Collections

Collections are the default Meteor way of storing persistent data (in a database). The term is inspired by MongoDB usage, with Mongo being the default database supported in Meteor today.

Collections are accessible using the same API from both client and server, giving the developer a consistent way to view or update that data from anywhere.

This is achieved using DDP (Distributed Data Protocol) which keeps a client-side in-memory database cache synched with the server-side master database, such that a client-side automatically accesses only the most up-to-date data.

1) Create Collection. Update simple-todos.js as follows:

// simple-todos.js
Tasks = new Mongo.Collection("tasks");

if (Meteor.isClient) {
  // This code only runs on the client
  Template.body.helpers({
    tasks: function () {
      return Tasks.find({});
    }
  });
}

Save the changes. You'll notice the live application updates to show an empty list of tasks.

Why? Because the list is now bound

2) Add Collection Data.

Add data directly into the MongoB database as follows:

$ meteor mongo
MongoDB shell version: 2.4.12
connecting to: 127.0.0.1:3001/meteor

meteor:PRIMARY> show databases
local    0.0625GB
meteor    (empty)

meteor:PRIMARY> db.tasks.insert({ text: "Hello world!", createdAt: new Date() });

Observe the app in the browser. It should live update with the inserted data.

Notes