Mongoose: Populating a nested array of ids

Question

I've been looking the web for a solution and I can't seem to find an answer to my problem. Here's a very similar case, but for some reason my Document still doesn't get populated in my case. Here are the schemas:

Customer Schema:

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var customerSchema = new Schema({
  _id: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId},
  auditTrail: {type: Object},
  thirdParty: [{type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Thirdparty'}],
  docRefs: {type: Object},
  salesRep: {type: Array},
  commentsArr: {type: Array}
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('Customer', customerSchema);

the ThirdParty's:

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var thirdPartySchema = new Schema({
  _id: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId},
  type: {type: String},
  name: {type: String},
  vat: {type: String},
  corpoPhone: {type: String},
  corpoMail: {type: String},
  corpoWeb: {type: String},
  activityNumber: {type: String},
  addresses: {type: Array},
  contacts: [{type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Contact'}], // <-- ARRAY OF ObjectIds /!\
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('Thirdparty', thirdPartySchema);

and the Contact's:

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var contactSchema = new Schema({
  _id: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId},
  title: {type: String},
  role: {type: String},
  firstName: {type: String},
  lastName: {type: String},
  phone: {type: String},
  mobile: {type: String},
  email: {type: String}
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('Contact', contactSchema);

and here's my call:

Customer
    .find()
    .populate({
      path: 'thirdParty',
      populate: { path: 'contacts', model: 'Contact' }
    })
    .then(
    //... Do something
  )

And if the ThirdParty gets perfectly populated within the customer, the contacts absolutely don't... Here's a log of the "response":

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Got it! I was missing the import statements in the models:

var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var Schema = mongoose.Schema;
var Contact = require('./contact'); // <--- THIS LINE RIGHT HERE

var thirdPartySchema = new Schema({
  _id: {type: Schema.Types.ObjectId},
  type: {type: String},
  name: {type: String},
  vat: {type: String},
  corpoPhone: {type: String},
  corpoMail: {type: String},
  corpoWeb: {type: String},
  activityNumber: {type: String},
  addresses: {type: Array},
  contacts: [{type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Contact'}],
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('Thirdparty', thirdPartySchema);

The request looks like:

Customer
    .find()
    .populate({
      path: 'thirdParty',
      populate: { path: 'contacts', model: 'Contact' }
    })
    .then(
    documents => {
      res.status(200).json({
        message: 'Customer successfully fetched',
        customers: documents
      });
    }
  ).catch(err => res.status(404).json({message: 'No customer found!', error: err}));
});

Now my "objects" get properly populated:

{
  "message": "Customer successfully fetched",
  "customers": [
    {
      "thirdParty": [
        {
          "addresses": [
            {
              "street": "AVENIDA ESTADOS UNIDOS, 141",
              "streetcomp": "",
              "streetcomp2": "",
              "city": "SAN BARTOLOME DE TIRAJANA ",
              "cp": "35290",
              "state": "PALMAS (LAS)",
              "country": "spain",
              "main": true
            },
            {
              "street": "OTRA DIRECCION DUMMY",
              "streetcomp": "",
              "streetcomp2": "",
              "city": "MADRID",
              "state": "MADRID",
              "country": "spain",
              "main": false
            }
          ],
          "contacts": [
            {
              "_id": "5cf0f6f2a3e9cf847c5861af",
              "title": "Mrs.",
              "role": "CFO",
              "firstName": "John",
              "lastName": "Doe",
              "phone": "912345654",
              "mobile": "673369900",
              "thirdParty_id": "5cf0f6d0a3e9cf847c5861aa",
              "addresses": [
                {
                  "street": "AVENIDA ESTADOS UNIDOS , 141",
                  "streetcomp1": "TUNTE",
                  "streetcomp2": "",
                  "cp": "35290",
                  "city": "SAN BARTOLOME DE TIRAJANA ",
                  "state": "PALMAS (LAS)"
                }
              ],
              "email": "jdoe@ketchup.com",
              "auditTrail": {
                "creation": {
                  "user_id": "1",
                  "creationDate": "1559213796974"
                },
                "modification": [
                  {
                    "user_id": "1",
                    "modifDate": "1559213833358"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "_id": "5cf0f6d0a3e9cf847c5861aa",
          "type": "customer",
          "name": "ketchup",
          "vat": "B87451084",
          "corpoPhone": "918388544",
          "corpoMail": "obras@ferrometal.net",
          "corpoWeb": "http://ferrometalcimentaciones.es/",
          "activityNumber": "5630"
        }
      ],
      "salesRep": [
        {
          "user_id": "USER_ID to be defined",
          "dateBegin": "1559212324146",
          "active": true
        },
        {
          "user_id": "USER_ID to be defined",
          "dateBegin": "1559212324146",
          "active": false
        }
      ],
      "commentsArr": [
        {
          "user_id": "USER_ID to be changed to name",
          "comment": "this is a great customer!"
        },
        {
          "user_id": "USER_ID to be changed to name",
          "comment": "This is a test"
        }
      ],
      "_id": "5cf0f704a3e9cf847c5861b2",
      "auditTrail": {
        "modifications": [
          {
            "modificationDate": "1559211664284",
            "user_id": "A123"
          }
        ],
        "creation": {
          "creationDate": "1559211664284",
          "user_id": "A123"
        }
      },
      "docRefs": {
        "fs": [
          {
            "name": "mod 200 2018",
            "comment": "should be approved",
            "url": "www.google.com",
            "uploadDate": "1559212324146",
            "originalName": "mod200-2018.pdf",
            "mime": "pdf",
            "type": "fs",
            "typeName": "Financial Statements"
          }
        ],
        "id": [
          {
            "name": "Jose-Pedro",
            "comment": "ID Valido",
            "url": "/somehwere/else",
            "uploadDate": "1559212324146",
            "originalName": "id-jp.pdf",
            "mime": "pdf",
            "type": "id",
            "typeName": "Identification Document"
          }
        ],
        "ad": [

