Generating fake data for mongoose 'ref' attributes

[faaiz99]

Clear and concise description of the problem

I'm trying to fake data for this schema, however this schema also references various other schemas. How can I do that ?

const postSchema = new Schema({
  postId: {
    type: Types.ObjectId,
  },
  clientId: {
    type: Types.ObjectId,
    ref: 'client',
    required:false
  },
  therapistId: {
    type: Types.ObjectId,
    ref: 'therapist',
    required:false
  },
  pictureLink: {
    type: String,
    required:false
  },
  title:{
    type:String,
    required:true
  },
  body: {
    type: String,
    required:true
  },
  tags: [{ 
    type: String, 
    required: true 
  }],
  comments:[{
    type:Types.ObjectId,
    ref:'comment'
  }],
  upvotes:[{
    type:Types.ObjectId,
    ref:'upvote'
  }],
  downvotes:[{
    type:Types.ObjectId,
    ref:'downvote'
  }]
});

Suggested solution

Is there a way we could have this feature ? or is there a workaround?

const generatePosts = (num) => {
	const post = [];
	const tag = ['help', 'anxiety', 'depression', 'advice']
	for (let i = 0; i < num; i++) {
		let postId = faker.database.mongodbObjectId()
		let therapistId = faker.database.mongodbObjectId()
		let pictureLink = faker.image.urlLoremFlickr()
		let title = faker.lorem.lines({ min: 1, max: 2 })
		let body = faker.lorem.lines({ min: 2, max: 10 })
		let tags = tag[Math.floor(Math.random() * array.length)];
		let comments = [{ 
			commentId: faker.database.mongodbObjectId(),
			postId: postId,
			therapistId: therapistId,
			parentId: "",
			body: faker.lorem.lines({ min: 2, max: 4 }),
		}]
			post.push({
				postId,
				therapistId,
				pictureLink,
				title,
				body,
				tags,
				comments,
			});
	}
	return post;
};

Alternative

No response

Additional context

No response

[Shinigami92]

You are already on the right path, but should have a look into our docs https://fakerjs.dev/guide/usage.html#create-complex-objects

Also I can recommend to use let tags = faker.helpers.arrayElement(tag);, because that way you rely on Faker's seed value and get deterministic results.

[faaiz99]

Thank you. I will look into that.

[ST-DDT]

let tags = tag[Math.floor(Math.random() * array.length)];

You could use helpers.arrayElement instead.

If you wish to generate "valid" references, then I would recommend generating a list of therapists and using helpers.arrayElement to select one of them before picking its id and referencing it elsewhere.

[faaiz99]

Thanks for the comment. Gonna do it this way.