Mongoose .findOne not working as an internal function call - node.js

Question

With this as a URL:
'api/support-tag/name/myTagName'
This function works properly:
getByName: function (req, res) {
model.Shared_SupportTag.findOne({name: req.params.name}).exec(function (err, results) {
if (err) {
return res.status(400).send({
message: errMsg.Util_ErrorMsg.getErrorMessage(err)
});
}
res.send(results);
})
}
But when I try to call a similar function from within the node server:
supportDoc.category = GetById(item.category);
function GetById(name){
model.Shared_SupportTag.findOne({name: name}).exec(function(err, result){
if(err){
console.log(err)
}else{
console.log(result);
}
})
}
The function does not execute, nor does the error catch, intellisense shows:
err= Reference error; err is not defined
result = Reference error; result is not defined
All I am trying to accomplish is a function call from within the server and not via a URL.
Any solution here? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

In the case of the findOne() method, the positive response (sans error) will either hold a mongoose object or null.
If the same query had been sent using just find(), the result would have been an empty array.
function GetById(name){
model.Shared_SupportTag.findOne({name: name}).exec(function(err, result){
if(err){
console.log(err)
}else{
if (result) console.log(result); //Check whether object exists.
else console.log('Not found!');
}
})
}

Answer 2

Solved:
model.Shared_SupportDoc.find({}).exec(function (err, collection) {
var supportDocs = require('../../data/_seed/support/supportDocs.json');
if (collection.length === 0) {
supportDocs.forEach(function (item) {
var supportDoc = new model.Shared_SupportDoc;
supportDoc.title = item.title;
supportDoc.created = item.date;
supportDoc.icon = item.icon;
supportDoc.likeCount = item.likeCount || 7;
-----> // requires callback - ie asynchronous
GetByName(item.category, function(tagId) {
supportDoc.categoryId = tagId;
-----> // must put save in the callback
supportDoc.save(function (err) {
if (err) {
console.log(supportDoc.categoryId)
console.log('Error: ' + err);
} else {
console.log('Support Doc Seed Complete');
}
});
});
})
}
});}
function GetByName(name, next) {
model.Shared_SupportTag.findOne({name : name}).exec(function (err, result) {
if (!result) {
console.log('Not Found');
next();
} else {
console.log(result._id);
next(result._id);
}
});}