So I would like to update only first empty object in arrayOfObjects with some data, for example { "objectName": "example2", "objectData": "newdata" }. Rest of the document should remain same.
I found out how to check if there is empty object in that array, with this kind of code:
In above code documentData is whole document returned from MongoDB. However I have feeling that it is possible to have some filter/selector in $set, but I can’t quite put my finger in it.
Any help would be appreciated. I am using nodejs as programming language, if that makes any difference.
The programming language doesn’t matter since you want the update filter to be applied on the DB and you want the update mutation also to happen in the server.
So if your query is for the first document which has an empty object in that array you can query for {arrayOfObjects:{}} now you can update it in a couple of different ways. You can use the positional operator ($) with $set, you can use arrayUpdate option with set with [index]` or you can use aggregation with $addFields (alias $set) stage in the update pipeline.
I’m curious why the empty objects are already present - more common would be to add data as it becomes available via $push. Is this to preallocate a specific number of elements in each array?
Yes, I want to pre-allocate specific number of elements in array, and keep number of elements static from there on. I was thinking of having element like "maxNumberOfObjects": 4, but counting array elements in many places felt also pretty convenient, so defaulted to that.
Actually, document I would be updating, I know, so I have _id of it at hand. So I can target specific document, and update empty object in arrayOfObjects. Like you said more common way would be to use $push, this is kind of what I want to do, though instead of pushing new object in, updating first empty object, and ideally failing if there are no empty objects. If “nice” failing isn’t possible, I could first check that there is empty object before updating.
More traditional database/programming way I would most likely go finding [index] in first query, then make another query which does update. However that update method seems to have arrayFilters which I have feeling could get this done in one query. Didn’t find anyone trying to filter empty object, so trying to figure out how to write such query.
But I’m a bit lost what should be that actual filter there, and a bit unsure how correct is that $set line.
Do you catch my idea here, and have some pointers how to make that update as working one @Asya_Kamsky?
Also if you see some big drawbacks (other than being uncommon way to have empty objects), I’m eager to hear. My idea with this document structure has been that I need less queries and document structure contains meaningful information itself too.
Would it help to know that you can compare something to {} to match an empty object?
I can show example of how to do this with all three methods, just wanted to check if you want to see the answer or prefer to just be pointed towards the answer
I tried this using the aggregation for the update (MongoDB version 4.2). The query looks for the first empty object in the array and updates it with the new object.
NEW_OBJ = { "objectName": "example2", "objectData": "newdata" }
db.collection.updateOne(
{
_id: 123,
arrayOfObjects: { }
},
[
{
$addFields: {
// ix is index of the first element which is an empty object
ix: { $indexOfArray: [ "$arrayOfObjects", { } ] },
ixs: { $range: [ 0, { $size: "$arrayOfObjects" } ] }
}
},
{
$project: {
arrayOfObjects: {
$map: {
input: "$ixs",
in: {
$cond: [
{ $eq: [ "$ix", "$$this" ] },
NEW_OBJ,
{ $arrayElemAt: [ "$arrayOfObjects", "$$this" ] }
]
}
}
}
}
}
]
)
Thank you @Prasad_Saya, that looks interesting approach. I’ll give it a go. It looks more complex than I had expected it to be, as I was fiddling around something like this:
But I was running into error that $arrayOfObjects wasn’t defined, and was just coming to ask a bit of example from @Asya_Kamsky how that filter works, and am I even in right path.
Thank you very much @Asya_Kamsky, both are nice and clean solutions. Tried both, and I think there is small typo on that arrayFilter example, missing { there maybe? What worked for me is like this (for future references when someone tries same solutions)
However when document doesn’t have empty objects, first one still gives Matched: 1, but doesn’t of course modify anything. Second one gives zeroes to both Matched and Modified.
So I think I’ll go with first one, and see if I can get that result checked in code, and hop into different usecase if there ain’t empty objects anymore.
Thank you once more Asya, this allows me to continue onward in my project.
If you add the check for presence of empty object to the query in the first query then the result would be the same - it says I didn’t find a matching record.
I must have overlooked how these when I was testing them in mongo shell. Now that I tried implementing in nodejs, I noticed that arrayFilter way actually doesn’t work as intented. Instead of updating only first empty object, it updates all empty objects in that array in given document.
As first one seems to be updating only first object, I can work with that. However is there some modification for arrayFilter to match only one/first, or is it actually meant to match all elements in array always?
To overcome this issue of updating all the empty objects with the update operation, the aggregation solution is implemented. The aggregation first checks if there is an empty object in the array, then, gets the index of the first empty object, and, replaces that empty object with the supplied new object.
The query does look complex, but it is a solution for the requirement.
Instead of updating only first empty object, it updates all empty objects in that array in given document
Ah, I see what you’re saying - you don’t want to update all the matching entries, just the first one. Positional update (first syntax) is the one to use then - while aggregation in update works as well (as long as you’re on 4.2+) unfortunately there is no syntax to easily short-circuit from $map iteration over the array - with a small array it’s not a big deal, but for larger arrays it might be noticeably slower.
It can actually be done with $concatArrays rather than $map by concatenating using the index (location of the first {} element in the array rather than for iteration but like this:
I’ll give that a testing in few days, once I return to that part of project. If I don’t see performance difference between first working one and this arrayFilter one, I might continue using first one. It is much shorter and easier to read I’m fairly sure that if I need to return that query at later date, or someone new tries to start understanding it, it will be appreciated.
That’s however fine example of how powerfull things can be done directly in query, and I might need that at later time. Thank you very much @Asya_Kamsky for taking time with this.
Thank you @Prasad_Saya, that query starts to look like understandable now. I’ll try to give it a go as well… Though at a glance it looks like having similar elements as Asya’s previous query:
That one seemed to work without need to do any $map, updating only first empty object it found, so is it necessary to have this more complex query Prasad? As I haven’t tested yet, I don’t know do they behave differently in edge situations… like when there is no arrayOfObjects{} in document for some reason, or if it doesn’t have any empty objects. Or performance wise big differences? In my current use case arrayOfObjects is usually around 10 elements, most likely at maximum rare cases 30-50 elemenets, so quite small. But concurrent operations by different users to different documents can be significant, if this product takes off properly. But I’ll test them out…
@Prasad_Saya you are correct that it’s the same approach with aggregation update, I was simply pointing out that $map is less efficient in the case where you want to replace a single element in an array.
Yes, iterating over the entire array (i.e., using $map) is less efficient just to update one array element (especially if the array has a lot of elements). Also, noted that the update is for one document only (as it is queried by its _id).
I am using nodejs as programming language, if that makes any difference.
I’m fairly sure that if I need to return that query at later date, or someone new tries to start understanding it, it will be appreciated.