Publish forum replies with embedded user data - meteor

Question

I am trying to publish forum replies to a specific thread, but I would like those reply documents to include extra information about the user that posted it.
I don't want to "save" that extra information on the reply itself but rather, publish an "improved" version of it.
I am doing something similar on client-side already with mycollection.find().map() and using the map function to embedded extra information on each of the returned documents, however, Meteor publish cannot seem to publish an array, only a Cursor, so the simple map function is off limits.
Is there a way to achieve this? Maybe a "map" function that returns a Cursor?
I am not using Meteor.methods so that I can have reactivity, because with them I could just return an array and use it as normal.
Here is an example of my code (that fails, but sends gives an idea of what I need):
Meteor.publish("forumthread", function(thread){
return forumReplies.find({thread: thread}).map(function(r){
// lets fill in additional data about each replies owner
var owner = Meteor.users.findOne({_id: r.owner});
if(!owner)
return; // no owner no reply..
if(!owner.forumStats){
owner.forumStats = {};
owner.forumStats.postCount = 0;
owner.forumStats.postLikes = 0;
owner.forumStats.title = "The Newbie";
owner.forumStats.tag = "Newbie";
Meteor.users.update({_id: owner._id}, {$set:{ forumStats:owner.forumStats }});
}
r.ownerid = owner._id;
r.ownerUsername = owner.username;
r.ownerPostCount = owner.forumStats.postCount;
r.ownerPostLikes = owner.forumStats.postLikes;
r.ownerTitle = owner.forumStats.title;
r.ownerTag = owner.forumStats.tag;
return r;
});
});
Thank you.

Answer 1

Ended up doing this (found out that Christian Fritz also suggested it):
Meteor.publish("serverforumthread", function(thread){
check(thread, String);
var replies = forumReplies.find({thread: thread});
var users = {};
replies.map(function(r){
users[r.owner] = r.owner;
});
var userids = _.map(users, function(value, key){ return value; });
var projectedFields = {_id:1, username:1, forumStats: 1, services: 0};
var usrs = Meteor.users.find({_id:{$in: userids}}, projectedFields);
var anyUpdateToUsers = false;
usrs.map(function(owner){
var changed = false;
if(!owner.username){
owner.username = owner.emails[0].address.split("#")[0];
changed = true;
}
//owner.forumStats = undefined;
if(!owner.forumStats){
owner.forumStats = {};
owner.forumStats.postCount = 0;
owner.forumStats.postLikes = 0;
owner.forumStats.title = "the newbie";
owner.forumStats.tag = "newbie";
owner.forumStats.img = "http://placehold.it/122x122";
changed = true;
}
if(changed){
anyUpdateToUsers = true;
Meteor.users.update({_id: owner._id}, {$set:{ forumStats:owner.forumStats }});
}
});
if(anyUpdateToUsers) // refresh it
usrs = Meteor.users.find({_id:{$in: userids}}, projectedFields);
usrs.map(function(owner){
console.log(owner);
});
return [replies, usrs];
});
It works great with the following client side:
Template.forumReplyOwner.helpers({
replyOwner: function(reply){
var owner = Meteor.users.findOne({_id: reply.owner});
console.log(reply, owner);
if(!owner || !owner.forumStats) return; // oh shait!
var r = {};
r.owner = owner._id;
r.ownerUsername = owner.username;
r.ownerPostCount = owner.forumStats.postCount;
r.ownerPostLikes = owner.forumStats.postLikes;
r.ownerTitle = owner.forumStats.title;
r.ownerTag = owner.forumStats.tag;
r.ownerImg = owner.forumStats.img;
return r;
},
ownerImgTab: function(){
return {src: this.ownerImg};
}
});
However, I am now facing another problem. Even tho I am restricting the fields I am publishing from the Users collection, it is still sending down the "services" field, that contains login data that shouldnt be sent, ideas?