Mongoose Vs MongoDB

What is Object Data Modelling in Mongoose?

Object Data Modeling (ODM) in Mongoose refers to the process of defining the structure, behavior, and relationships of data in a MongoDB database using JavaScript objects. It provides a convenient abstraction layer on top of MongoDB, allowing developers to work with MongoDB documents in a more structured and intuitive manner.

Schema and Model in Mongoose

A schema in Mongoose defines the blueprint for the documents within a MongoDB collection. It specifies the fields, data types, validation rules, and default values for each document. By defining a schema, developers can enforce data consistency and integrity within their application.

For example, a schema for a user document might include fields such as username, email, and password, along with validation rules to ensure that the email field follows a specific format and that the password meets certain complexity requirements.

A model in Mongoose is a JavaScript class that represents a MongoDB collection and provides an interface for querying and manipulating documents within that collection. Models are created based on a schema, and they encapsulate the logic for interacting with the underlying database.

Once a schema is defined, a model can be created using the mongoose.model() method, passing in the name of the collection and the schema definition. This model can then be used to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on the associated collection.

For instance, using the user schema mentioned earlier, a corresponding model can be created as follows:

const mongoose = require('mongoose');

const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    username: { type: String, required: true },
    email: { type: String, required: true },
    password: { type: String, required: true }
});

const UserModel = mongoose.model('User', userSchema);

With this model, developers can perform operations such as creating new user documents, querying existing documents, updating fields, and deleting documents from the "User" collection in the MongoDB database.

What is MongoDB?

Let's start by understanding what is Mongodb. MongoDB is a non-relational database that stores data in the form of documents. The data in MongoDB is stored in the form of JSON objects called BSON. 

In a relational database, the data is stored in the form of tables, and in a non-relational database, the data is stored in the form of objects. You can relate it to JavaScript Objects.

Here is an example of a MongoDB database:

{
   name: “ninja”,
   age: 20,
   gender: “male”,
   hobbies: [“coding”, “reading”],
}

In the above example, we created some records that have the values of different data structures, such as strings, numbers, and arrays. In MongoDB documents, we can store any data structure or field value.

Advantages of MongoDB

• MongoDB databases are easy to scale.
   
• The fields, content, and size of the documents can be different, so there are no restrictions for them.
   
• There are no complex joins in MongoDB.
   
• The structure of an object is very simple.
   
• Easy to manage for a beginner who is just starting with MongoDB.

Disadvantages of MongoDB

• There is a very limited data size because the document size can not be more than 16mb.
   
• As MongoDB stores the data in the form of field value, which can create data redundancy.
   
• The nesting of the documents can not exceed 100 levels.
   
• We can not use the joins in MongoDB.

Where are MongoDB and Mongoose used in Big Companies?

As the popularity or hype of both technologies has increased, we should know where MongoDB and Mongoose are being used in the big companies. There are some categories or use cases in which both technologies are used:

E-Commerce Platforms 

Technically, an e-commerce platform is a combination of both frontend and backend where the databases are largely used to store the data where the MongoDB are being used. Now to make the database interactive and to provide more functionalities to the application, Mongoose is being used.
 

Internet of Things

In IoT, we have physical devices with sensors where large data can be generated, and using a relational database like MongoDB is one of the best to use. Mongoose is used here to make the structure more defined and straightforward.
 

Financial Sectors

Financial Sectors such as banks, where the transactions are higher in numbers, to manage better MongoDB is used as its ACID transaction support helps in making the transaction smooth.
 

User Recommendation

Nowadays, the application that provides the recommendations to the user, which includes storing the user preferences, MongoDB is used, and Mongoose helps to achieve this feature as we need to maintain some conditions and validations.

NOTE: All the use cases of MongoDB and Mongoose collide with each other because both can be connected to each other to achieve the desired functionality. So nowadays, it is recommended to use both for better output.

Difference Between Mongoose and MongoDB

We will understand the difference between Mongoose and MongoDB with the below tabular form:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use MongoDB without Mongoose?

Yes, MongoDB can be used without Mongoose by directly interacting with the MongoDB database using its native drivers or libraries.

Is Mongoose needed for MongoDB?

No, Mongoose is not needed for MongoDB. MongoDB can be used independently with its native drivers or libraries.

Is MongoDB faster than Mongoose?

MongoDB itself is a database system, while Mongoose is an Object Data Modeling (ODM) library for MongoDB. MongoDB is generally faster than Mongoose for raw database operations.

Why create the schemas in MongoDB?

Creating a schema can be useful to manage the data; it can be useful to validate the data, such as the uniqueness, data type, or any constraints. Models can be created with the help of schemas to insert the document.

What are the validations of the schemas?

You can imagine validations as the constraints that the data must follow to be stored in the database. For example, if you want the data to be only a string, you can pass type: String.

How to insert the data in the MongoDB database?

If you want to insert the data in the MongoDB database, you should use insertOne() and insertMany(), which can be used to insert single or multiple documents into the MongoDB database.

Conclusion

Mongoose can be used to create the MongoDB schemas and validation. MongoDB is a non-relational database that stores data in the form of documents. In the article “Mongoose vs MongoDB”, we discuss what Mongoose is, what MongoDB is with the basic commands and operations, and what is the difference between both of them.

Here are more articles that are recommended to read:

• MongoDB Tutorial
• Introduction to Mongoose
• Read the documents using Mongoose
• Update the documents using Mongoose
• Delete the documents using Mongoose
• Mongoose Schema
• Yarn vs NPM
•  indexOf in JavaScript

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