$lookup on ObjectId's in an array

Question

What\'s the syntax for doing a $lookup on a field that is an array of ObjectIds rather than just a single ObjectId?

Example Order Document:

{
  _id:          


        

Answer 1

Aggregating with $lookup and subsequent $group is pretty cumbersome, so if (and that's a medium if) you're using node & Mongoose or a supporting library with some hints in the schema, you could use a .populate() to fetch those documents:

var mongoose = require("mongoose"),
    Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var productSchema = Schema({ ... });

var orderSchema = Schema({
  _id     : Number,
  products: [ { type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: "Product" } ]
});

var Product = mongoose.model("Product", productSchema);
var Order   = mongoose.model("Order", orderSchema);

...

Order
    .find(...)
    .populate("products")
    ...