In order to populate referenced subdocuments, you need to explicitly define the document collection to which the ID references to (like created_by: { type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'User' }
).
Given this reference is defined and your schema is otherwise well defined as well, you can now just call populate
as usual (e.g. populate('comments.created_by')
)
Proof of concept code:
// Schema
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var UserSchema = new Schema({
name: String
});
var CommentSchema = new Schema({
text: String,
created_by: { type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'User' }
});
var ItemSchema = new Schema({
comments: [CommentSchema]
});
// Connect to DB and instantiate models
var db = mongoose.connect('enter your database here');
var User = db.model('User', UserSchema);
var Comment = db.model('Comment', CommentSchema);
var Item = db.model('Item', ItemSchema);
// Find and populate
Item.find({}).populate('comments.created_by').exec(function(err, items) {
console.log(items[0].comments[0].created_by.name);
});
Finally note that populate
works only for queries so you need to first pass your item into a query and then call it:
item.save(function(err, item) {
Item.findOne(item).populate('comments.created_by').exec(function (err, item) {
res.json({
status: 'success',
message: "You have commented on this item",
comment: item.comments.id(comment._id)
});
});
});