Add field not in schema with mongoose

Question

I am trying to add a new field to a document, but this isn't working:

Creating my UserModel prototype:

model = require("../models/user")
UserModel.prototype.findOneAndUpdate = function(query, params, cb) {
    model.findOneAndUpdate(query, params, { returnNewDocument: true, new: true }, function(err, data) {
        if (!err) {
            cb(false, data);
        } else {
            cb(err, false);
        }
    });
};

Then calling it

userFunc = require("../../model_functions/user")

userFunc.findOneAndUpdate({
    "email.value": userEmail
}, {
    $set: {"wat":"tf"}
},
function (err, updatedUser) {
    //This logs the updated user just fine, but the new field is missing
        console.log(updatedUser);
                  ...
});

This successfully updates any field as long as it exists, but it won't add any new one.

Solution 1

You can add and remove fields in schema using option { strict: false }

option: strict

The strict option, (enabled by default), ensures that values passed to our model constructor that were not specified in our schema do not get saved to the db.

var thingSchema = new Schema({..}, { strict: false });

And also you can do this in update query as well

Model.findOneAndUpdate(
  query,  //filter
  update, //data to update
  { //options
    returnNewDocument: true,
    new: true,
    strict: false
  }
)

You can check the documentations here

Solution 2

You can add new fields in schema User using .add

require('mongoose').model('User').schema.add({fullName: String});

Thanks.-

Comments

[Ashh]

that new field have been added in schema?

[Jonathan Lonowski]

Is wat defined within the schema for users? Mongoose is designed to enforce the schema, including discarding properties that don't align to it.

[LuisEgan]

No, but that shouldn't be necessary to add it, or at least that's what I thought. It is meant to be a temporary field.

[LuisEgan]

Also, if I do it directly in the mongo console, it works, it adds the new field.

[Jonathan Lonowski]

@LuisEgan It does matter with Mongoose. The ODM is designed to enforce the schema you've defined, verifying that each property belongs and discarding those that don't. If you want documents to be a blend of schema and schema-less, you can define a property as Mixed type that can then contain any variety of information needed. Otherwise, if you don't want the schema enforced like this, then Mongoose probably isn't right for your use case.

[LuisEgan]

Oh so it's not possible having a temporary field using mongoose.. my solution was adding it to the schema but since it's not going to always be used it seemed like unnecessary code. I'll just it to the schema then. Thanks @JonathanLonowski

[Ashh]

It is possible... Use { strict: false } to set or unset the new field in mongoose... Read this github.com/Automattic/mongoose/issues/5378

[Jonathan Lonowski]

@AnthonyWinzlet Forgot about that. Good call. – Relevant documentation.

[LuisEgan]

Ok, but I'd like to add that the first did not work for me, just adding it to findOneAndUpdate() did.

[Ashh]

It does work if you run the create or insert query... Here main motive is to aware people with option strict and the fact that people can add and remove field if the field does not exists in mongoose schema

[Tarun]

It worked for me. I don't need to compromise on Model strictness.

[Avani Khabiya]

For me, the option first i.e. setting the strict to false worked for insert and update both.

[Avani Khabiya]

In this case, how to check if the field exists or not in the schema and then add it if not exists?