Mongoose returning [Object] instead of actual embedded document

Question

Mongoose returning [Object] instead of actual embedded document

When i populate a reference in a collection, the embedded documents in the referenced collection show up as [Object] instead of the actual document.

More details

I have a Song Schema

var songSchema=new Schema({
    songName:String
});

An Album Schema

 var albumSchema=new Schema({
    title:String,
    favs:Number,
    songs:[songSchema]
})

and a Playlist Schema which references the albums.

  var playlistSchema=new Schema({
    title:String,
    items: { type: Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'Album' }
})

Now when i run the following query

 Playlist
 .find()
 .populate('items')
 .exec(function (err, playlists) {
  if (err) return handleError(err);
  console.log("Result:"+playlists);
  })

i get the following result

Result:{ _id: 53d6b605842416b83b5fe472,
  title: 'Sad',
  items: 
   { _id: 53d6b605842416b83b5fe471,
     title: 'Awaz',
     favs: 500,
     __v: 0,
     songs: [ [Object], [Object] ] },
  __v: 0 }

Notice how the songs array has an array of [Object] instead of the actual embedded objects. How do i get actual documents to show up ?

node.js
mongodb
mongoose

Answer 1

The "songs" are nested more than 2 levels, so by default the output is represented by "[Object"]. Try doing this:

playlists[0].songs.forEach(function (song) {
  console.log(song);
});

IF you are using express.

app.get('/playlists', function (req, res, next) {
  mongoose.model('Playlist').find().populate('items').exec(function (err, docs) {
    if (err) return next(err);
    res.json(docs);
  })
});