From 2c90f62a1e815628e5ea0aa0abb90d73dc4d7274 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: TheFlow <theflow@sydigital.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:55:51 +1300
Subject: [PATCH] fix(submissions): handle null blogPostId in populate query

- Changed populate to use options object with strictPopulate: false
- Allows submissions without blogPostId (standalone packages) to be returned
- Fixes 500 error on /api/submissions endpoint
- Le Monde package should now be visible in UI after server restart
---
 src/controllers/submissions.controller.js | 6 +++++-
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/controllers/submissions.controller.js b/src/controllers/submissions.controller.js
index 3a19d2e5..f2452e8c 100644
--- a/src/controllers/submissions.controller.js
+++ b/src/controllers/submissions.controller.js
@@ -82,7 +82,11 @@ async function getSubmissions(req, res) {
     if (publicationId) query.publicationId = publicationId;
 
     const submissions = await SubmissionTracking.find(query)
-      .populate('blogPostId', 'title slug')
+      .populate({
+        path: 'blogPostId',
+        select: 'title slug',
+        options: { strictPopulate: false } // Allow null blogPostId
+      })
       .populate('createdBy', 'email')
       .sort({ submittedAt: -1, createdAt: -1 })
       .limit(parseInt(limit, 10))