CRUD on nested schemas using Mongoose - node.js

Question

I am trying to set up my nodejs app with a CRUD for mongodb sub-docs using Mongoose but can't figure out how to access the nested object's _id. I can only get the parent ObjectId. I can perform a .push on a new child object but can't perform a simple get, put or delete on an existing child object.
Here is my schema:
//new user model
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var ObjectId = Schema.ObjectId;
// Task schema
var taskSchema = mongoose.Schema({
clientEasyTask : { type: String },
clientHardTask : { type: String },
clientStupidTask : { type: String }
});
var userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
email: { type: String, unique: true, lowercase: true },
password: String,
task : [taskSchema]
});
module.exports = mongoose.model('Task', taskSchema);
module.exports = mongoose.model('User', userSchema);
Here is my routes:
'use strict';
var isAuthenticated = require('./middleware/auth').isAuthenticated,
isUnauthenticated = require('./middleware/auth').isUnauthenticated;
var User = require('./models/user');
var Task = require('./models/user');
// Create user.task
module.exports = function (app, passport) {
app.post('/api/tasks', isAuthenticated, function (req, res) {
var userEmail = req.body.email;
var easyTask = req.body.easyTask;
User.findOne({ 'email' : userEmail }, function(err, user) {
console.log('found user and defining status and data');
var status;
var data;
if (err) {
status = 'error';
data = 'unknown error occurred';
}
if (user === null) {
status = 'error';
data = 'user not found';
} else {
status = 'ok';
data = user;
}
user.task.push({
clientEasyTask: easyTask
});
user.save();
res.json({
response: {
'status': status
}
});
});
});
// Get one user.task
app.get('/api/tasks/:id', function (req, res) {
return Task.findById(req.params.id, function(err, task) {
if(!task) {
res.statusCode = 404;
return res.send({ error: 'Not found' });
}
if(!err) {
return res.send({ status: 'OK', task:task });
} else {
res.statusCode = 500;
console.log('Internal error(%d): %s', res.statusCode, err.message);
return res.send({ error: 'Server error' });
}
});
});
};
I am using Postman to test everything so there is no fronted code. When I pass the _id of the task (nested in the user) I receive null when I call Get on '/api/tasks/:id'. How can I can get only the specific task?
The mongoose documentation states that you can use parent.children.id(id); but I couldn't get it to work.

Answer 1

The task field of User contains the tasks as embedded subdocs, not references to another collection, so you can't query tasks independent of users (like you're trying to do).
To query for the embedded task subdoc, you can use a query like this:
User.findOne({'task._id': req.params.id})
.select('task.$') // Just include the matching task element
.exec(function(err, user) {
if(!user) {
res.statusCode = 404;
return res.send({ error: 'Not found' });
}
if(!err) {
// The matching task will always be in the first element of the task array
return res.send({ status: 'OK', task: user.task[0] });
} else {
res.statusCode = 500;
console.log('Internal error(%d): %s', res.statusCode, err.message);
return res.send({ error: 'Server error' });
}
}
);
To make this efficient, you'd want to add an index on {'task._id': 1}.