Workaround to model nested data in mongodb

Questions and Answers
1

Hey! Thank you for the great work you’re doing with Strapi! I have been playing around with it this weekend and it is amazing all the work I have been able to do in a very short time.

My data structure is a little bit complex and i want to embed different pieces of json inside of my main content type, for instance:

tournament = {
   headline: "Albatros Tennis League",
   minPlayers: 4,
   maxPlayers: 16,
   format: {
      name: "league",
      description: "Groups of 4 players in which everyone plays against everyone else..."
      (... more data ...)
   }
}

I have set the format as a component, but it is stored in another collection. As strapi doesn’t currently support MongoDB’s nested documents, i’m looking for a workaround to make this work.

I have thought something like using json types on Strapi and manage type validation by overwriting the model’s create component. It’s a shame because i really like the component architecture to manage this use case but i need the data to be nested, not in another collection.

Do you have any ideas on this approach as a workaround to embed data inside my main content types? Or can you think on another way to overcome it?

It should work with GraphQL!

Thank you so much! :slightly_smiling_face:

2

Currently we don’t support many MongoDB features and mostly treat mongo as a relational database. It’s to be determined (likely in Q3) if we plan to change this. Eventually we do plan to open up the strapi-connector- ecosystem to allow the community to build their own connectors if ours do not fit their needs.

3

Thank you for your reply!

It is shame. Opening the strapi connector ecosystem would be great. Thank you!

4

@edupardo I’ve needed something similar also, thinking of it as multi-level objects, not just a flat object shape. Actually, I currently have this working in production using a patch to Strapi, of course this is very fragile and breaks with some Strapi updates.

Here’s what I do:

  • I use my custom database conenctor for Firestore database, Firestore is a NoSQL database which supports multi-level JSON objects/documents. I haven’t used MongoDB at all, but from what you’re saying it may natively support the same thing, however Strapi’s Mongo connector may not… I have no idea - you’d be on your own there.
  • I define attributes in the model JSON with dot paths. Suprisingly this mostly just works! However it requires some patches to Strapi’s validation logic for handling recursive validation of multi-level objects.
  • I have a fork/patch here, but like I say, it’s fragile! You’d be on your own here unless I can get a PR into Strapi… @DMehaffy would you even consider a such PR, if the functionality may not actually be usable with the official connectors?

You may define your model like so, for example:

{
  "attributes": {
    "name.first": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "name.last": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}

If you can get it all working and linked together, it results in data like:

{
  name: {
    first: 'John',
    last: 'Doe'
  }
}
1 Like
5

That fork is my somewhat stale attempt to start a PR, I can’t remember what state I left it in. But here is the patch that I’m actually using. But it’s stuck a good few versions back, sorry.

1 Like
6

Hey @brettwillis, reading this now!

Thank you so much for your reply, it is very useful! It will serve me very well as a starting point.

I will work on it in the next few days :slightly_smiling_face:

7

MongoDb is working too fast instead of MySQL. I also convert my multiple webs database from SQL to MongoDb its giving too good response.

8

MongoDb is working too fast instead of MySQL. I also convert my multiple best tennis shoes wide feet webs database from SQL to MongoDb its giving too good response.