        ],
        "cd": [

        ],
        "pd": [

        ],
        "od": [

        ]
      },
      "active": true
    },
    {
      "thirdParty": [
        {
          "addresses": [
            {
              "street": "CALLE MORGAN , 2 - BJ 2 B",
              "streetcomp": "",
              "streetcomp2": "",
              "city": "BILBAO",
              "cp": "48014",
              "state": "BIZKAIA",
              "country": "spain",
              "main": true
            }
          ],
          "contacts": [
            {
              "_id": "5cf0f6f2a3e9cf847c5861af",
              "title": "Mrs.",
              "role": "CFO",
              "firstName": "John",
              "lastName": "Doe",
              "phone": "912345654",
              "mobile": "673369900",
              "thirdParty_id": "5cf0f6d0a3e9cf847c5861aa",
              "addresses": [
                {
                  "street": "AVENIDA ESTADOS UNIDOS , 141",
                  "streetcomp1": "TUNTE",
                  "streetcomp2": "",
                  "cp": "35290",
                  "city": "SAN BARTOLOME DE TIRAJANA ",
                  "state": "PALMAS (LAS)"
                }
              ],
              "email": "jdoe@ketchup.com",
              "auditTrail": {
                "creation": {
                  "user_id": "1",
                  "creationDate": "1559213796974"
                },
                "modification": [
                  {
                    "user_id": "1",
                    "modifDate": "1559213833358"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "_id": "5cf629538c2d290f39a9b18b",
          "type": "customer",
          "name": "ginegorama",
          "vat": "B95551776",
          "activityNumber": "8690"
        }
      ],
      "salesRep": [
        {
          "user_id": "1",
          "dateBegin": "1559212324146",
          "active": true
        },
        {
          "user_id": "2",
          "dateBegin": "1559212324146",
          "active": false
        }
      ],
      "commentsArr": [
        {
          "user_id": "USER_ID to be changed to name",
          "comment": "this is a great customer!"
        }
      ],
      "_id": "5cf6296a8c2d290f39a9b18c",
      "auditTrail": {
        "modifications": [
          {
            "modificationDate": "1559211664284",
            "user_id": "1"
          }
        ],
        "creation": {
          "creationDate": "1559211664284",
          "user_id": "1"
        }
      },
      "docRefs": {
        "fs": [
          {
            "name": "mod 200 2018",
            "comment": "should be approved",
            "url": "/somewhere",
            "uploadDate": "1559212324146",
            "originalName": "mod200-2018.pdf",
            "mime": "pdf",
            "type": "fs",
            "typeName": "Financial Statements"
          }
        ],
        "id": [

        ],
        "ad": [

        ],
        "cd": [

        ],
        "pd": [

        ],
        "od": [

        ]
      },
      "active": false
    }
  ]
}