# Updating nested objects
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [May 30, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586 "2017-05-30T14:53:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@waynesmallman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/waynesmallman)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/1 "2017-05-30T14:53:52Z")
Hi, I've read through the [Update API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-update.html) and [read advice elsewhere](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18360225/elastic-search-is-it-possible-to-update-nested-objects-without-updating-the-ent), but it's still not clear to me how to update a specific nested object.
Here's the mappings and settings I'm using for the index, which I've also created an alias of "asset" for:
```
// PUT localhost:9200/asset_en_v1
{
"settings": {
"analysis": {
"char_filter": {
"&_to_and": {
"type": "mapping",
"mappings": ["&=> and "]
}
},
"filter": {
"asset_en_stopwords": {
"type": "stop",
"stopwords": ["_english_"]
},
"asset_en_stemmer": {
"type": "stemmer",
"name": "english"
},
"asset_en_shingle": {
"type": "shingle",
"max_shingle_size": 5,
"min_shingle_size": 2,
"output_unigrams": false,
"output_unigrams_if_no_shingles": true
}
},
"analyzer": {
"asset_en_analyzer": {
"type": "custom",
"char_filter": ["html_strip", "&_to_and"],
"tokenizer": "standard",
"filter": ["asset_en_stopwords", "asset_en_stemmer", "lowercase", "asset_en_shingle", "asciifolding"]
}
}
}
},
"mappings": {
"note": {
"_all": {
"enabled": false
},
"properties": {
"creation": {
"type": "date",
"format": "date_hour_minute_second"
},
"deleted": {
"type": "integer"
},
"favourite": {
"type": "integer"
},
"modification": {
"type": "date",
"format": "date_hour_minute_second"
},
"note": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "english",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "asset_en_analyzer",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "standard"
}
}
}
}
},
"title": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "english",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "asset_en_analyzer",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "standard"
}
}
}
}
},
"links": {
"type": "nested",
"include_in_parent": true,
"properties": {
"note_link_id": {
"type": "long"
},
"user_id": {
"type": "long"
},
"creation": {
"type": "date",
"format": "date_hour_minute_second"
},
"modification": {
"type": "date",
"format": "date_hour_minute_second"
},
"to_asset": {
"type": "long"
},
"from_asset": {
"type": "long"
},
"comment": {
"type": "long",
"analyzer": "english",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "asset_en_analyzer",
"fields": {
"std": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "standard"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"user_id": {
"type": "long"
}
}
}
}
```
What's relevant here is the "links" nested object, for example:
```
{
"_index": "asset_en_v1",
"_type": "note",
"_id": "99",
"_version": 2,
"found": true,
"_source": {
"user_id": "11",
"title": "Title",
"note": "Note.",
"creation": "2016-11-15T10:45:34",
"modification": "2016-11-15T10:49:36",
"links": [
[
{
"note_link_id": "1",
"user_id": "11",
"creation": "2016-11-15T11:21:10",
"modification": "2016-11-15T13:38:04",
"to_asset": "100",
"from_asset": "99",
"comment": "Comment 1."
},
{
"note_link_id": "2",
"user_id": "11",
"creation": "2016-11-15T13:37:04",
"modification": "2016-11-15T13:37:27",
"to_asset": "101",
"from_asset": "99",
"comment": "Comment 2."
},
{
"note_link_id": "3",
"user_id": "11",
"creation": "2016-11-15T14:01:27",
"modification": "2016-11-15T14:02:52",
"to_asset": "102",
"from_asset": "99",
"comment": "Comment 3."
}
]
],
"favourite": 0,
"deleted": "0"
}
}
```
Over time, a user:
1. adds a link;
2. deletes a link;
3. updates the comment on a link.
I have an understanding of the adding and deleting, but the update is where things go wrong.
Any assistance would be much appreciated!
---
### Author:  [@Tetrapack](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tetrapack)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/2 "2017-05-31T09:00:32Z")
Hello,
Firstly you can retrieve the list by getting the document. then, add / delete / update concerned link. Finally, send an update with the new updated list
exemple:
1°) comment of link with note\_link\_id 2 has been modified by user 11.
2°) perform a request like that :
```
GET asset_en_v1/note/_search
{
"_source": "links",
"query": {
"bool": {
"must": [
{
"term": {
"user_id": {
"value": "11"
}
}
},
{
"nested": {
"path": "links",
"query": {
"term": {
"note_link_id": {
"value": "2"
}
}
}
}
}
]
}
}
}
```
3°) Here you get the links list and the id of document to be updated. Update the comment of link 2
4°) make an update of the whole list:
```
POST asset_en_v1/note/99/_update
{
"doc" : {
"links" : [{...}, {...}, {...}]
}
}
```
---
### Author:  [@waynesmallman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/waynesmallman)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2017, 10:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/3 "2017-05-31T10:23:09Z")
Hi Emmanuel, so I don't need to use the script?
---
### Author:  [@Tetrapack](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tetrapack)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/4 "2017-05-31T11:37:17Z")
Not necessarly, you can update a document with a script, or with a partial update.
-Using a script it could be something like this
```
POST asset_en_v1/note/99/_update
{
"script" : {
"inline": "ctx._source.links = params.newLinks",
"lang": "painless",
"params" : {
"newLinks" : [{...}, {...}, ...]
}
}
}
```
depending on language you choose and complexity you want.
-Or with a partial update like my previous answer
I think that trying to make a fastidious script to only update a part of a nested list is purely useless.
Elasticsearch will reindex the whole document anyway.
The easiest way is to retrieved the list, update it locally, and send it entierly through a partial update (or scripted update)
---
### Author:  [@waynesmallman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/waynesmallman)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/5 "2017-05-31T12:01:38Z")
I see.
Based on the examples (as stated in the opening question), I have the code:
```
$parameters = [
'index' => "asset",
'type' => $this->getAssetType( $from_note ),
'id' => $from_note->note_id,
'body' => [
'script' => "ctx._source.links += newListItem",
'params' => [
'newListItem' => [
'note_link_id' => $link_id,
'user_id' => $this->flexi_auth->get_user_id(),
'creation' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
'modification' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
'from_asset' => $from,
'to_asset' => $to,
'comment' => strip_tags($comment)
]
]
]
];
```
But instead of updating the document, it appending some of the data to it, or — in previous versions of the code — overwrote the whole thing.
Emmanuel, thank you — I'll give the code a run tonight and report in with the results!
---
### Author:  [@waynesmallman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/waynesmallman)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/6 "2017-05-31T20:48:08Z")
Hi Emmanuel, I'm having little success.
```
$data = [
'links' => [
[
'note_link_id' => $link_id,
'user_id' => $this->flexi_auth->get_user_id(),
'creation' => date('Y-m-d\TH:i:s'),
'modification' => date('Y-m-d\TH:i:s'),
'from_asset' => $from,
'to_asset' => $to,
'comment' => strip_tags( $comment )
]
]
];
```
While that adds a link, if I attempt to add another, the first is overwritten.
Also, attempts at a partial update remove the fields not included in the update code.
Given this failure, I'll have to look at the script version for updates, assuming I'm able to get the adding of links working.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/updating-nested-objects/87586/7 "2017-06-28T20:48:26Z")
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