How to update a nested array in mongoose?

Question

I am new to the backend and trying to learn by building some stuff but unfortunately, I got stuck. I want to know if I can update a nested array of objects in Users Schema using Mongoose in an efficient and elegant way.

Users Schema:

const mongoose = require('mongoose');
const Schema = mongoose.Schema;
const UserSchema = new Schema({
 name: {
 type: String,
 required: true
 },
 username: {
 type: String,
 required: true,
 unique: true
 },
 email: {
 type: String,
 required: true,
 unique: true
 },
 gender: {
 type: String,
 required: true
 },
 password: {
 type: String,
 required: true
 },
 friends: [{}],
 notifications: []
 
}, {timestamps: true});
module.exports = User = mongoose.model('user', UserSchema);

In the friends' field, I stored friend request with the status of pending

I want if the user whose the request was sent to, hits an endpoint, to accept the request by changing the status from pending to success.

This is how a friend request was stored:

 friendRequest = {
 _id: req.user.id,
 status: 'pending',
 sentByMe: false,
 new: true,
 inbox: []
 }
 

Thanks as you help me out!!! 🙏🙏🙏

Answer 1

You should first create an additional friendRequest and inbox schemas like this:

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
const InboxSchema = new Schema({
user_id: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
from_id: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
message: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
the_date_time: {
 type: Date,
 required: true
} 
});
mongoose.model('Inbox', InboxSchema);
const FriendRequestSchema = new Schema({
user_id: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
status: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
sentByMe: {
 type: Boolean,
 required: true,
 unique: true
},
inbox: [InboxSchema]
})
mongoose.model('FriendRequests', FriendRequestSchema);

and update your Users schema:

const UserSchema = new Schema({
name: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
username: {
 type: String,
 required: true,
 unique: true
},
email: {
 type: String,
 required: true,
 unique: true
},
gender: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
password: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
friends: [FriendSchema],
notifications: [FriendRequestSchema]
}, {timestamps: true});

And then use the friendRequest object

friendRequest = {
 _id: req.user.id,
 status: 'pending',
 sentByMe: false,
 new: true,
 inbox: []
}

to update the Users collection

Users.update({ _id: user_id }, { $push: { notifications: friendRequest } });

Whenever you have arrays of objects within collections, its best to define additional schemas. You should also consider adding indexes to your collection schemas.

Update:

A FriendSchema would look like this:

const FriendsSchema = new Schema({
friend_id: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
friend_name: {
 type: String,
 required: true
},
friendship_made: {
 type: Date,
 required: true
}
// you have to define FriendSchema before you define Users since you 
// now reference [FriendSchema] in UserSchema
mongoose.model('Friends', FriendSchema);

And so is personA friends with personB?

Users.findOne({ "_id": personA.id, "friends.friend_id": personB.id});

• Shamxeed: Hi, Thank you for reaching out!! But this is not what I was looking for. I am able to push the request to the friends' array. My question here is how to update the request status after it is been accepted. from 'pending' to 'success' because I initially pushed the request with the status of pending. Thanks.
• Stephen Taylor: Do you have a FriendRequest collection where this is stored? Having a separate collection that stores friend requests would be a good design. If you do have a separate collection for friend requests, post the schema here and I'll see if I can offer some code to update it.
• Shamxeed: No, I don't have a friend request collection. Just a notification field which stores both the request and the accepted ones. But I want to store the friend request in the user friends field so that I can let I let the user know how many requests he's sent out by filtering it to === 'pending' && sentByMe === true, if need be.
• Stephen Taylor: I have updated my original answer according to your clarifications. Please let me know if it works for you.
• Stephen Taylor: (You should also have a FriendsSchema defined -- but I'll leave that to you!)