How to save a refrence between 2 collections in MongoDB? - node.js

Question

I'm developing an app using Node.js, Mongoose, MongoDb, express.
I have 2 schemas one for student and one for snippets. I'm using the population model population model. I can create a user, and create a snippet and link it to the user. But I can't link and save the snippets in the user collection.
How to link and save the user so that it can have a reference to his snippets?
user and snippet schema
var userSchema = Schema({
name: { type: String, required: true, unique: true },
password: { type: String, required: true },
snippet: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Snippet' }]
})
var snippetSchema = Schema({
user: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'User'},
title: String,
body: String,
createdAt: {
type: Date,
require: true,
default: Date.now
}
})
This is how I save the user which usually when the user register.
var username = request.body.name
var password = request.body.password
var newUser = new User({
name: username,
password: password
})
newUser.save().then(function () {
console.log('success')
response.redirect('/')
})
This is how I save the snippets I add it inside a user .save() function so that it saves the snippet ref but it gives me name.save() is not a function error.
var name = request.session.name.name
name.save().then(function () {
// Using a promise in this case
var newSnippet = new Snippet({
user: name._id,
title: title,
body: snippet
})
newSnippet.save().then(function () {
// Successful
console.log('success')
response.redirect('/')
})
}).catch(function (error) {
console.log(error.message)
response.redirect('/')
})

Answer 1

name.save() is not a function because name is just a string in this case, not a Mongoose object.
One way to do it is to create your user, then retrieve it and add a snippet:
var name = request.session.name.name
User.find({ name: name }).then(function (user) {
// Here you get your user by name
var newSnippet = new Snippet({
user: user._id, // And here you can pass user _id
title: 'your title',
body: 'your snippet'
})
newSnippet.save()
})