"unnest" aql query result in arangodb

Question

So let's say I have collection Users and Companies. Then I have edge collection named works_in that links user with companies. I am using the following aql query:

FOR user IN Users
   LET companies = (FOR company IN (NEIGHBORS(Users, works_in, user._id, 'outbound', [], {includeData:true}))
       RETURN {company_name: company.name, company_id: company._id})
RETURN {user, companies}

and what I get is:

[
  {
    "user": {
      "_id": "Users/45645",
      "_key": "45645",
      "_rev": "45645",
      "name": "user1",
      "city": "london",
      "age": 23
    },
    "companies": [
        {
          company_name: "company1",
          company_id: "Companies/7897"
        },
        {
          company_name: "company2",
          company_id: "Companies/7878"
        }
    ]
  },
  {
    "user": {
      "_id": "Users/465454",
      "_key": "465454",
      "_rev": "465454",
      "name": "user2",
      "city": "Paris",
      "age": 42
    },
    "companies": [
        {
          company_name: "company1",
          company_id: "Companies/7897"
        },
        {
          company_name: "company3",
          company_id: "Companies/788233"
        }
    ]
  }
]

However I would like to get "users" info not nested inside a "user" but as follows:

[
  {
    "_id": "Users/45645",
    "_key": "45645",
    "_rev": "45645",
    "name": "user1",
    "city": "london",
    "age": 23,
    "companies": [
        {
          company_name: "company1",
          company_id: "Companies/7897"
        },
        {
          company_name: "company2",
          company_id: "Companies/7878"
        }
    ]
  },
  {
    "_id": "Users/465454",
    "_key": "465454",
    "_rev": "465454",
    "name": "user2",
    "city": "Paris",
    "age": 42,
    "companies": [
        {
          company_name: "company1",
          company_id: "Companies/7897"
        },
        {
          company_name: "company3",
          company_id: "Companies/788233"
        }
    ]
  }
]

I know I could make it by kind of hardcoding attributes such as

RETURN {_id: user.id, _key:user._key, companies}

But the problem is that I have lot of attributes to show and moreover users might not have some particular attribute (so then is displayed as "null")

So, does anyone knows how can I "unnest" users properly? Thank you

Answer 1

You can use MERGE for that. Let me demonstrate this using a return statement:

db._query(`RETURN MERGE({
      "_id": "Users/465454", "_key": "465454",
      "_rev": "465454",      "name": "user2",
      "city": "Paris",       "age": 42
    }, {"companies": [
        {
          company_name: "company1",
          company_id: "Companies/7897"
        },
        {
          company_name: "company3",
          company_id: "Companies/788233"
        }
    ]})`
).toArray() =>
[ 
  { 
    "_id" : "Users/465454", 
    "_key" : "465454", 
    "_rev" : "465454", 
    "age" : 42, 
    "city" : "Paris", 
    "companies" : [ 
      { 
        "company_id" : "Companies/7897", 
        "company_name" : "company1" 
      }, 
      { 
        "company_id" : "Companies/788233", 
        "company_name" : "company3" 
      } 
    ], 
    "name" : "user2" 
  } 
]

Since companies gives you a list, you need to wrap it into an object so MERGE can do its work:

FOR user IN Users
  LET companiesList = (FOR company IN
                           (NEIGHBORS(Users, works_in, user._id, 'outbound', [],
                                     {includeData:true}))
  RETURN MERGE(user, {companies: companiesList})