Mongoose
Mongoose is a MongoDB object modeling tool designed to work in an asynchronous environment.
Documentation
mongoosejs.com
Support
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Live Examples
Installation
First install node.js and mongodb. Then:
$ npm install mongoose
Stability
The current stable branch is master. The 3.8.x branch contains legacy support for the 3.x release series, which is no longer under active development as of September 2015. The 3.8.x docs are still available.
Overview
Connecting to MongoDB
First, we need to define a connection. If your app uses only one database, you should use mongoose.connect
. If you need to create additional connections, use mongoose.createConnection
.
Both connect
and createConnection
take a mongodb://
URI, or the parameters host, database, port, options
.
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/my_database');
Once connected, the open
event is fired on the Connection
instance. If you're using mongoose.connect
, the Connection
is mongoose.connection
. Otherwise, mongoose.createConnection
return value is a Connection
.
Note: If the local connection fails then try using 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost. Sometimes issues may arise when the local hostname has been changed.
Important! Mongoose buffers all the commands until it's connected to the database. This means that you don't have to wait until it connects to MongoDB in order to define models, run queries, etc.
Defining a Model
Models are defined through the Schema
interface.
var Schema = mongoose.Schema,
ObjectId = Schema.ObjectId;
var BlogPost = new Schema({
author : ObjectId,
title : String,
body : String,
date : Date
});
Aside from defining the structure of your documents and the types of data you're storing, a Schema handles the definition of:
The following example shows some of these features:
var Comment = new Schema({
name: { type: String, default: 'hahaha' },
age: { type: Number, min: 18, index: true },
bio: { type: String, match: /[a-z]/ },
date: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
buff: Buffer
});
Comment.path('name').set(function (v) {
return capitalize(v);
});
Comment.pre('save', function (next) {
notify(this.get('email'));
next();
});
Take a look at the example in examples/schema.js
for an end-to-end example of a typical setup.
Accessing a Model
Once we define a model through mongoose.model('ModelName', mySchema)
, we can access it through the same function
var myModel = mongoose.model('ModelName');
Or just do it all at once
var MyModel = mongoose.model('ModelName', mySchema);
The first argument is the singular name of the collection your model is for. Mongoose automatically looks for the plural version of your model name. For example, if you use
var MyModel = mongoose.model('Ticket', mySchema);
Then Mongoose will create the model for your tickets collection, not your ticket collection.
Once we have our model, we can then instantiate it, and save it:
var instance = new MyModel();
instance.my.key = 'hello';
instance.save(function (err) {
});
Or we can find documents from the same collection
MyModel.find({}, function (err, docs) {
});
You can also findOne
, findById
, update
, etc. For more details check out the docs.
Important! If you opened a separate connection using mongoose.createConnection()
but attempt to access the model through mongoose.model('ModelName')
it will not work as expected since it is not hooked up to an active db connection. In this case access your model through the connection you created:
var conn = mongoose.createConnection('your connection string'),
MyModel = conn.model('ModelName', schema),
m = new MyModel;
m.save();
vs
var conn = mongoose.createConnection('your connection string'),
MyModel = mongoose.model('ModelName', schema),
m = new MyModel;
m.save();
Embedded Documents
In the first example snippet, we defined a key in the Schema that looks like:
comments: [Comment]
Where Comment
is a Schema
we created. This means that creating embedded documents is as simple as:
var BlogPost = mongoose.model('BlogPost');
var post = new BlogPost();
post.comments.push({ title: 'My comment' });
post.save(function (err) {
if (!err) console.log('Success!');
});
The same goes for removing them:
BlogPost.findById(myId, function (err, post) {
if (!err) {
post.comments[0].remove();
post.save(function (err) {
});
}
});
Embedded documents enjoy all the same features as your models. Defaults, validators, middleware. Whenever an error occurs, it's bubbled to the save()
error callback, so error handling is a snap!
Middleware
See the docs page.
Intercepting and mutating method arguments
You can intercept method arguments via middleware.
For example, this would allow you to broadcast changes about your Documents every time someone set
s a path in your Document to a new value:
schema.pre('set', function (next, path, val, typel) {
this.emit('set', path, val);
next();
});
Moreover, you can mutate the incoming method
arguments so that subsequent middleware see different values for those arguments. To do so, just pass the new values to next
:
.pre(method, function firstPre (next, methodArg1, methodArg2) {
next("altered-" + methodArg1.toString(), methodArg2);
});
.pre(method, function secondPre (next, methodArg1, methodArg2) {
console.log(methodArg1);
console.log(methodArg2);
next();
});
Schema gotcha
type
, when used in a schema has special meaning within Mongoose. If your schema requires using type
as a nested property you must use object notation:
new Schema({
broken: { type: Boolean },
asset : {
name: String,
type: String
}
});
new Schema({
works: { type: Boolean },
asset: {
name: String,
type: { type: String }
}
});
Driver Access
Mongoose is built on top of the official MongoDB Node.js driver. Each mongoose model keeps a reference to a native MongoDB driver collection. The collection object can be accessed using YourModel.collection
. However, using the collection object directly bypasses all mongoose features, including hooks, validation, etc. The one
notable exception that YourModel.collection
still buffers
commands. As such, YourModel.collection.find()
will not
return a cursor.
API Docs
Find the API docs here, generated using dox
and acquit.
License
Copyright (c) 2010 LearnBoost <dev@learnboost.com>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.