Mongoose: Infinite scroll with filtering - node.js

Question

I have these two models:
User.js
const UserSchema = new Schema({
profile: {
type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref: "profiles",
},
following: [
{
type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref: "users",
},
],
});
module.exports = User = mongoose.model("users", UserSchema);
Profile.js
const ProfileSchema = new Schema({
videoURL: {
type: String,
},
});
module.exports = Profile = mongoose.model("profiles", ProfileSchema);
Here's an example of a User document:
{
"following": [
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_1"
}
},
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_2"
}
},
{
"profile":{}
},
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_3"
}
},
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_4"
}
},
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_5"
}
},
{
"profile":{}
},
{
"profile":{
"videoURL":"video_url_6"
}
}
]
}
I am trying to implement an infinite scroll of the videos of the users followed by the connected user.
This means, I will have to filter user.following.profile.videoURL
WHERE videoURL exists
Suppose, I will be loading two videos, by two videos:
Response 1: ["video_url_1","video_url_2"]
Response 2: ["video_url_3","video_url_4"]
Response 3: ["video_url_5","video_url_6"]
Usually, infinite scroll is easy because all I have to load the documents 2 by 2 by order of storage without filtering on any field.
Example: Displaying the followed users two by two in an infinite scroll
User.findById(user_id).populate({
path: "following",
options: {
skip: 2 * page,
limit: 2,
},
});
But, now I have to perform filtering on each followed_user.profile.video, and return two by two. And I don't see how I can perform BOTH the filtering and the infinite scroll at the same time.
NOTE: According to the documentation:
In general, there is no way to make populate() filter stories based on properties of the story's author. For example, the below query won't return any results, even though author is populated.
const story = await Story.
findOne({ 'author.name': 'Ian Fleming' }).
populate('author').
exec();
story; // null
So I suppose, there is no way for me to use populate to filter based user.followers, based on each user.follower.profile.videoURL

Answer 1

I am not sure it is possible with populate method, but you can try aggregation pipeline,
$match user_id condition
$lookup with aggregation pipeline in users collection for following
$match following id condition
$lookup with profile for following.profile
$match videoURL should exists
$project to show profile field and get first element using $arrayElemAt
$slice to do pagination in following
let page = 0;
let limit = 2;
let skip = limit * page;
User.aggregate([
{ $match: { _id: mongoose.Types.ObjectId(user_id) } },
{
$lookup: {
from: "users",
let: { following: "$following" },
pipeline: [
{ $match: { $expr: { $in: ["$_id", "$$following"] } } },
{
$lookup: {
from: "profiles",
localField: "profile",
foreignField: "_id",
as: "profile"
}
},
{ $match: { "profile.videoURL": { $exists: true } } },
{
$project: {
profile: { $arrayElemAt: ["$profile", 0] }
}
}
],
as: "following"
}
},
{
$addFields: {
following: {
$slice: ["$following", skip, limit]
}
}
}
])
Playground
Suggestion:
You can improve your schema design,
removing profile schema and add profile object in users collection, so you can achieve easily your requirement using populate method,
put match condition in following populate for videoURL exists
const UserSchema = new Schema({
profile: {
type: {
videoURL: {
type: String
}
}
},
following: [
{
type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref: "users"
}
]
});
module.exports = User = mongoose.model("users", UserSchema);
User.findById(user_id).populate({
path: "following",
match: {
"profile.videoURL": { $ne: null }
},
options: {
skip: 2 * page,
limit: 2,
}
});

Answer 2

So what you want is table with infinite scroll and:
You can opt given ways to approach your problem :
Load data (first page) into grid.
Set filter on a col.
Load data again, this time using the filter.