How to define an object in NodeJS schema? - node.js

Question

I currently have a schema like this:
const postSchema = mongoose.Schema({
title: String,
message: String,
name: String,
creator: String,
tags: [String],
selectedFile: String,
likes: { type: [String], default: [] },
createdAt: {
type: Date,
default: new Date(),
},
})
One of the problem that I anticipate is that as the number of users grow, searching the likes array will become inefficient. Is there a way to store the likes array instead as an Object (key would be userId and value could be true) so that finding someone in the Object would become more efficient.
I am also open to hearing any other ideas that you might have.
Thanks!

Answer 1

I want to suggest populate() for this. From that, you can manage a large no. of user information without a problem. You can create a new schema as likes and add the id of the likes document as an id with the populate. Check the below example.
const likeSchema = mongoose.Schema({
type: [String],
default: [] },
});
const Like = mongoose.model("Like", likeSchema);
Then create the postschema like below.
const postSchema = mongoose.Schema({
title: String,
message: String,
name: String,
creator: String,
tags: [String],
selectedFile: String,
likes: {
type: mongoose.Schema.Types.String,
ref: 'Like',
},
createdAt: {
type: Date,
default: new Date(),
},
})
const Post = mongoose.model("Post", postSchema);
You can easily get all the data inside a likes document by populating when running a query like below.
const posts = await Post.findById({creator_id}).populate("likes");
//Below code will print the data of the first element of the type array of relevant likes document.
console.log(posts.likes.type[0]);
Check the populate and population sections of the mongoose documentation to learn more.