nodejs, for instance, have a method called `projection that you would append to your find function in order to project.
Following the same example set, commands like the following can be used with Node:
db.student.find({}).project({roll:1})
SELECT _id, roll FROM student
Or
db.student.find({}).project({roll:1, _id: 0})
SELECT roll FROM student
and so on.
Again for nodejs users, do not forget (what you should already be familiar with if you used this API before) to use toArray in order to append your .then command.
Try the following query:
db.student.find({}, {roll: 1, _id: 0});
And if you are using console you can add pretty() for making it easy to read.
db.student.find({}, {roll: 1, _id: 0}).pretty();
Hope this helps!!
Just for educational purposes you could also do it with any of the following ways:
1.
var query = {"roll": {$gt: 70};
var cursor = db.student.find(query);
cursor.project({"roll":1, "_id":0});
2.
var query = {"roll": {$gt: 70};
var projection = {"roll":1, "_id":0};
var cursor = db.student.find(query,projection);
`
db.<collection>.find({}, {field1: <value>, field2: <value> ...})
In your example, you can do something like:
db.students.find({}, {"roll":true, "_id":false})
Projection
The projection parameter determines which fields are returned in the
matching documents. The projection parameter takes a document of the
following form:
{ field1: <value>, field2: <value> ... }
The <value> can be any of the following:
1 or true to include the field in the return documents.
0 or false to exclude the field.
NOTE
For the _id field, you do not have to explicitly specify _id: 1 to
return the _id field. The find() method always returns the _id field
unless you specify _id: 0 to suppress the field.
READ MORE
For better understanding I have written similar MySQL query.
Selecting specific fields
MongoDB : db.collection_name.find({},{name:true,email:true,phone:true});
MySQL : SELECT name,email,phone FROM table_name;
Selecting specific fields with where clause
MongoDB : db.collection_name.find({email:'you#email.com'},{name:true,email:true,phone:true});
MySQL : SELECT name,email,phone FROM table_name WHERE email = 'you#email.com';
This works for me,
db.student.find({},{"roll":1})
no condition in where clause i.e., inside first curly braces.
inside next curly braces: list of projection field names to be needed in the result and 1 indicates particular field is the part of the query result
getting name of the student
student-details = db.students.find({{ "roll": {$gt: 70} },{"name": 1, "_id": False})
getting name & roll of the student
student-details = db.students.find({{ "roll": {$gt: 70}},{"name": 1,"roll":1,"_id": False})
I just want to add to the answers that if you want to display a field that is nested in another object, you can use the following syntax
db.collection.find( {}, {{'object.key': true}})
Here key is present inside the object named object
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5d2ef0702385"), "object" : { "key" : "value" } }
var collection = db.collection('appuser');
collection.aggregate(
{ $project : { firstName : 1, lastName : 1 } },function(err, res){
res.toArray(function(err, realRes){
console.log("response roo==>",realRes);
});
});
it's working
Use the Query like this in the shell:
1. Use database_name
e.g: use database_name
2. Which returns only assets particular field information when matched , _id:0 specifies not to display ID in the result
db.collection_name.find( { "Search_Field": "value" },
{ "Field_to_display": 1,_id:0 } )
If u want to retrieve the field "roll" only for all 10 records in the collections.
Then try this.
In MongoDb :
db.students.find( { } , { " roll " : { " $roll " })
In Sql :
select roll from students
The query for MongoDB here fees is collection and description is a field.
db.getCollection('fees').find({},{description:1,_id:0})
Apart from what people have already mentioned I am just introducing indexes to the mix.
So imagine a large collection, with let's say over 1 million documents and you have to run a query like this.
The WiredTiger Internal cache will have to keep all that data in the cache if you have to run this query on it, if not that data will be fed into the WT Internal Cache either from FS Cache or Disk before the retrieval from DB is done (in batches if being called for from a driver connected to database & given that 1 million documents are not returned in 1 go, cursor comes into play)
Covered query can be an alternative. Copying the text from docs directly.
When an index covers a query, MongoDB can both match the query conditions and return the results using only the index keys; i.e. MongoDB does not need to examine documents from the collection to return the results.
When an index covers a query, the explain result has an IXSCAN stage that is not a descendant of a FETCH stage, and in the executionStats, the totalDocsExamined is 0.
Query : db.getCollection('qaa').find({roll_no : {$gte : 0}},{_id : 0, roll_no : 1})
Index : db.getCollection('qaa').createIndex({roll_no : 1})
If the index here is in WT Internal Cache then it would be a straight forward process to get the values. An index has impact on the write performance of the system thus this would make more sense if the reads are a plenty compared to the writes.
If you are using the MongoDB driver in NodeJs then the above-mentioned answers might not work for you. You will have to do something like this to get only selected properties as a response.
import { MongoClient } from "mongodb";
// Replace the uri string with your MongoDB deployment's connection string.
const uri = "<connection string uri>";
const client = new MongoClient(uri);
async function run() {
try {
await client.connect();
const database = client.db("sample_mflix");
const movies = database.collection("movies");
// Query for a movie that has the title 'The Room'
const query = { title: "The Room" };
const options = {
// sort matched documents in descending order by rating
sort: { "imdb.rating": -1 },
// Include only the `title` and `imdb` fields in the returned document
projection: { _id: 0, title: 1, imdb: 1 },
};
const movie = await movies.findOne(query, options);
/** since this method returns the matched document, not a cursor,
* print it directly
*/
console.log(movie);
} finally {
await client.close();
}
}
run().catch(console.dir);
This code is copied from the actual MongoDB doc you can check here.
https://docs.mongodb.com/drivers/node/current/usage-examples/findOne/
db.student.find({}, {"roll":1, "_id":0})
This is equivalent to -
Select roll from student
db.student.find({}, {"roll":1, "name":1, "_id":0})
This is equivalent to -
Select roll, name from student
In mongodb 3.4 we can use below logic, i am not sure about previous versions
select roll from student ==> db.student.find(!{}, {roll:1})
the above logic helps to define some columns (if they are less)
Using Studio 3T for MongoDB, if I use .find({}, { _id: 0, roll: true }) it still return an array of objects with an empty _id property.
Using JavaScript map helped me to only retrieve the desired roll property as an array of string:
var rolls = db.student
.find({ roll: { $gt: 70 } }) // query where role > 70
.map(x => x.roll); // return an array of role
Not sure this answers the question but I believe it's worth mentioning here.
There is one more way for selecting single field (and not multiple) using db.collection_name.distinct();
e.g.,db.student.distinct('roll',{});
Or, 2nd way: Using db.collection_name.find().forEach(); (multiple fields can be selected here by concatenation)
e.g., db.collection_name.find().forEach(function(c1){print(c1.roll);});
_id = "123321"; _user = await likes.find({liker_id: _id},{liked_id:"$liked_id"}); ;
let suppose you have liker_id and liked_id field in the document so by putting "$liked_id" it will return _id and liked_id only.
For Single Update :
db.collection_name.update({ field_name_1: ("value")}, { $set: { field_name_2 : "new_value" }});
For MultiUpdate :
db.collection_name.updateMany({ field_name_1: ("value")}, { $set: {field_name_2 : "new_value" }});
Make sure indexes are proper.

