Mongoose remove a Schema property after creating virtual property

Question

I am creating a groupedMenu virtual property that replaces the need for my menu property.

So once I am done mapping my virtual property, I want to delete the menu key in my Schema.

Example Schema:

 new Schema({
    menu: [{
      category: String
    }]
 })

Example virtual category being created:

Restaurants.virtual('groupedMenu')
    .get(function () {
        return _.groupBy(this.menu, menu => menu.category);
    });

I've tried deleting the menu in my route, but it does not work. Example:

router.get('/someRoute', function (req, res) {
    Schema.findOne({})
        .then(menuStuff => {
            delete menuStuff.menu // THIS DOES NOT WORK
            return res.status(200).json(menuStuff);
        })

How can I delete my menu key after my my virtual property groupedMenu has been created?

Answer 1

Few issues I see.

1. Schema.findOne({}) looks quite weird. It should be Model.findOne({}) .

2. The synonym to virtual is getter . This means that when you call object.groupedMenu the virtual method gets executed. In other words, the groupedMenu is using the menu every time you call .groupedMenu . The virtual properties are not created, they are always executed at runtime.

My suggestion here is to override the Schema.toObject so that it does not have the .menu

Schema.set("toObject", {
    virtuals: true,
    transform(doc, ret) {
        ret.id = ret._id;
        delete ret.menu;
    }
});

and use it within your code:

return res.status(200).json(menuStuff.toObject());