Inputting data with JSON files in MongoDB

Question

This may be a trivial question for most, but I am beginning to learn MERN stack and am unfamiliar with MongoDB.

I am having trouble creating my own database with MongoDB Compass. I am trying to create a database that includes class times for a project that displays class schedules. The database needs to have the date that the class began as well as the date the class ends.

the problem I am running into is that I am creating this database using a JSON file and plan to import that file to MongoDB Compass, and I am unable to use ISODate(). Is there an alternative way to record times in a JSON file or perhaps a more efficient method to input this data other than using JSON files?

Answer 1

You have a few options here.

1. If you have control over the input file, change your ISODate strings to use MongoDB EJSON, e.g.

OLD:  {"startTime":"2022-01-25T00:37:49.593Z", "endTime":"2022-01-25T01:37:49.593Z"}

NEW:  {"startTime":{"$date":"2022-01-25T00:37:49.593Z"}, "endTime":{"$date":"2022-01-25T01:37:49.593Z"}}

Both Compass and mongoimport are sensitive to EJSON and will perform the appropriate type conversion upon load.

2. Convert the dates after loading into Compass by creating a two stage aggregation pipeline. The trick with $merge is to use the merge action. You only need to do this once. The whole collection will be updated with ISO datestrings converted into real MongoDB datetimes.

$addFields:
{
  startTime: {$dateFromString: {dateString: "$startTime"}}
}

$merge:
{
  into: 'foo',
  on: '_id',
  whenMatched: 'merge'
}