Mongodb - return an array of _id of all updated documents

I need to update some documents in one collection, and send an array of the _ids of the updated documents to another collection.
Since update() returns the number of updated items not their ids, I've come up with the following to get the array:
var docsUpdated = [];
var cursor = myCollection.find(<myQuery>);
cursor.forEach(function(doc) {
myCollection.update({_id : doc._id}, <myUpdate>, function(error, response){
docsUpdated.push(doc._id);
});
});
Or I could do:
var docsUpdated = myCollection.distinct("_id", <myQuery>);
myCollection.update(<myQuery>, <myUpdate>, {multi : true});
I'm guessing the second version would be faster because it only calls the database twice. But both seem annoyingly inefficient - is there another way of doing this without multiple database calls? Or am I overcomplicating things?
I think you need the cursor operator ".aggregate()"
db.orders.aggregate([
{ $group: { _id: "$_id"} }
])
something along those lines that returns the results of all the id's in the collection

Mongo $addToSet still inserting despite item in array existing

I am trying to insert a new array item into an array of objects using $addToSet as I don't want duplicates
var location = {
place : req.body.location.Place,
postcode : req.body.location.Postcode
}
User.update({_id: req.body._id},
{$addToSet: { 'locations' : location}}, function(err, data) {
});
This inserts a record every time even if place and postcode exactly match.
Thanks
I think that your results are not the same (they might look the same, but have invisible characters). For example:
db.a.insert({_id : 1, locs: []});
And then no matter how many times do you addToSet objects to the array locs:
db.a.update({_id : 1},{$addToSet : {
locs: {a : 1, b: 2}
}})
Only the first one will be added.
So take a look at what are you adding, then try to do a raw mongo shell attempt. If it does not work correctly, post it here. Otherwise look more precisely at the data your app is providing to mongo.
Thanks for your help Salvador
It seems as I'm using Mongoose it adds the _id, I needed to create a subDocument or new schema for the array and set the _id to false
locations : [new mongoose.Schema(
{
place : String,
postcode : String
},
{ _id: false})
]
All working fine now