Unable to Insert Data into a collection - json

Question

I have officer Schema in which if a user wants to fix an appointment, his entry is made in the DB. The schema is:
officerSchema = mongoose.Schema({
email : {type: String,
index: { unique: true }
},
appointmentList : Array // array of jsonObject of dates and userID
});
The AppointmentList is an array of JSON Objects which contains the ID of the officer with which appointment has to be made, date and userID (the user which wants to fix the appointment).
However to avoid duplicate appointment entries, I have been using several methods mentioned on the internet. None of them have worked for me so far. I am posting the code below. The problem with below code is it NEVER inserts any data in the appointmentsList. However if I use save() instead of update() insertion occurs but duplicates also get inserted.
Here is the JSON Object that I want to add in the array from DB,
{
"id": "1321231231",
"appointment": {
"userID": "31321",
"date": "24 March"
}
}
var ID = requestObject.id;
var newObject = {$addToSet: requestObject.appointment};
OfficerModel.findOne({_id : ID}, function(err, foundData) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
return;
}
else {
var dbList = foundData.list;
dbList.push(newObject);
foundData.update(function(err, updatedData) {
if(err) {
console.log( err);
}
else {
console.log("successful");
}
});
}
});

Answer 1

Using the $addToSet operator might work for you.
var appt = {
id: "1321231231",
appointment: {
userID: "31321",
date: "24 March"
}
}
Officer.update(
{_id: ID},
{$addToSet: {appointmentList: appt}},
function(err) { ... }
);
But it's not a perfect solution because {one: 1, two: 2} and {two: 2, one: 1} aren't interpreted as equal, so they could both get added to an array with $addToSet.
To totally avoid duplicates, you could do something like this:
var appt = {
id: "1321231231",
appointment: {
userID: "31321",
date: "24 March"
}
};
Officer.findOne(
{_id: ID, 'appointmentList.id': appt.id},
function(err, officerDoc) {
if (err) { ... }
// since no document matched your query, add the appointment
if (!officerDoc) {
Officer.update(
{_id: ID},
{$push: {appointmentList: appt}},
function(err) { ... }
);
}
// since that appointment already exists, update it
else {
Officer.update(
{_id: ID, 'appointmentList.id': appt.id},
{$set: {'appointmentList.$.appointment': appt.appointment}},
function(err) { ... }
);
}
}
);
The operation above that updates the existing appointment uses the positional operator.