Discriminators

The `model.discriminator()` function

Discriminators are a schema inheritance mechanism. They enable you to have multiple models with overlapping schemas on top of the same underlying MongoDB collection.

Suppose you wanted to track different types of events in a single collection. Every event will have a timestamp, but events that represent clicked links should have a URL. You can achieve this using the model.discriminator() function. This function takes 3 parameters, a model name, a discriminator schema and an optional key (defaults to the model name). It returns a model whose schema is the union of the base schema and the discriminator schema.

const options = { discriminatorKey: 'kind' };

const eventSchema = new mongoose.Schema({ time: Date }, options);
const Event = mongoose.model('Event', eventSchema);

// ClickedLinkEvent is a special type of Event that has
// a URL.
const ClickedLinkEvent = Event.discriminator('ClickedLink',
  new mongoose.Schema({ url: String }, options));

// When you create a generic event, it can't have a URL field...
const genericEvent = new Event({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
assert.ok(!genericEvent.url);

// But a ClickedLinkEvent can
const clickedEvent = new ClickedLinkEvent({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
assert.ok(clickedEvent.url);

Discriminators save to the Event model's collection

Suppose you created another discriminator to track events where a new user registered. These SignedUpEvent instances will be stored in the same collection as generic events and ClickedLinkEvent instances.

const event1 = new Event({ time: Date.now() });
const event2 = new ClickedLinkEvent({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
const event3 = new SignedUpEvent({ time: Date.now(), user: 'testuser' });


await Promise.all([event1.save(), event2.save(), event3.save()]);
const count = await Event.countDocuments();
assert.equal(count, 3);

Discriminator keys

The way Mongoose tells the difference between the different discriminator models is by the 'discriminator key', which is __t by default. Mongoose adds a String path called __t to your schemas that it uses to track which discriminator this document is an instance of.

const event1 = new Event({ time: Date.now() });
const event2 = new ClickedLinkEvent({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
const event3 = new SignedUpEvent({ time: Date.now(), user: 'testuser' });

assert.ok(!event1.__t);
assert.equal(event2.__t, 'ClickedLink');
assert.equal(event3.__t, 'SignedUp');

Updating the discriminator key

By default, Mongoose doesn't let you update the discriminator key. save() will throw an error if you attempt to update the discriminator key. And findOneAndUpdate(), updateOne(), etc. will strip out discriminator key updates.

let event = new ClickedLinkEvent({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
await event.save();

event.__t = 'SignedUp';
// ValidationError: ClickedLink validation failed: __t: Cast to String failed for value "SignedUp" (type string) at path "__t"
  await event.save();

event = await ClickedLinkEvent.findByIdAndUpdate(event._id, { __t: 'SignedUp' }, { new: true });
event.__t; // 'ClickedLink', update was a no-op

To update a document's discriminator key, use findOneAndUpdate() or updateOne() with the overwriteDiscriminatorKey option set as follows.

let event = new ClickedLinkEvent({ time: Date.now(), url: 'google.com' });
await event.save();

event = await ClickedLinkEvent.findByIdAndUpdate(
  event._id,
  { __t: 'SignedUp' },
  { overwriteDiscriminatorKey: true, new: true }
);
event.__t; // 'SignedUp', updated discriminator key

Embedded discriminators in arrays

You can also define discriminators on embedded document arrays. Embedded discriminators are different because the different discriminator types are stored in the same document array (within a document) rather than the same collection. In other words, embedded discriminators let you store subdocuments matching different schemas in the same array.

As a general best practice, make sure you declare any hooks on your schemas before you use them. You should not call pre() or post() after calling discriminator().

const eventSchema = new Schema({ message: String },
  { discriminatorKey: 'kind', _id: false });

const batchSchema = new Schema({ events: [eventSchema] });

// `batchSchema.path('events')` gets the mongoose `DocumentArray`
// For TypeScript, use `schema.path<Schema.Types.DocumentArray>('events')`
const docArray = batchSchema.path('events');

// The `events` array can contain 2 different types of events, a
// 'clicked' event that requires an element id that was clicked...
const clickedSchema = new Schema({
  element: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  }
}, { _id: false });
// Make sure to attach any hooks to `eventSchema` and `clickedSchema`
// **before** calling `discriminator()`.
const Clicked = docArray.discriminator('Clicked', clickedSchema);

// ... and a 'purchased' event that requires the product that was purchased.
const Purchased = docArray.discriminator('Purchased', new Schema({
  product: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  }
}, { _id: false }));

const Batch = db.model('EventBatch', batchSchema);

// Create a new batch of events with different kinds
const doc = await Batch.create({
  events: [
    { kind: 'Clicked', element: '#hero', message: 'hello' },
    { kind: 'Purchased', product: 'action-figure-1', message: 'world' }
  ]
});

assert.equal(doc.events.length, 2);

assert.equal(doc.events[0].element, '#hero');
assert.equal(doc.events[0].message, 'hello');
assert.ok(doc.events[0] instanceof Clicked);

assert.equal(doc.events[1].product, 'action-figure-1');
assert.equal(doc.events[1].message, 'world');
assert.ok(doc.events[1] instanceof Purchased);

doc.events.push({ kind: 'Purchased', product: 'action-figure-2' });

await doc.save();

assert.equal(doc.events.length, 3);

assert.equal(doc.events[2].product, 'action-figure-2');
assert.ok(doc.events[2] instanceof Purchased);

Single nested discriminators

You can also define discriminators on single nested subdocuments, similar to how you can define discriminators on arrays of subdocuments.