Scala Cookbook

16.4. Inserting Documents into MongoDB with insert, save, or +=

Problem

You want to save documents to a MongoDB collection from a Scala application.

Solution

Use the insert, save, or += methods of the Casbah MongoCollection class.

In order to save a document to your MongoDB collection, you can use the MongoCollection insert method:

collection.insert(buildMongoDbObject(apple))
collection.insert(buildMongoDbObject(google))
collection.insert(buildMongoDbObject(netflix))

You can also use the save method:

collection.save(buildMongoDbObject(apple))
collection.save(buildMongoDbObject(google))
collection.save(buildMongoDbObject(netflix))

And you can also use the += method:

collection += buildMongoDbObject(apple)
collection += buildMongoDbObject(google)
collection += buildMongoDbObject(netflix)
collection += buildMongoDbObject(amazon)

The intention of the insert and save methods is obvious; you’re inserting/saving data to your MongoDB collection. The third approach is a little different; it looks like what you’re doing is adding an object to a collection. In fact, you’re saving your object to the database collection with each += call.

Here’s what the += approach looks like in a complete program:

import com.mongodb.casbah.Imports._
import Common._

object Insert2 extends App {

  val collection = MongoFactory.collection

  // create some Stock instances
  val apple = Stock("AAPL", 600)
  val google = Stock("GOOG", 650)
  val netflix = Stock("NFLX", 60)
  val amazon = Stock("AMZN", 220)

  // add them to the collection ...