populate array of objectid mongoose code example

Example 1: mongoose populate

Story.
  findOne({ title: /casino royale/i }).
  populate('author', 'name'). // only return the Persons name
  exec(function (err, story) {
    if (err) return handleError(err);

    console.log('The author is %s', story.author.name);
    // prints "The author is Ian Fleming"

    console.log('The authors age is %s', story.author.age);
    // prints "The authors age is null'
  });

Example 2: mongodb populate document

Story.
  findOne({ title: 'Casino Royale' }).
  populate('author').
  exec(function (err, story) {
    if (err) return handleError(err);
    console.log('The author is %s', story.author.name);
    // prints "The author is Ian Fleming"
  });

Example 3: mongoose populate array of ids

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

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