Yes, we can use the reference in the document.To populate the another document just like sql i joins.In mongo db they dont have joins to mapping one to many relationship document.Instead that we can use populate to fulfill our scenario..
var mongoose = require('mongoose')
, Schema = mongoose.Schema
var personSchema = Schema({
_id : Number,
name : String,
age : Number,
stories : [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'Story' }]
});
var storySchema = Schema({
_creator : { type: Number, ref: 'Person' },
title : String,
fans : [{ type: Number, ref: 'Person' }]
});
Population is the process of automatically replacing the specified paths in the document with document(s) from other collection(s). We may populate a single document, multiple documents, plain object, multiple plain objects, or all objects returned from a query. Let's look at some examples.
Better you can get more information please visit :http://mongoosejs.com/docs/populate.html