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Brian,Kun Liu
Brian,Kun Liu

Posted on • Originally published at Medium on

How to Optimize Schema Syncing with Metabase: A Guide to Using Nested Subdocuments and Avoiding…

How to Optimize Schema Syncing with Metabase: A Guide to Using Nested Subdocuments and Avoiding Mixed/Object/{} Types

Background

Mixed, Object, or {} Type is a special type in MongoDB that allows developers to store heterogeneous data types in a single field.

This can be useful for storing data that does not fit neatly into a specific schema, but it can also create problems that the field is stored as a whole string in the form when syncing data to Metabase. That can not be analyzed well by our BI worker and data engineer. Because we need to follow a defined structure when it shows up clearly in Metabase.

Solution:

To avoid issues with syncing data to Metabase, we recommend the following best practices for MongoDB schema design:

  1. Use a consistent schema: It is best to define a consistent schema for your data model that closely matches the structure of your data. This makes it easier to extract and transform the data into a consistent Metabase schema.
  2. Avoid Using Mixed/Object Type: Avoid using Mixed/Object Type in your schema design as much as possible. Instead, define fields based on data types such as String, Number, Boolean, Date, and so on.
  3. Consider using nested subdocuments instead of Mixed/Object Type if you need to store complex data structures. This allows you to keep a consistent schema and makes extracting and transforming data for Metabase easier.
  4. Use Mongoose.js validation : Mongoose.js provides built-in validation for schema fields, which can help ensure that your data is consistent and matches the expected schema.

References:

Mongoose.js Mixed Schema Defination: https://mongoosejs.com/docs/schematypes.html#mixed

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