Mongoose - using Populate on an array of ObjectId

Question

I've got a schema that looks a bit like:

var conversationSchema = new Schema({     created: { type: Date, default: Date.now },     updated: { type: Date, default: Date.now },     recipients: { type: [Schema.ObjectId], ref: 'User' },     messages: [ conversationMessageSchema ] }); 

So my recipients collection, is a collection of object id's referencing my user schema / collection.

I need to populate these on query, so i'm trying this:

Conversation.findOne({ _id: myConversationId}) .populate('user') .run(function(err, conversation){     //do stuff }); 

But obviously 'user' isn't populating...

Is there a way I can do this?

Answer 1

For anyone else coming across this question.. the OP's code has an error in the schema definition.. it should be:

var conversationSchema = new Schema({     created: { type: Date, default: Date.now },     updated: { type: Date, default: Date.now },     recipients: [{ type: Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'User' }],     messages: [ conversationMessageSchema ] }); mongoose.model('Conversation', conversationSchema); 

Answer 2

Use the name of the schema path instead of the collection name:

Conversation.findOne({ _id: myConversationId}) .populate('recipients') // <== .exec(function(err, conversation){     //do stuff });