How to reference a Mongoose Schema that hasn't been registered yet - node.js

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Working with Mongoose, I have something like the following code. (I've prefixed the files with numbers, so I can load them in the order they appear in the 'models' directory, but still control the loading order.)
In 100-employee.server.model.js:
var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var EmployeeSchema = new Schema({
name: {
type: String,
default: ''
},
company: {
type: Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'Company'
},
subordinates: [EmployeeSchema],
});
mongoose.model('Employee', EmplyeeSchema);
Then, in 200-company-server.js, I have:
var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var CompanySchema = new Schema({
name: {
type: String,
default: ''
},
CEO: {
type: Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'Employee'
}
});
mongoose.model('Company', CompanySchema);
Obviously, this doesn't work, since Company is referenced before it is registered. And, loading these in the opposite order doesn't work for the same reason. What I need, is a logical data structure like:
{
name: 'Acme, Inc',
CEO: {
name: 'Karen',
subordinates: [{
name: 'Bob',
subordinates: [{
name: 'Lisa',
subordinates: []
},
name: 'Jerry',
subordinates: []
}]
}]
}
}
(I think I got all of my brackets in place. I just typed that JSON to illustrate the need.)
I could just use an ObjectId for 'company' in EmployeeSchema, but it doesn't fix the problem. I still get a complaint that Company hasn't been registered.
Someone will ask for the use case, so here it is:
I have a bunch of companies.I have a hierarchy of employees of a company. And, I've got a bunch of companies. For each company, I need to know the CEO, without having to search all of my employees for the one with no parent, that has an ObjectId ref Company, but that still runs into the same problem.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

OK, I've come up with an answer, or at least a workaround. Doesn't feel very elegant. In fact I actively dislike it, but it works. Would love to see a better solution. In 100-company-server.js, define the parent entity first, like so:
var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var CompanySchema = new Schema({
name: {
type: String,
default: ''
},
CEO: {
name: { // This is the company name, so probably a bad example
type: String,
default: ''
}, {
shoeSize: Number
}, etc ...
}
});
mongoose.model('Company', CompanySchema);
The key thing to notice here is that instead of making CEO an ObjectId ref 'Employee' I supplied an object that uses the same properties as my Employee schema. Depending on how you want to use it, you may have to coerce that into an Employee object in the controller. Or, there might be a clever way to use a virtual to do the same thing (http://mongoosejs.com/docs/guide.html) But, the virtual would just have to be defined AFTER the EmployeeSchema and model.
In 200-employee.server.js, something like the following:
var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
Schema = mongoose.Schema,
CompanySchema = mongoose.model('Company').schema; // so you can use this
// after your Employee
// is defined
var EmployeeSchema = new Schema({
name: {
type: String,
default: ''
},
company: {
type: Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'Company'
},
subordinates: [], // Just an empty array. You fill it with Employees in the controller. You could use a virtual to do the same thing, probably.
});
mongoose.model('Employee', EmployeeSchema);
So, it's kind of ugly, but it works.
Key points:
In defining CompanySchema, you don't use an ObjectId ref 'Employee'.
Instead, you define an object that looks like a Company object.
Since this object doesn't have an _id, you have to work around that in the
controller. In my case, this works fine. But, for many/most use cases, this
probably would not. You'd have to work around this with clever virtuals
and/or the controller.
Use a simple array, without type, to store your children (suborinates in
this example.
The array works just fine, and returns objects just as if you used an array
of ObjectId ref Employee.
Making the Company refer to an Employee (which hasn't been defined yet), you
have to convert a generic object into an Employee object. But, there are
many ways to do that.
There is, undoubtedly, a better way to do this.