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What's the best way to access an embedded document in MongoDB?

I have a JSON file that I used to create my database in MongoDB, which I am using to build a website. Here is a snippet, before I explain what I'm trying to do.
[
{
"name": "Field 1",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"category": "Field",
"resources": [],
"items": [
{
"name": "Field 2",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"category": "Field",
"resources": [],
"items": [
{
"name": "Field 3",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"category": "Field",
"resources": [],
"items": [
{
"name": "Topic 1",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"category": "Topic",
"resources": [],
"items": []
},
{
"name": "Topic 2",
"description": "",
"completed": false,
"category": "Topic",
"resources": [],
"items": []
}
My data (and the way I'd like to use it) is heavily dependent on the parent and children of any individual object. My database has 8 documents, but there's over many embedded objects in total, all embedded at different depths in the 'items' array of each object.
I just created my first draft of the site, which loads the original 8, and upon clicking any of them, it then lists the immediate children in the 'items' array, and it continues doing that until the end of that specific path. To do this, I rely on the index of each object in its array, and keep track of a path
But I would also like my users to be able to navigate directly to the page for a certain object without starting at the top and navigating through. If I wanted to directly access the object for Field 3 in the above example, what's the best way to do this with a single function or piece of code that could work with any of them?
The JSON file that I've used to create my database is 22,000+ lines long, and I'd love to not have to go back and change it more than is absolutely necessary. I was thinking I could add an ID somehow, and if that's unique, I could use that. The names of some objects will be the same, depending on where they are in the data.
EDIT: Bonus question - Would this sort of data be best stored in a relational database? I thought non-relational would be best because of the nested functionality, but I suppose I could make it work with either.

JIRA API create issue and subtask in a single api call

I am working on creating a script where I want to create a jira ticket along with several sub tasks. I am able to figure out creation of issue as well as sub tasks in different API calls with the following payload:
{
"fields": {
"project":
{
"key": "TEST"
},
"summary": "TEST summary",
"description": "TEST Description",
"issuetype": {
"name": "Bug"
}
}
}
Create a sub-task and attach it to the issue from above API call:
{
"fields":
{
"project":
{
"key": "TEST"
},
"parent":
{
"key": "TEST-1"
},
"summary": "Sub-task of TEST-1",
"description": "TEST-1 desc",
"issuetype":
{
"id": "5"
}
}
}
However, I want to do both in a single API call. Is it something that can be done ?

The Jira REST API does not offer such kind of operation. It does offer a bulk endpoint for creating multiple issues, but you can't define something like "issue one is the parent issue of issue two which is declared further down in the JSON file".
You have to use two different API calls:
Create your parent issue by using POST /rest/api/2/issue and save the issue key from the response.
Create the sub tasks with a bulk operation using POST /rest/api/2/issue/bulk.
The links are referring to the REST API docs for Jira Server, but the same is possible with the REST API in Jira Cloud. Only the authentication method is different.

how to structure data in Firebase?

i come from a MySQL workflow and now i am trying to do something in Firebase, and i have some dilemmas with structuring my data, because i don't know how would i query it.
fallowing the example below where i have some users and some comments, what is a good way to find
how many post likes a user had
how many post comments a user had
what were the posts that a user liked
...
i was thinking on adding that information to a user, like:
"user:2": {
"name": "Doe",
"email": "doe#bob.com",
"post_likes": {
"post:1": 1,
"post:2": 1
},
"post_comments": {
"post:1": 15,
"post:2": 5
}
}
but this seems redundant and duplicates data..
i need to find a way to search in posts everything that has to do with user:1, maybe i need to create another object that connects the users and posts ??
any ideas?
{
"array": {
"users": {
"user:1": {
"name": "John",
"email": "john#bob.com"
},
"user:2": {
"name": "Doe",
"email": "doe#bob.com"
}
},
"posts": {
"post:1": {
"name": "First Post",
"content": "some post content",
"comments": {}
},
"post:2": {
"name": "Second Post",
"content": "some other post content",
"likes": 2,
"comments": {
"comment:1": {
"uid": "user:1",
"email": "some comment"
},
"comment:2": {
"uid": "user:2",
"email": "some other comment"
}
}
}
}
}
}

How to structure data is not a simple question to answer and is highly dependent on how the data will be read. The general rule is to work hard on writes to make reads easy. Firebase offers two guides on understanding data and on structuring data.
They won't fit nicely into this text box, so you'll find better answers there. Here's a birds-eye view.
It's JSON data.
Flatten your data. Don't nest just because you can. Treat each logical data component like you would in SQL and keep it in its own path.
Avoid arrays in distributed systems. Sequential numeric ids are error prone.
Utilize indices to create sub-lists of master data rather than trying to nest lists in lists in lists.

AngularJS Data Structure: Client side or API?

