When working with MongoDB as your database, you may encounter issues with user identification during identify or track calls.
This is often caused by the fact that MongoDB stores user IDs as ObjectIDs, while most analytics tools expect them as strings.
In this article, we will discuss the importance of converting MongoDB User IDs to strings when making identify or track calls, as well as provide a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this conversion.
Why Convert User IDs to Strings?
MongoDB stores user IDs as ObjectIDs, which are 12-byte unique identifiers generated for each document in the database. However, when using analytics tools such as June for user identification and tracking, the user IDs should be in string format.
Once you have retrieved the user's ObjectID, you can easily convert it to a string using the toString() method.
Add the following code to your previous function:
const userIdString = user._id.toString();
Now that you have the user ID in string format, you can use it in your identify or track calls!