Update nested array object (put request) - mongodb

Question

I have an array inside a document of a collection called pown.
{
_id: 123..,
name: pupies,
pups:[ {name: pup1, location: somewhere}, {name: pup2, ...}]
}
Now a user using my rest-service sends the entire first entry as put request:
{name: pup1, location: inTown}
After that I want to update this element in my database.
Therefore I tried this:
var updatedPup = req.body;
var searchQuery = {
_id : 123...,
pups : { name : req.body.name }
}
var updateQuery = {
$set: {'pups': updatedPup }
}
db.pown.update(searchQuery, updateQuery, function(err, data){ ... }
Unfortunately it is not updating anythig.
Does anyone know how to update an entire array-element?

Answer 1

As Neil pointed, you need to be acquainted with the dot notation(used to select the fields) and the positional operator $ (used to select a particular element in an array i.e the element matched in the original search query). If you want to replace the whole element in the array
var updateQuery= {
"$set":{"pups.$": updatedPup}
}
If you only need to change the location,
var updateQuery= {
"$set":{"pups.$.location": updatedPup.location}
}

Answer 2

The problem here is that the selection in your query actually wants to update an embedded array element in your document. The first thing is that you want to use "dot notation" instead, and then you also want the positional $ modifier to select the correct element:
db.pown.update(
{ "pups.name": req.body.name },
{ "$set": { "pups.$.locatation": req.body.location }
)
That would be the nice way to do things. Mostly because you really only want to modify the "location" property of the sub-document. So that is how you express that.