[javascript] Mongoose: Find, modify, save

I have a Mongoose User model:

var User = mongoose.model('Users',
    mongoose.Schema({
        username: 'string',
        password: 'string',
        rights: 'string'
    })
);

I want to find one instance of the User model, modify it's properties, and save the changes. This is what I have tried (it's wrong!):

User.find({username: oldUsername}, function (err, user) {
    user.username = newUser.username;
    user.password = newUser.password;
    user.rights = newUser.rights;

    user.save(function (err) {
        if(err) {
            console.error('ERROR!');
        }
    });
});

What is the syntax to find, modify and save an instance of the User model?

You could also write it a little more cleaner using updateOne & $set, plus async/await.

const updateUser = async (newUser) => {
  try {
    await User.updateOne({ username: oldUsername }, {
      $set: {
        username: newUser.username,
        password: newUser.password,
        rights: newUser.rights
      }
    })
  } catch (err) {
    console.log(err)
  }
}

Since you don't need the resulting document, you can just use updateOne instead of findOneAndUpdate.

Here's a good discussion about the difference: MongoDB 3.2 - Use cases for updateOne over findOneAndUpdate

If you want to use find, like I would for any validation you want to do on the client side.

find returns an ARRAY of objects

findOne returns only an object

Adding user = user[0] made the save method work for me.

Here is where you put it.

User.find({username: oldUsername}, function (err, user) {
    user = user[0];
    user.username = newUser.username;
    user.password = newUser.password;
    user.rights = newUser.rights;

    user.save(function (err) {
        if(err) {
            console.error('ERROR!');
        }
    });
});

The user parameter of your callback is an array with find. Use findOne instead of find when querying for a single instance.

User.findOne({username: oldUsername}, function (err, user) {
    user.username = newUser.username;
    user.password = newUser.password;
    user.rights = newUser.rights;

    user.save(function (err) {
        if(err) {
            console.error('ERROR!');
        }
    });
});

findOne, modify fields & save

User.findOne({username: oldUsername})
  .then(user => {
    user.username = newUser.username;
    user.password = newUser.password;
    user.rights = newUser.rights;

    user.markModified('username');
    user.markModified('password');
    user.markModified('rights');

    user.save(err => console.log(err));
});

OR findOneAndUpdate

User.findOneAndUpdate({username: oldUsername}, {$set: { username: newUser.username, user: newUser.password, user:newUser.rights;}}, {new: true}, (err, doc) => {
    if (err) {
        console.log("Something wrong when updating data!");
    }
    console.log(doc);
});

Also see updateOne

I wanted to add something very important. I use JohnnyHK method a lot but I noticed sometimes the changes didn't persist to the database. When I used .markModified it worked.

User.findOne({username: oldUsername}, function (err, user) {
   user.username = newUser.username;
   user.password = newUser.password;
   user.rights = newUser.rights;

   user.markModified(username)
   user.markModified(password)
   user.markModified(rights)
    user.save(function (err) {
    if(err) {
        console.error('ERROR!');
    }
});
});

tell mongoose about the change with doc.markModified('pathToYourDate') before saving.