Merge pull request #14972 from Automattic/vkarpov15/gh-14944

docs(documents): add section on setting deeply nested properties, including warning about nullish coalescing assignment

Author: vkarpov15

docs/documents.md

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ to documents as stored in MongoDB. Each document is an instance of its
   <li><a href="#documents-vs-models">Documents vs Models</a></li>
   <li><a href="#retrieving">Retrieving</a></li>
   <li><a href="#updating-using-save">Updating Using <code>save()</code></a></li>
+  <li><a href="#setting-nested-properties">Setting Nested Properties</a></li>
   <li><a href="#updating-using-queries">Updating Using Queries</a></li>
   <li><a href="#validating">Validating</a></li>
   <li><a href="#overwriting">Overwriting</a></li>
@@ -81,6 +82,54 @@ doc.name = 'foo';
 await doc.save(); // Throws DocumentNotFoundError
 ```
 
+## Setting Nested Properties
+
+Mongoose documents have a `set()` function that you can use to safely set deeply nested properties.
+
+```javascript
+const schema = new Schema({
+  nested: {
+    subdoc: new Schema({
+      name: String
+    })
+  }
+});
+const TestModel = mongoose.model('Test', schema);
+
+const doc = new TestModel();
+doc.set('nested.subdoc.name', 'John Smith');
+doc.nested.subdoc.name; // 'John Smith'
+```
+
+Mongoose documents also have a `get()` function that lets you safely read deeply nested properties. `get()` lets you avoid having to explicitly check for nullish values, similar to JavaScript's [optional chaining operator `?.`](https://masteringjs.io/tutorials/fundamentals/optional-chaining-array).
+
+```javascript
+const doc2 = new TestModel();
+
+doc2.get('nested.subdoc.name'); // undefined
+doc2.nested?.subdoc?.name; // undefined
+
+doc2.set('nested.subdoc.name', 'Will Smith');
+doc2.get('nested.subdoc.name'); // 'Will Smith'
+```
+
+You can use optional chaining `?.` and nullish coalescing `??` with Mongoose documents.
+However, be careful when using [nullish coalescing assignments `??=`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Nullish_coalescing_assignment) to create nested paths with Mongoose documents.
+
+```javascript
+// The following works fine
+const doc3 = new TestModel();
+doc3.nested.subdoc ??= {};
+doc3.nested.subdoc.name = 'John Smythe';
+
+// The following does **NOT** work.
+// Do not use the following pattern with Mongoose documents.
+const doc4 = new TestModel();
+(doc4.nested.subdoc ??= {}).name = 'Charlie Smith';
+doc.nested.subdoc; // Empty object
+doc.nested.subdoc.name; // undefined.
+```
+
 ## Updating Using Queries {#updating-using-queries}
 
 The [`save()`](api/model.html#model_Model-save) function is generally the right

package.json

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
     "lint": "eslint .",
     "lint-js": "eslint . --ext .js --ext .cjs",
     "lint-ts": "eslint . --ext .ts",
-    "lint-md": "markdownlint-cli2 \"**/*.md\"",
+    "lint-md": "markdownlint-cli2 \"**/*.md\" \"#node_modules\" \"#benchmarks\"",
     "build-browser": "(rm ./dist/* || true) && node ./scripts/build-browser.js",
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run build-browser",
     "release": "git pull && git push origin master --tags && npm publish",