Firebase NodeJs OrderByChild - node.js

Question

I want to have my list sorted alphabetically by the child name 'name'. Currently this is the Server file I am using to render the page:
app.get('/testpage', function (request, response) {
var testDBref = database.ref('testdb')
testDBref.once('value', function (snapshot) {
var result = snapshot.val()
if (!result) {
result = {}
};
response.render('TestPage.ejs', {
items: result,
pageTitle: "My Lists"
});
});
});
However, when I do the following:
app.get('/testpage2', function (request, response) {
var testDBref2 = database.ref('testdb').orderByChild('name')
testDBref2 .once('value', function (snapshot) {
snapshot.forEach(function(child){
console.log(child.val()) // NOW THE CHILDREN PRINT IN ORDER
var result = snapshot.child('name').snapshot.key
response.render('testpage2.ejs', {
items: result,
pageTitle: "My Lists"
});
});
});
});
It errors out saying: cannot set headers after they are sent to the client, req.next is not a function.
When I just have it console to the log:
app.get('/testpage2', function (request, response) {
var testDBref2 = database.ref('testdb').orderByChild('name')
testDBref2 .once('value', function (snapshot) {
snapshot.forEach(function(child){
console.log(child.val())
});
});
});
It is sorted alphabetically in json (but of course it doesn't display in the web page). I'm new to the nosql db's so any assistance would be appreciated :)

Answer 1

If you want the keys in the order of the name property, you will have to use the forEach operator. That's because the order of keys in a JSON object is undefined, but most JSON processors will return them alphabetically.
But as you also found, you can only call response.render once, so if you want to return multiple child nodes, you'll have to render them outside of the forEach loop.
The solution is to convert the child nodes to an array, and (if needed) put the key of each child node in the object in the array. For example:
app.get('/testpage2', function (request, response) {
var testDBref2 = database.ref('testdb').orderByChild('name')
testDBref2 .once('value', function (snapshot) {
var result = [];
snapshot.forEach(function(child){
result.push({ key: child.key, name: child.child('name').val() });
});
response.render('testpage2.ejs', {
items: result,
pageTitle: "My Lists"
});
});
});