How do I reliably pull data from Meteor server collections to client collections when using an existing mongodb as MONGO_URL? - meteor

Question

I know that there are several methods to share collections on both the client and server -- namely either in top level lib folder or publish/subscribe model -- but when I try either of these things when using mongodb running at localhost:27017 as my MONGO_URL, I am not reliably getting data on the client. Occasionally console.log(myCollection.findOne({})) will return expected data in the browser but most of the time it returns undefined.
//Client side code
Template.controls.onCreated(function controlsOnCreated() {
Meteor.subscribe("myEvents");
Events = new Mongo.Collection("events");
});
//Server side code
Meteor.startup(() => {
Events = new Mongo.Collection("events");
}
Meteor.publish('myEvents', function() {
console.log(Events.find());
return Events.find();
});
UPDATED CODE -- returns Events on server but not client:
//Client
Template.controls.onCreated(function controlsOnCreated() {
this.subscribe("myEvents");
});
//Server
if (Meteor.isServer) {
Meteor.publish("myEvents", function() {
return Events.find();
});
}
// /collections/events.js
Events = new Mongo.Collection("events");
UPDATE 2:
I am attempting to verify the publication in the browser after the page has rendered, calling Events.findOne({}) in the Chrome dev tools console.

Answer 1

on your client:
Template.controls.onCreated(function controlsOnCreated() {
Meteor.subscribe("myEvents");
Events = new Mongo.Collection("events");
});
that is an odd place to define the Events variable. typically, you would put that line of code in a JS file common to both platform. e.g.
collections/events.js:
Events = new Mongo.Collection("events");
when that line runs on the server, it defines the mongo collection and creates a server-side reference to it. when it runs on the client, it creates a collection by that name in mini-mongo and creates a client-side reference to it.
you can write your onCreated like this (note "this" instead of "Meteor"):
Template.controls.onCreated(function() {
this.subscribe("myEvents");
});
you don't say where on the client you ran your console.log with the find(). if you did it in the onCreated(), that's too early. you're seeing the effects of a race condition. typically, you might use it in a helper:
Template.controls.helpers({
events() {
return Events.find({});
}
});
and display the data in the view:
{{#each event in events}}
{{event.name}}
{{/each}}
that helper will run reactively once the data from the publish shows up.