Can i have a mongoose model that refers itself? - node.js

Question

I have a model that looks like this
const employeeSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
empFirstName:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empLastName:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empEmail:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empPassword:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empConfirmPass:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empContactNum:{
type: Number,
reuired: true
},
empPosition:{
type: String,
reuired: true
},
empTeam:{
type: String,
reuired: true
}
});
const Employee = mongoose.model('EMPLOYEE', employeeSchema);
module.exports = Employee;
I'm trying to have another field named "mentor" in the employee model, who will again be an employee (a user from employee model) , so how do I make a model refer itself?
i want something like this
mentor :[{
type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Employee'
}]
Does this work?
what is the correct way to do this?
also I wanted a teamMembers field which will be an array of 0 or more employees from employee model
how do i do this?

Answer 1

This will work. You had it correct in your question:
const employeeSchema = new Schema ({
mentor: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Employee' }],
teamMembers: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Employee' }],
})
I've added some routes as well just to give you an idea on how to use it.
// add team member to employee
index.post('/addTeamMember', (req, res) => {
Employee.findById(req.body.employeeId, (err, employee) => {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
employee.teamMembers.push(req.body.teamMemberId);
employee.save((err) => {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
res.redirect('/');
}
});
}
});
});
// add mentor to employee
index.post('/addMentor', (req, res) => {
Employee.findById(req.body.employeeId, (err, employee) => {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
employee.mentor.push(req.body.mentorId);
employee.save((err) => {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
res.redirect('/');
}
});
}
});
});
You can also populate those fields:
index.get('/populate', (req, res) => {
Employee.findById(req.body.employeeId)
.populate('mentor')
.populate('teamMembers')
.exec((err, employee) => {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
res.send(employee);
}
});
});
and just some suggestions:
Don't name your fields emFirstName, emLastName, etc. This is redundant as you already have your model named Employee. It also makes your code less legible. Instead just use firstName, lastName, etc.
I wouldn't recommend using all caps for a model name like 'EMPLOYEE' as this is not the recommended case for mongoose model names. They suggest upercase first letter, so Employee would be more correct.