Get the populated data associated with ref in mongoose - node.js

Question

I have two schemas: 'Leads' and 'LeadsCategory'.
Leads Schema:
const id = mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId;
const leadsSchema = mongoose.Schema(
{
_id: id,
userId: { type: id, ref: "User", required: true },
leadName: String,
leads: [
{
_id: id,
name: String,
mobile: Number,
address: String,
education: {
school: String,
graduation: String
},
leadType: { type: id, ref: "LeadsCategory", required: true }
}
]
},
{
timestamps: true
}
);
module.exports = mongoose.model("lead", leadsSchema);
Leads Category Schema:
const id = mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId;
const leadsCategorySchema = mongoose.Schema({
_id: id,
name: {
type: String,
required: true
},
leadsData: [{ type: id, ref: 'lead' }]
},
{ timestamps: true }
);
module.exports = mongoose.model("LeadsCategory", leadsCategorySchema);
I'm referencing the leadsCategory as soon as new lead is created and it does populate my leadsCategory into the Leads controller.
So my final data inside 'Leads collection' looks like this:
[
{
"_id": "5e8832dde5d8273824d86502",
"leadName": "Freshers",
"leads": [
{
"education": {
"school": "LPS",
"graduation": "some school"
},
"location": {
"state": "delhi",
"country": "india"
},
"name": "Joey",
"mobile": 1524524678,
"_id": "5e8832dde5d8273824d86500",
"leadType": {
"_id": "5e88285f5dda5321bcc045a6",
"name": "all"
}
},
{
"education": {
"school": "DAV",
"graduation": "some school"
},
"location": {
"state": "delhi",
"country": "india"
},
"name": "Ben",
"mobile": 1524524678,
"_id": "5e8832dde5d8273824d86501",
"leadType": {
"_id": "5e88285f5dda5321bcc045a6",
"name": "all"
}
}
]
}
]
But now I need to associate the leads data into my 'leadsCategory' collection so that I can query the leads data according to the leadType created. For now, I have only one 'leadType':'all'. But further, I will create more types and populate the data accordingly.
I tried something like this:
exports.get_leads_type_all = (req, res) => {
LeadsCategory.find()
.populate('leadsData')
.then( data => {
res.json(data)
})
}
But this returns me only empty array like this:
{ "leadsData": [],
"_id": "5e88285f5dda5321bcc045a6",
"name": "all",
"createdAt": "2020-04-04T06:25:35.171Z",
"updatedAt": "2020-04-04T06:25:35.171Z",
"__v": 0
},
Please help me to associate and related this data. I have tried lot's of thins but could not make it work.

Answer 1

try this:
exports.get_leads_type_all = (req, res) => {
LeadsCategory.find()
.populate('leadsData')
.execPopulate()
.then( data => {
res.json(data)
})
}
https://mongoosejs.com/docs/api/document.html#document_Document-execPopulate