Push items into mongo array via mongoose

📝 Blog Post: How to Push Items into Mongo Array via Mongoose

Welcome to another exciting blog post, tech enthusiasts! Today, we're going to dive into the world of MongoDB and Mongoose to solve a common issue: pushing items into an array. Specifically, we'll explore how to push new friend objects into the friends array of a people collection using Mongoose.

Understanding the Problem

Picture this: you have a MongoDB collection called people with the following schema:

people: {
  name: String, 
  friends: [{firstName: String, lastName: String}]
}

In your express application, you successfully create a people object with an empty friends array. Now, you want to implement a form to add friends. The form takes in firstName and lastName and then performs a POST request with the name field also included as a reference to the proper people object.

The challenge lies in creating a new friend object and "pushing" it into the friends array. While you are familiar with using the MongoDB console and the $push operator to achieve this, you are now perplexed about how to accomplish the same task using Mongoose.

Finding the Solution

Fear not, dear reader, for we're about to unravel the mystery and provide you with a straightforward solution! To push items into a MongoDB array using Mongoose, we need to follow a few steps:

1. Retrieve the people object using the provided name field.

2. Create a new friend object using the firstName and lastName values from the form.

3. Push the newly created friend object into the friends array of the retrieved people object.

4. Save the updated people object back to the database.

To translate this solution into code, we can use the following Mongoose methods:

const People = require('./models/people'); // Importing the Mongoose model

const addFriend = async (name, firstName, lastName) => {
  try {
    const people = await People.findOne({ name }); // Retrieve the people object
    
    const newFriend = { firstName, lastName }; // Create a new friend object
    
    people.friends.push(newFriend); // Push the new friend into the friends array

    await people.save(); // Save the updated people object back to the database

    console.log('Friend added successfully!');
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error adding friend:', error);
  }
};

Wrapping Up

Voilà! With the code snippet above, you should now be able to push new friend objects into the friends array of your people collection using Mongoose. 🎉

Remember, when faced with a challenging coding scenario, staying calm and exploring the steps required can lead you to the right solution. As you embrace this newfound knowledge, don't forget to experiment, break things, and learn from your mistakes. That's how real growth happens in the tech world!

Now it's your turn: go ahead and implement this solution in your application. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or cool ideas to share in the comments below. 🔽

Happy coding! 💻🚀