|MongoDB| How to sort and limit embedded arrays? embedded array pagination

Question

I'm having the hardest time trying to sort and limit results of a embedded array in mongodb. Here's the scenario:

I have a post-comment structure where post contains an array of comments. I would like to get a list of comments, sorted by createdAt and do a limit/offset... Something like, given a post id paginate the comments and return them to me. =]

... heres a sample of the structure:

{    "_id" : ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083"),
     "comments" : [{
            "_id" : ObjectId("5270986b4f204f5dd51ada8a"),
            "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
            "userid" : NumberLong(1),
            "likes" : [ ],
            "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:03.858Z")},
           {
            "_id" : ObjectId("527098714f204f5dd51ada8b"),
            "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
            "userid" : NumberLong(1),
            "likes" : [ ],
            "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:09.425Z")
           }
    ],
    "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T03:16:51.745Z"),
    "likes" : [ ],
    "status" : "simbora!!",
    "userid" : NumberLong(1)
}

so... i could try this query this:

db.post.aggregate([ 
{$match: {_id: new ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083")}}, 
{$unwind: "$comments"}, 
{$sort: {"comments.createdAt": -1}},
{$limit: 2}
]);

and it gave me this:

"result" : [
        {
                "_class" : "models.documents.Post",
                "_id" : ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083"),
                "comments" : {
                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098714f204f5dd51ada8b"),
                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                        "likes" : [ ],
                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:09.425Z")
                },
                "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T03:16:51.745Z"),
                "likes" : [ ],
                "status" : "simbora!!",
                "userid" : NumberLong(1)
        },
        {
                "_class" : "models.documents.Post",
                "_id" : ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083"),
                "comments" : {
                        "_id" : ObjectId("5270986b4f204f5dd51ada8a"),
                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                        "likes" : [ ],
                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:03.858Z")
                },
                "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T03:16:51.745Z"),
                "likes" : [ ],
                "status" : "simbora!!",
                "userid" : NumberLong(1)
        }
],
"ok" : 1

Note that comments is no longer an array, but an object... and, although it gives me the ordered and limited set, it also gives me the parent object for every comment... thats not so good. So I tried this:

db.post.aggregate([
{$match: {_id: new ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083")}},
{$unwind: "$comments"},
{$sort: {"comments.createdAt": -1}},
{"$project": {"_id": 0, "comments": "$comments"}},
{"$group": {"_id": "$_id", "comments": {"$push": "$comments"}}},
]);

and it gave me this:

{
        "result" : [
                {
                        "_id" : null,
                        "comments" : [
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098714f204f5dd51ada8b"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:09.425Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("5270986b4f204f5dd51ada8a"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:03.858Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098694f204f5dd51ada89"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:26:01.174Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098674f204f5dd51ada88"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:25:59.795Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098644f204f5dd51ada87"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:25:56.936Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("527098604f204f5dd51ada86"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:25:52.379Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083"),
                                        "comment" : "asdfasdf asdfasdfa ",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:24:36.539Z")
                                },
                                {
                                        "_id" : null,
                                        "comment" : "bla bla",
                                        "userid" : NumberLong(1),
                                        "likes" : [ ],
                                        "createdAt" : ISODate("2013-10-30T05:23:24.037Z")
                                }
                        ]
                }
        ],
        "ok" : 1
}

this is also not so good because, if I apply the limit and skip operators, it will limit by post, not comment...

Can anyone help me out??

If you want your code reviewed you should go to codereview.stackexchange.com/‎ — M.Ali
– M.Ali, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 19:49

Yann Moisan · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-30 20:33:16Z

9

If I understand, you want to find a post by id and return it with only the last 2 comments.

You were not so far, the solution is a combination of your 2 trials :

db.posts.aggregate( 
  {$match: {_id: new ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083")}}, 
  {$unwind: "$comments"}, 
  {$sort: {"comments.createdAt": -1}},
  {$limit: 2},
  {"$group": {"_id": "$_id", "comments": {"$push": "$comments"}}}
)

edited Oct 30, 2013 at 20:33

answered Oct 30, 2013 at 19:57

Yann Moisan

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3 Comments

Misael Neto Over a year ago

thx for the feedback. The thing is, i need to paginate the comments array... something like this: db.post.aggregate([ {$match: {_id: new ObjectId("52707a234f2044b7f2d22083")}}, {$unwind: "$comments"}, {$sort: {"comments.createdAt": -1}}, {$limit: 2}, {$skip: 2}, {"$group": {"_id": "$_id", "comments": {"$push": "$comments"}}} ]); The thing is, when i add the {$skip: 2} operation, i expected to skip the first to and get the next 2... but thats not what happens.. instead i get an empty result. But if I do {$limit: 4},{$skip: 2} than i get the right result. odd

Misael Neto Over a year ago

So I was reading more about my issue and I found this thread: stackoverflow.com/questions/10424403/…. Anyone agrees with that? Thanks.

Eduardo Russo Over a year ago

@MisaelNeto no way! Put the comments in another document is using a NoSQL as a relational database! It makes no sense to create references in a database that's not relational.

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