What is the best method to seeding a Node / MongoDB application? : <p>So, I'm new to the MEAN stack, and I've hit a wall trying to seed MongoDB. I'm using Mongoose to communicate with the database, and there's a bunch of documentation suggesting I should be able to seed using populated JSON files.</p>

<p>What I've tried:</p>

<p><strong><a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-mongo-seeds" rel="noreferrer">node-mongo-seed</a></strong>; Pretty straight forward, but consistently throws errors on the end of arrays. (Perhaps the missing bson module is at fault?)</p>

<pre><code>{ [Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/bson'] code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' }
js-bson: Failed to load c++ bson extension, using pure JS version
Seeding files from directory /Users/Antwisted/code/wdi/MEAN/seeds
----------------------
Seeding collection locations
err =  [SyntaxError: /Users/Antwisted/code/wdi/MEAN/seeds/locations.json: Unexpected token {]
</code></pre>

<p><strong><a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/mongoose-seed" rel="noreferrer">mongoose-seed</a></strong>; Also pretty straight forward, basically puts the JSON objects into a variable before exporting to the database. Promising, but... more errors...</p>

<pre><code>Successfully initialized mongoose-seed
[ 'app/models/locationsModel.js' ]
Locations collection cleared
Error creating document [0] of Location model
Error: Location validation failed
Error creating document [1] of Location model
Error: Location validation failed
Error creating document [2] of Location model
Error: Location validation failed...
</code></pre>

<p>So, my thoughts were that it was probably a syntax error within the JSON structure, but playing around with that has not yielded any real solutions (or maybe I'm missing it?). Sample of my JSON:</p>

<pre><code>{
    {
        "header": "Dan's Place",
        "rating": 3,
        "address": "125 High Street, New York, 10001",
        "cord1": -73.0812,
        "cord2": 40.8732,
        "attributes": ["Hot drinks", "Food", "Premium wifi"],
        "hours": [
            {
                "days": "Monday - Friday",
                "hours": "7:00am - 7:00pm",
                "closed": false
            },
            {
                "days": "Saturday",
                "hours": "8:00am - 5:00pm",
                "closed": false
            },
            {
                "days": "Sunday",
                "closed": true
            }
        ],
        "reviews": [
            {
                "rating": 4,
                "id": ObjectId(),
                "author": "Philly B.",
                "timestamp": "new Date('Feb 3, 2016')",
                "body": "It was fine, but coffee was a bit dull. Nice atmosphere."
            },
            {
                "rating": 3,
                "id": ObjectId(),
                "author": "Tom B.",
                "timestamp": "new Date('Feb 23, 2016')",
                "body": "I asked for her number. She said no."
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        "header": "Jared's Jive",
        "rating": 5,
        "address": "747 Fly Court, New York, 10001",
        "cord1": -73.0812,
        "cord2": 40.8732,
        "attributes": ["Live Music", "Rooftop Bar", "2 Floors"],
        "hours": [
            {
                "days": "Monday - Friday",
                "hours": "7:00am - 7:00pm",
                "closed": false
            },
            {
                "days": "Saturday",
                "hours": "8:00am - 5:00pm",
                "closed": false
            },
            {
                "days": "Sunday",
                "closed": true
            }
        ],
        "reviews": [
            {
                "rating": 5,
                "id": ObjectId(),
                "author": "Jacob G.",
                "timestamp": "new Date('Feb 3, 2016')",
                "body": "Whoa! The music here is wicked good. Definitely going again."
            },
            {
                "rating": 4,
                "id": ObjectId(),
                "author": "Tom B.",
                "timestamp": "new Date('Feb 23, 2016')",
                "body": "I asked to play her a tune. She said no."
            }
        ]
    }
}
</code></pre>

<p>Additionally, I'm not entirely sure how to specify subdocuments within the JSON (assuming I can get the seeding process to work correctly in the first place).</p>

<p>Here's my model:</p>

<pre><code>var mongoose = require('mongoose');

var subHoursSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    days: {type: String, required: true},
    opening: String,
    closing: String,
    closed: {type: Boolean, required: true}
});

var subReviewsSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    rating: {type: Number, required: true, min: 0, max: 5},
    author: String,
    timestamp: {type: Date, "default": Date.now},
    body: String
}); 

var locationSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    name: {type: String, required: true},
    address: String,
    rating: {type: Number, "default": 0, min: 0, max: 5}, 
    attributes: [String],
    coordinates: {type: [Number], index: '2dsphere'},
    openHours: [subHoursSchema],
    reviews: [subReviewsSchema]
});

mongoose.model('Location', locationSchema);
</code></pre>

<p>Any insight on how to navigate these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