I have a prototype solution in AngularJS and it is working with the following data structure:
$scope.clients = [
{ client:"Client1", projects:[
{ project: "Project1", items:[
{ item: "This is the first item" },
{ item: "This is the second item" }
]},
{ project: "Project2", items:[
{ item: "This is the third item" },
{ item: "This is the fourth item" }
]}
]},
{ client:"Client2", projects:[
{ project: "Project4", items:[
{ item: "This is the fifth item" },
{ item: "This is the sixth item" }
]}
]}
];
I am looking to implement the back end and I am not sure if the API should serve the above nested data structure to the client or if it should serve a flat structure of items and then the AngularJS client app then creates the nested structure. Here is an example of the flat structure that the API would serve:
[
{ client: "Client 1", project: "Project 1", item: "This is the first item." },
{ client: "Client 1", project: "Project 1", item: "This is the second item.", },
{ client: "Client 1", project: "Project 2", item: "This is the third item.", },
{ client: "Client 2", project: "Project 4", item: "This is the fourth item.", }
];
What is the best approach for this? Additionally, is there any good references to for API design?

If you're working with JSON, then the "application/hal+json" standard is definitely worth looking at.
You can read all details right here: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-kelly-json-hal-05
There is also a very good presentation by Matthew Weier O'Phinney with sample code on how to use this with a PHP backend: http://www.zend.com/en/resources/webinars/ (scroll down to the "Build RESTful ZF2 Applications" webinar).
Basically it is a set of conventions that allow linking and embedding of data within your response, which is exactly what you need here.
Hope that helps!

I generally find it helpful to not be translating my API responses to different formats throughout my application. If the nested structure is useful on your page, and it will continue to be useful elsewhere as well, I would just stick with it. You don't want to be in a situation where you are transforming an API response from one format to another on every page you use it on, so go with something that is cohesive, and simple to understand.
IMO, the nested structure looks better because you don't have to make groupings and associations on the front end. I tend to prefer when my API responses require very little if any "massaging" to work within the context of my page, if possible.
As far as API design goes, if you are looking for some standards this question's answer has some good references for standard API designs and response formats.

Complex JSON Structure

I am tackling frontend development (AngularJS) and rather than pull data from the backend (which isn't complete but renders everything to JSON), I am looking to just use hardcoded JSON.
However, I am new to this and can't seem to find anything about complex JSON structure. In a basic sense, my web app has users and the content they create. So, in my mind, there will be two databases, but I'm not sure if I'm approaching it correctly.
Users - username, location, created content, comments, etc.
"user": [
{
"userID": "12",
"userUserName": "My Username",
"userRealName": "My Real Name",
"mainInterests": [
{
"interest": "Guitar"
},
{
"interest": "Web Design"
},
{
"interest": "Hiking"
}
],
"userAbout": "All about me...",
"userComments": [
{
"comment": "this is a comment", "contentID" : "12"
},
{
"comment": "this is another comment", "contentID" : "123"
}
],
}
]
Created Content - title, description, username, comments, etc.
"mainItem": [
{
"mainID": "1",
"mainTitle": "Guitar Lessons",
"mainCreatorUserName": "My Username",
"mainCreatorRealName": "My Real Name",
"mainTags": [
{
"tag": "Intermediate"
},
{
"tag": "Acoustic"
},
{
"tag": "Guitar"
}
],
"mainAbout": "Learn guitar!",
"mainSeries": [
{
"videoFile": "file.mov",
"thumbnail": "url.jpg",
"time": "9:37",
"seriesNumber": "1",
"title": "Learn Scales"
},
{
"videoFile": "file.mov",
"thumbnail": "url.jpg",
"time": "8:12",
"seriesNumber": "2",
"title": "Learn Chords"
}
],
"userComments": [
{
"comment": "this is a comment", "userID" : "12"
},
{
"comment": "this is another comment", "userID" : "123"
}
]
}
]
And there is more complexity than that, but I just would like to understand if I'm approaching this right. Maybe I'm even approaching this entirely incorrectly (for instance, CRUD vs. REST? Does it matter here? As I understand it, REST implies that each of the objects above are resources with their own unique URI? So would JSON rendered be impacted?). I really am not sure. But ultimately, I need to use the JSON structure properly pull data into my frontend. Assumably, whatever said structure is will be mirrored and rendered in the backend.
Edit* thank you guys for the replies. I think part of my question, where I clarify "complex", is missing. So I'd like to explain. I guess more than the JSON itself, I really mean the structure of the data. For instance, in my example, I am structuring my data to all be beneath two unique objects (user and content). Is this correct? Or should I think about my data more diverse? For instance, technically I could have a comments database (where each comment is the main object). Or is that still implied in my dataset? Perhaps my question isn't even about JSON as much as it is the data structure which will happen to get rendered in JSON. Hopefully this clarifies what I mean by complex?
Any and all help is appreciated.

I'm not sure why you're making what seems to be objects into single-item arrays (as evidenced by the opening square brackets). Other than that, it looks fine to me. Generally speaking single items (like "User") are structured as an object and multiples are arrays of objects.
As for the Angular stuff, if you want to pull direct from a JSON file as a test, take a look here:
var services = angular.module('app.services', [])
services.factory('User', function($http) {
var User = function(data) {
return data;
}
User.findOne = function(id) {
return $http.get('/test_user.json').then(function(response) {
return new User(response.data);
});
};
return User;
});
I also recomment looking into Deployed for doing development without access to live data services.