Linking models in MongoDB - node.js

Question

I have a model to create an article, and I want to save the id of the user that created that article also. I am doing this, but I have an error. I really appreciate any help!
let articleSchema = new Schema({
title: {
type: String,
required: true
},
description: {
type: String,
},
markdown: {
type: String,
required: true
},
createdAt: {
type: Date,
default: Date.now
},
user: {type: Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'User'}
});
module.exports = mongoose.model('Article', articleSchema);
let userSchema = new Schema({
name: {
type: String,
required: true
},
email: {
type: String,
unique: true,
required: true
},
password: {
type: String,
required: true
},
role: {
type: String,
default: 'USER_ROLE',
enum: validRoles
}
});
userSchema.plugin(uniqueValidator, {message: '{PATH} must be unique'});
module.exports = mongoose.model('User', userSchema);
And in the post method of the article I have this:
How can I access the user??
const article = new Article({
title: body.title,
description: body.description,
markdown: body.markdown,
user: req.user._id
});

Answer 1

I think that there's a problem in your article schema. Try to change
user: {type: Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'User'}
to
user: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'User'}
Then, to display the author information try this in your routes file:
app.get('your-get-article-route', async (req, res) => {
try {
const articles = await Article.find().populate('user');
// other pieces of code if needed
res.status(200).json({ articles });
} catch (error) {
res.status(400).json({ message: 'an error occured!'});
)
If you're not familiar with async/await, you can do it with promises:
app.get('your-get-article-route', (req, res) => {
const articles = Article.find().populate('user').then((articles) => {
// other pieces of code if needed
res.status(200).json({ articles });
}).catch((error) => {
res.status(400).json({message: 'an error occured'}
);
)