Mapping and getting data from two collections in mongoose - node.js

Question

I have two collections User and Contact. User will request another user for contact and both userids will be stored in contact collection with status. I want to use the contact and user in many other places, so wrote separate models.
Now I want to get user profile with contact object, the contact object should have the contact user information.
User Schema
var UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
name : {
type:String,
default: '',
required:'Please fill name.',
trim: true
},
mobile : {
type:String,
required:'Please fill mobile',
unique:true,
trim:true
},
contacts:[{
type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'Contact'
}]
});
Contact Schema
var ContactSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
owner: {
type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'User'
},
user: {
type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'User'
},
status: {
type:String,
default:'pending'
}
});
Profile API
User
.findById(req.body.user_id)
.populate({
path: 'contacts',
select: 'user',
})
.exec(function(err, user){
if (err) return res.send(err);
res.status(200).json({'message':'Profile found.','user':user});
});
Here the response will be as follows:
{
"message": "Profile found.",
"user":
{
"_id": "563037f3fe2b69e40b05c451",
"mobile": "32435345",
"__v": 1,
"contacts":
[
{
"_id": "56303f04f1b8524f0d03d9a7",
"user": "563037bafe2b69e40b05c44e"
}
],
"name": "Lorem"
}
}
In the contacts array, I need the name and mobile field for the connected user along with id. How can I achieve this? Or is there any other better approach in schema design?

Answer 1

You should try mongoose-deep-populate module.
var UserSchema = new Schema({
name: String,
mobile: String,
contacts: [{type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'Contact'}]
})
var ContactSchema = new Schema({
owner: {
type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'User'
},
user: {
type: mongoose.Schema.ObjectId,
ref: 'User'
},
status: {
type:String,
default:'pending'
}
});
Initialize the module with a mongoose instance:
var deepPopulate = require('mongoose-deep-populate')(mongoose);
UserSchema.plugin(deepPopulate, options /* more on options below */);
Now you can populate:
User
.findById(req.body.user_id)
.deepPopulate(users, 'contacts.user', function (err, _users) {
// _posts is the same instance as posts and provided for convenience
users.forEach(function (user) {
// post.contacts and user.contacts.user are fully populated
});
});