Updating Reference Along With Other Values Mongoose - node.js

Question

Here is a schema that I am working on.
var testSchema = mongoose.Schema({
userCreated : {
type : mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref : "User"
},
points : {type: Number, default: 0},
numVotes : {type: Number, default: 0},
createdAt : Date,
updatedAt : Date,
}, { timestamps : true });
Now, I am trying to write a function that will increment two fields on this document (points and numVotes, as well as an additional points field that exists on the user schema.
Here is my attempt.
testSchema.statics.incrementTest = function(id, ...) {
this.findByIdAndUpdate(id, {$inc : {
points : 5,
numVotes : 1,
'userCreated.points' : 5
}}).exec();
}
Now, this code that I have written does not work. However, when I comment out the 'userCreated.points' : 5 line, the other two fields do increment as expected. My question is, what is the best way using mongoose to update the fields on a document and the fields on a subdocument at the same time?

Answer 1

The data here is contained in different collections, so no single update statement is able to increment counters in both at the same time.
In order to get a consistent view you are going to need to "chain" your update statements and use the return results of each to build the response.
Depending on your needs you can either use a Promise with this:
testSchema.statics.incrementTest = function(id) {
var self = this;
return new Promise(function(resolve,reject) {
self.findByIdAndUpdate(
id,
{
"$inc": {
"points": 5,
"numVotes": 1
}
},
{ "new": true }
).then(function(test) {
var userModel = test.schema.path("userCreated").options.ref;
mongoose.model(userModel).findByIdAndUpdate(
test.userCreated,
{ "$inc": { "points": 5 } },
{ "new": true }
).then(function(user) {
test.userCreated = user;
resolve(test);
})
}).catch(reject)
})
};
Which you can then invoke on your model:
Test.incrementTest("56fe279d363ce91765d9e39e").then(function(test) {
console.log(JSON.stringify(test,undefined,2));
}).catch(function(err) {
throw err;
})
Or you can use async.waterfall from the async library if that suits you better:
testSchema.statics.incrementTest = function(id,callback) {
var self = this;
async.waterfall(
[
function(callback) {
self.findByIdAndUpdate(
id,
{
"$inc": {
"points": 5,
"numVotes": 1
}
},
{ "new": true },
callback
)
},
function(err,test) {
if (err) callback(err);
var userModel = test.schema.path("userCreated").options.ref;
mongoose.model(userModel).findByIdAndUpdate(
test.userCreated,
{ "$inc": { "points": 5 } },
{ "new": true },
function(err,user) {
if ( typeof(user) !== "undefined" )
test.userCreated = user;
callback(err,test);
}
);
}
],
callback
);
};
Which has a similar usage:
Test.incrementTest("56fe279d363ce91765d9e39e",function(err,test) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(JSON.stringify(test,undefined,2));
})
Both should be giving you a result back that shows the incremented data in both objects for both collections:
{ points: 5,
numVotes: 1,
__v: 0,
userCreated: { points: 5, __v: 0, _id: 56ff1aa6dba6d13e798fc894 },
createdAt: Sat Apr 02 2016 12:04:38 GMT+1100 (AEDT),
updatedAt: Sat Apr 02 2016 12:04:38 GMT+1100 (AEDT),
_id: 56fe279d363ce91765d9e39e }