MongoDB update query (update an array field in document)

Question

Here's what the document looks like now.

Array
(
    [email] => admin@mysite.com
    [emailQueries] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [21] => 0
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [21] => 0
                )

        )

    [last_visit] => 1375050871
)

Here's the code I am using to populate the emailQueries

$arrayValueToAdd = array( (string) $email_id => '0' );

$collection->update( array('email' => $user['email']), 
                     array( '$push' => 
                          array( 'emailQueries' => $arrayValueToAdd ) 
                      )
                  );

However, I'd like to simply have the emailQueries array look like:

[emailQueries] => Array
    (
        [21] => 0
        [22] => 0
    )

Probably a simple thing I'm overlooking...

Answer 1

You are using the array operator push with a data structure that is not considered by MongoDb as an array ( array must have 0-based ascending numeric indexes ). You must treat it as an object. So you have 2 choices.

If in [21] => 0 , the value 0 is useless (and I don't expect so), you can use a true array:

"emailQueries" : [21,22]

and you can use the push operator in the PHP code like this

$collection->update( array('email' => $user['email']), 
                     array( '$push' => 
                         array( 'emailQueries' => (string) $email_id ) 
                     ));

On the other hand, if you must keep the value 0 , and for instance, increment it, you have to considered your EmailQuery as an object :

"emailQueries" : {
    "21" : 0,
    "22" : 0
}

So you can use a simple update to add field in emailQueries :

$collection->update( array('email' => $user['email']), 
                     array( '$set' => 
                         array( 'emailQueries.'.$email_id => 0  ) 
                     ));

And the $inc , for incrementation :

$collection->update( array('email' => $user['email']), 
                     array( '$inc' => 
                         array( 'emailQueries.'.$email_id => 1  ) 
                     ));