Meteor.js collection aggregate returning undefined is not a function - meteor

Question

I am trying to make collection aggregate in my Meteor.js app as shown below, yet each time I call my server logSummary method I get the following error. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong / how to resolve this error? Thanks.
Note: I am using Meteor-aggregate package
TypeError: undefined is not a function
at Object.Template.detailedreport.helpers.myCollection (http://localhost:3000/client/views/report.js?
Code:
Template.detailedreport.rendered = function() {
Session.set("dreport_customer", "");
Session.set("dreport_project", "");
Session.set("dreport_startDate", new Date());
Session.set("dreport_endDate", new Date());
$('.set-start-date').datetimepicker({
pickTime: false,
defaultDate: new Date()
});
$('.set-end-date').datetimepicker({
pickTime: false,
defaultDate: new Date()
});
$('.set-start-date').on("dp.change",function (e) {
Session.set("dreport_startDate", $('.set-start-date').data('DateTimePicker').getDate().toLocaleString());
});
$('.set-end-date').on("dp.change",function (e) {
Session.set("dreport_endDate", $('.set-end-date').data('DateTimePicker').getDate().toLocaleString());
});
};
Template.detailedreport.helpers({
customerslist: function() {
return Customers.find({}, {sort:{name: -1}});
},
projectslist: function() {
return Projects.find({customerid: Session.get("dreport_customer")}, {sort:{title: -1}});
},
myCollection: function () {
var now = Session.get("dreport_startDate");
var then = Session.get("dreport_endDate");
var custID = Session.get("dreport_customer");
var projID = Session.get("dreport_project");
Meteor.call('logSummary', now, then, projID, custID, function(error, data){
if(error)
return alert(error.reason);
return data;
});
},
settings: function () {
return {
rowsPerPage: 10,
showFilter: true,
showColumnToggles: false,
fields: [
{ key: '0._id.day', label: 'Day' },
{ key: '0.totalhours', label: 'Hours Spent'}
]
};
}
});
Template.detailedreport.events({
'submit form': function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
Session.set('dreport_endDate', $('.set-end-date').data('DateTimePicker').getDate().toLocaleString());
Session.set('dreport_startDate', $('.set-start-date').data('DateTimePicker').getDate().toLocaleString());
Session.set('dreport_project', $(e.target).find('[name=project]').val());
Session.set('dreport_customer', $(e.target).find('[name=customer]').val());
},
'change #customer': function(e){
Session.set("dreport_project", "");
Session.set("dreport_customer", e.currentTarget.value);
},
'change #project': function(e){
Session.set("dreport_project", e.currentTarget.value);
}
});
Template:
<div>
{{> reactiveTable class="table table-bordered table-hover" collection=myCollection settings=settings}}
</div>
Server:
Meteor.methods({
logSummary: function(startDate, endDate, projid, custid){
var pipeline = [
{ $match: { date: { $gte: new Date(startDate), $lte: new Date(endDate) },
projectid: projid,
customerid: custid
}
},
{ $group: {
_id: {
"projectid": "$projectid",
"day": { "$dayOfMonth": "$date" },
"month": { "$month": "$date" },
"year": { "$year": "$date" }
},
totalhours: {"$sum": "$hours"}
}}
];
return ProjectLog.aggregate(pipeline);;
}
});

Answer 1

Looking at the ReactiveTable documentation, it looks like you need to do something like:
Template.myTemplate.helpers({
myCollection: function () {
return myCollection;
}
});
Where myCollection is the name of a Mongo/Meteor collection (e.g. BlogPosts) which you defined with e.g. BlogPosts = new Mongo.Collection('blogPosts');
The reason you're getting undefined is not a function is that you are calling a Meteor method inside a template helper. The call is asynchronous so the return value is undefined. Now you are passing undefined to ReactiveTable. ReactiveTable will be trying to call something like myCollection.find() which is essentially undefined.find() and will therefore throw the error you're seeing.
Later on the Meteor call will finish and the data value will be lost because the function has already returned.
You can call Meteor.call inside the onCreated function like so:
Template.myTemplate.onCreated(function () {
Meteor.call('myFunction', 'my', 'params', function (err, result) {
if (err) {
// do something about the error
} else {
Session.set('myData',result);
}
});
});
Template.myTemplate.helpers({
myData: function () {
Session.get('myData')
}
});
This won't fix the issue with ReactiveTable, however.
If the collection you're trying to display is only used for this single page, you could put the aggregation inside the publish function so that minimongo contains only the documents that match the aggregation and therefore the correct documents will appear in your ReactiveTable.