Meteor js, how to get side effect of updating whole client side document

Question

I have a Meteor method that I call from the client, which in turn updates all fields in a single document. In the last line of code below I try to immediately run the same update on the client to get the immediate side effects (it assumes the update will go through). The trouble is I get:

update failed: Access denied. In a restricted collection you can only update documents, not replace them. Use a Mongo update operator, such as '$set'

when trying to do that. I don't want to update a single field, I want to update the whole document. Is there a way to do this properly?

entry = {
    title: title
    text: text
    tags: entry.tags
    mode: $('#mode').val()
    file_ids: entry.file_ids
}

eid = Session.get('entryId')
entry._id = eid if eid

context = Session.get('context')
Meteor.call('saveEntry', title, entry, context)
Entries.update({_id: entry._id}, entry)

Answer 1

Do something like:

Entries.update({_id: entry._id}, { $set: entry })

A typical update request is on the form:

Collection.update(
   <query>,
   <update>
)

From the Mongodb documentation, about updating with a regular key:value object:

Replace Document Entirely

If the document contains only field:value expressions, then:

• The update() method replaces the matching document with the document. The update() method does not replace the _id value. For an example, see Replace All Fields.
• update() cannot update multiple documents.

and about updating specific fields, using $set, $inc etc.:

Update Specific Fields

If the document contains update operator expressions, such as those using the $set operator, then:

• The document must contain only update operator expressions.
• The update() method updates only the corresponding fields in the document. For an example, see Update Specific Fields.

And additionally, as I can understand, from your error message Meteor don't allow replacing whole documents entirely, from the client side. So an option is to use the $set operator and set all the values, which in this case is the whole document itself. You may typically skip adding the _id key to your document before passing it to the $set operator.