How to create a dynamic nested mongoose document with the same schema on multiple levels

Question

Before everyone says I can't reference a variable before initializing, I do know that. But I think this is the simplest way to render the concept I have in mind, (where any subdocument within the replies array also has the same schema as the parent, and documents within the replies array of those subdocuments also having the same schema). I would really appreciate anyone's input.

const mongoose = require("mongoose");
const Schema = mongoose.Schema;

const commentSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
   content: String,
   createdAt: {
      type: Date,
      default: Date.now
   },
   score: {
      type: Number,
      default: 1
   },
   username: {
      type: String,
      lowercase: true
   },
   parent: { 
      type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
      ref: 'comment'
   },
   replyingTo: String,
   replies: [commentSchema]
});

module.exports = mongoose.model("comment", commentSchema);

Answer 1

Since a const variable cannot be referenced before initialization, the parent schema should be added to the children array after initialization. This can be fixed using the following approach:

commentSchema.add({ replies: [commentSchema] })

The final result should look like this:

const mongoose = require("mongoose");
const Schema = mongoose.Schema;

const commentSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
   content: String,
   createdAt: {
      type: Date,
      default: Date.now
   },
   score: {
      type: Number,
      default: 1
   },
   username: {
      type: String,
      lowercase: true
   },
   parent: { 
      type: Schema.Types.ObjectId,
      ref: 'comment'
   },
   replyingTo: String,
});
commentSchema.add({ replies: [commentSchema] })