Seed nodejs express heroku app - node.js

Question

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/smartphones');
mongoose.connection.on('error', console.error.bind(console, 'MongoDB connection error:'));
var smartphones = [
new Smartphone({
title: "V3",
usp: "20MP Softlight Camera",
image_path: "/image/phone_v3max.png",
qty: 1,
price: 200
}),
new Smartphone({
title: "V5",
usp: "Feel the Real Speed",
image_path: "/image/phone_v5.png",
qty: 1,
price: 450
})
];
var done = 0;
for(var i = 0; i < smartphones.length; i++) {
smartphones[i].save(function(err, result) {
done++;
if(done === smartphones.length) {
exit();
}
});
}
function exit() {
mongoose.disconnect();
}
When I work locally on Nodejs App I could run and seed the data file (smartphoneIndex-seeder.js) that is included the project by running the command line. But how should that be done when the app has been pushed to Heroku, how can I seed the data from there? The app is running but pages that runs by the seed data would not show up on my page unfortunately. Anyone an idea how I could connect the seed date so my entire app would be run properly.

Answer 1

It sounds to me like you want some sort of pre-boot process. You probably want to write some code that executes before you tell your application to start listening on a port. This code will look at the database, look to see if any data exists, and if it doesn't then it will call some code (such as your smartphoneIndex-seeder function which will push data into the application.
Once that decision is made, you can then call your normal app.listen() express code.